Indigenous Peoples’ Activist to Visit Campus in April
03/22/2023
Media contacts: Emily Gowdey-Backus and Nancy Cicco
Known as the “Iron Lady of Jharkhand,” Indigenous peoples and climate justice and activist Dayamani Barla has been named UMass Lowell’s 2023 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies.
Barla is an Adivasi journalist, feminist and resistance leader who works to end the displacement of India’s Indigenous peoples due to state violence and industrial expansion. She will visit the university next month to lead programs for students and the public that spotlight this cause and the many others she advances.
“The University of Massachusetts Lowell is thrilled to welcome Dayamani Barla as the 2023 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies. Her work for Indigenous, environmental and gender justice reminds us that the struggle for a more peaceful world unites us all,” said UMass Lowell’s Sue Kim, an English professor who co-directs the university’s Center for Asian American Studies and serves as the associate dean of undergraduate studies in the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Barla’s activism is rooted in the Adivasi peoples’ right to self-determination. Over several decades, she has led political movements against multinational corporations proposing hydroelectric power and steel plant projects, which would displace the Adivasi people and destroy the forests and waterways integral to their way of life. As an independent journalist, her reporting speaks truth to power, exposing the exploitation of and violence committed against Adivasi women.
“We Indigenous communities believe that our history, language, culture, sacred religious sites, our identity and history cannot ever be rehabilitated. Nor can it ever be compensated for,” Barla said.
While in residence at UMass Lowell, Barla will visit classrooms across campus to meet with students and share her story. She will also be the keynote speaker at three upcoming events in Lowell:
- Thursday, April 6, at 1:30 p.m. – Barla will deliver the talk “Jal, Jungle, Zameen, Sangharsh (Water, Forest, Land, Struggle): Stories of Adivasi Resistance and Survival” at UMass Lowell’s annual Day Without Violence observance. The free program will be held in the university’s Coburn Hall, Room 255, South Campus, 850 Broadway St., Lowell. For those unable to attend in person, the event will be livestreamed here.
- Friday, April 7 at 1 p.m. – Barla will visit the African Community Center of Lowell, where she will meet and answer questions from the public at this free event. The center is located at 99 Church St., Lowell.
- Thursday, April 13 at 8 a.m. – Barla will present “Personal Inspiration in the Struggle for Justice: Reflections from an Adivasi/Indigenous Activist,” at a free public event to be held remotely and hosted by the Greater Lowell Interfaith Leadership Alliance. Members of the public who wish to attend may access a Zoom link here or may email Greeley@uml.edu for more information.
“Barla’s life offers powerful insights into how climate justice is deeply tied to Indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination. Her feminist journalism and activism have important implications globally as we grapple with the ever-pressing issue of climate disasters,” said Urmitapa Dutta, chair of the Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies Board and a UMass Lowell associate professor of psychology.
Greeley Scholars are selected for their achievements as humanitarians and their efforts promoting peace and conflict resolution at the local, regional, national or international level. With the honor, Barla joins a list of distinguished past recipients.
The honor is named for the late Rev. Dana McLean Greeley, who was a longtime Unitarian Universalist minister in Concord, Massachusetts. The Greeley Scholar Program is funded by the Greeley Endowment for Peace Studies, established with a gift from the Dana McLean Greeley Foundation for Peace and Justice and a contribution from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts via the UMass Foundation. In addition, this year’s programs are sponsored by UMass Lowell’s College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
UMass Lowell is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be leaders in their communities and around the globe. www.uml.edu