MEMORY, RITUAL, AND IDENTITY: THE ROLE OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS IN CULTURAL RESILIENCE AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION


Arunkant Ranasingh
PGT, Logic & Philosophy, SBR Women’s Higher Secondary School, Berhampur, Odisha
Abstract
This study critically examines how memory, ritual, and identity function as constitutive elements of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), enabling cultural resilience and social transformation within diverse community contexts. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, oral history interviews, and participant observation, it uncovers the ways in which collective memory functions as shared historical consciousness, how ritual practices enact embodied knowledge, and how identity emerges through ongoing participation in communal practices. The analysis reveals that IKS are not static repositories of tradition but living epistemologies that adaptively respond to socio-historical change while maintaining continuity in meaning and belonging. By integrating narrative and hermeneutic frameworks, the study situates indigenous knowledges within broader debates in social science and philosophy, challenging universalist epistemic paradigms. It argues that memory–ritual nexus not only sustains identity but also facilitates community agency in negotiating modernity.
Keywords: Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Cultural Resilience, Collective Memory, Ritual Enactment, Identity Formation, Social Transformation.
Journal Name :
EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR)

VIEW PDF
Published on : 2026-03-15

Vol : 12
Issue : 3
Month : March
Year : 2026
Copyright © 2026 EPRA JOURNALS. All rights reserved
Developed by Peace Soft