Transformation of Thar's Living Folk Traditions: A Community-Centred Recontextualisation Approach (A Concise Review- Analytical Research Paper)

Transformation of Thar's Living Folk Traditions: A Community-Centred Recontextualisation Approach (A Concise Review- Analytical Research Paper) Dr. Nidhi Raizada Arpita The folk traditions of the Thar Desert are living cultural systems rather than isolated artistic items. They carry community memory, environmental knowledge, ritual meaning, livelihood practices and regional identity. The earlier impact-oriented approach generally reads globalization, media and tourism as outside forces that transform local traditions. This revised paper changes the concept: it interprets change as community-mediated recontextualisation. In this view, Manganiyar-Langa music, Kalbelia dance, puppetry, desert craft and festival practices do not simply decline or survive; they move across contexts - community, stage, screen, festival and market - while negotiating meaning, income, visibility and control. The paper argues that safeguarding is not the freezing of tradition, but the ethical management of change through community agency, contextual presentation, fair remuneration, digital consent and shared cultural authority. The central question is therefore not whether Thar's traditions should change, but who directs that change and who benefits from it.