From Displacement ToSustainable Enterprise: Indigenous Memory-Mapping And Community-Based Entrepreneurship Among The Chakma Community In Tripura
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/jaes.v22i2.169Keywords:
Indigenous Entrepreneurship, Memory-Mapping, Community-based Enterprise, Displacement and Resilience, Sustainable livelihoodsAbstract
This study examines how indigenous memory-mapping practices facilitate sustainable community-based entrepreneurship among the displaced Chakma community in Tripura. While displacement often disrupts livelihoods and ecological relationships, limited research has explored how indigenous memory functions as entrepreneurial capital in post-displacement contexts. Adopting a qualitative multi-site case study design, the research draws on 29 semi-structured interviews, five focus group discussions, and five participatory memory-mapping sessions conducted across three Chakma settlements. Thematic analysis and process tracing were employed to examine how displacement triggered memory reconstruction, opportunity recognition, collective mobilisation, and enterprise formation. The findings reveal that memory-mapping served as a foundational mechanism for reconstructing ecological knowledge, enabling the revival of agroforestry cooperatives, women-led weaving enterprises, and forest-produce collectives. Enterprises were characterised by collective governance, income diversification, social inclusion, and culturally embedded sustainability practices. However, land tenure insecurity, regulatory constraints, and limited market access moderated enterprise scalability. The study contributes to indigenous entrepreneurship and sustainable development scholarship by conceptualising ecological memory as a dynamic innovation mechanism rather than a static cultural resource. It demonstrates how culturally embedded knowledge systems can transform displacement into structured, community-driven economic resilience within complex institutional environments.
References
Abbas, M. H., & Bulut, M. (2024). Navigating the landscape of sustainable entrepreneurship research: a systematic literature review. DiscoverSustainability, 5(1), 171.
Ali, M. (2021). A systematic literature review of sustainable entrepreneurship with thematic analysis. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 17(4), 742-764.
AlMehrzi, A. A., Tipu, S. A., & Sarker, A. E. (2024). Determinants, processes, and impacts of indigenous entrepreneurship: a systematic literature review. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 18(3), 646-681.
Cheteni, P., &Umejesi, I. (2024). Indigenous knowledge in entrepreneurship and cultural tourism in the rural areas. Comparative Sociology, 23(3), 340-359.
Croce, F. (2017). Contextualized indigenous entrepreneurial models: A systematic review of indigenous entrepreneurship literature. Journal of Management & Organization, 23(6), 886-906.
Cucino, V., Feola, R., Ferlito, R., Maiolini, R., Michelini, L., Mongelli, L., ... & Vesci, M. (2025). What do we really mean by “purpose-driven businesses”?
De Gruyter, E., Gordon, J., Qureshi, I., Bhatt, B., & Mafico, N. (2025). Financing Indigenous entrepreneurs: A review and research agenda. Australian Journal of Management, 50(4), 1333-1358.
Derani, N. E. S., Mokhtar, M., Nawanir, G., & Zakaria, H. (2023). Bibliometric review on indigenous entrepreneurship: Past findings, present and ways forward. Journal of Advanced Research in Business and Management Studies, 31(1), 30-50.
Ensign, P. C. (2023). Contextual impact on indigenous entrepreneurs around the world: geographic location, socio-cultural context and economic structure. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 49(1), 150-186.
Fortin-Lefebvre, E., & Baba, S. (2021). Indigenous entrepreneurship and organizational tensions: When marginality and entrepreneurship meet. Management international, 25(5), 151-170.
Gupta, S., Campos Zeballos, J., del Río Castro, G., Tomičić, A., Andrés Morales, S., Mahfouz, M., ... &Inyaregh, M. (2023). Operationalizing Digitainability: Encouraging mindfulness to harness the power of digitalization for sustainable development. Sustainability, 15(8), 6844.
Hindle, K., & Lansdowne, M. (2005). Brave spirits on new paths: toward a globally relevant paradigm of indigenous entrepreneurship research. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 18(2), 131-141.
Kawharu, M., Tapsell, P., & Woods, C. (2017). Indigenous entrepreneurship in Aotearoa New Zealand: The takarangi framework of resilience and innovation. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 11(1), 20-38.
Maclean, K., Rist, P., Rassip, W., &Prudames, N. (2024). A practical tool to enable Indigenous enterprise planning and development grounded in culture. Sustainability Science, 19(4), 1205-1220.
Maritz, A., & Foley, D. (2018). Expanding Australian indigenous entrepreneurship education ecosystems. Administrative Sciences, 8(2), 20.
McDonald, C. (2019). Promoting Indigenous community economic development, entrepreneurship and SMEs in a rural context. OECD Regional Development Papers, 2019(3), 0_1-23.
Mika, J. P., Felzensztein, C., Tretiakov, A., & Macpherson, W. G. (2024). Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystems: a comparison of Mapuche entrepreneurship in Chile and Māori entrepreneurship in Aotearoa New Zealand. Journal of Management & Organization, 30(1), 40-58.
Mika, J. P., Warren, L., Foley, D., & Palmer, F. R. (2017). Perspectives on indigenous entrepreneurship, innovation and enterprise. Journal of Management & Organization, 23(6), 767-773.
Muñoz, P., & Kimmitt, J. (2019). Rural entrepreneurship in place: An integrated framework. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 31(9-10), 842-873.
Ndjama, J. N., & Westhuizen, J. V. (2024). Community-Based Entrepreneurship: Fostering Local Economic Development and Social Cohesion. Vanderbijlpark, South Africa: Vaal University of Technology.
Onwuegbuzie, H. N., Mafimisebi, O. P., &Orighoyegha, E. (2025). Indigenous knowledge and entrepreneurship as a strategy for sustainable development in africa. FIIB Business Review, 14(5), 553-565.
Padilla-Meléndez, A., Plaza-Angulo, J. J., Del-Aguila-Obra, A. R., & Ciruela-Lorenzo, A. M. (2022). Indigenous entrepreneurship. Current issues and future lines. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 34(1-2), 6-31.
Scoones, I., Stirling, A., Abrol, D., Atela, J., Charli-Joseph, L., Eakin, H., ... & Yang, L. (2020). Transformations to sustainability: combining structural, systemic and enabling approaches. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 42, 65-75.
Shepherd, D. A., & Williams, T. (2020). Entrepreneurship responding to adversity: Equilibrating adverse events and disequilibrating persistent adversity. Organization Theory, 1(4), 2631787720967678.
Vlasov, M., Bonnedahl, K. J., & Vincze, Z. (2018). Entrepreneurship for resilience: embeddedness in place and in trans-local grassroots networks. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 12(3), 374-394.
Yerramilli, A. R. (2025). Indigenous knowledge and sustainable development: The Indian story. In Revaluation and Preservation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Modern Society (pp. 465-490). IGI Global Scientific Publishing.
Zahra, S. A. (2021). International entrepreneurship in the post Covid world. Journal of World Business, 56(1), 101143.
