Later writers uncritically adopted and reinscribed a reified identity through detailed investigations of its defining criteria, and in this way misleading stereotypes have been stamped in the literature over many years. Colonists, missionaries, and early intellectuals gave the false appearance of coherence to people in othering and social boundary-making processes, a mindset grounded in European colonial expansion and early anthropology.
Drawing on literature since the colonial era, it reviews different representations, collectively a social construction of a distinct cultural and ethnic identity category for a specific population and way of life-a popular imagination of a hill tribe in a remote region bound by strong ties to ancient myths and rituals, kinship, and land. This chapter introduces Badagas, an ethnic minority in India, and their general portrayal by scholars.
