The Puroik tribe is a notified Scheduled Tribe community and one of the most marginalized and invisible tribal communities in Arunachal Pradesh. Though marginalization of the Puroik community is widely known in the policy context, the exact nature of their experiences of livelihood, education and social mobility and intersections of old and new systems of stratification are yet to be explored. The alternate name through which the tribe is known, that is, ‘Sulung’ (meaning slave in Bangni language) indicates the subordinate status of the tribe in the larger social fabric. Having been subordinated by dominant tribal groups such as the Nyishi and Mije, the Puroik tribe faces exclusion and marginalization on multiple fronts. Prominent literature in the context of Adivasi education in India has highlighted that despite the global and national attempts towards universalization of elementary education, children from Adivasi communities in India still have restricted physical and social access to schooling. It is argued that policy measures in terms of integration and positive discrimination post-independence have not been able to radically alter structural inequalities faced by Adivasi communities in arenas including education and schooling. What this literature underplays is the presence of relations of domination and inequality that are present within Indigenous tribal communities such as that between Puroik and Nyishi. These relations cannot be fully described by the traditional hierarchies of casteism in Indian society that bifurcate mainstream and tribal margins as homogenous categories. For reasons of debt and mortgage, many Puroik families are obligated for life as slaves to their Nyishi masters. As a result, Puroik community has restricted access to land, housing, employment and education and political participation. This paper, based on a qualitative study, specifically explores the trajectories of education, livelihoods, and social mobility of the Puroik community in East Kameng District.
