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Symbolic Annihilation in Mizoram Media: An Exploration of Women’s Representation

Article

By Lalnunkimi Colney, Vanlalmuanpuii Chawngthu, and V. Ratnamala

Mizoram, located in Northeast India, has a high proportion of scheduled tribes (94.5%) and operates within a patriarchal societal structure. Despite a sex ratio of 976 females per thousand males in 2011 census, women face significant under-representation in media and public spheres. This study examines how media in Mizoram portrays women using case study methodology and content analysis. The findings reveal a pattern of limited visibility for women in critical areas such as politics and education. Women are predominantly featured in entertainment and beauty contexts, with print media, magazines, and billboards often reinforcing domestic stereotypes. Social media also reflects these biases, with women frequently subjected to derogatory comments. Utilizing UNESCO Gender Sensitive Indicators for Media (GSIM) and Media for Democracy Monitor (MDM) criteria, the study identifies a substantial imbalance in gender representation. The results highlight the need for media reforms to challenge patriarchal norms and improve the portrayal and visibility of women in Mizoram.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13691362

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Unveiling Women’s Economic Contribution: A Study of Livelihood Activities in Tousem Village, Manipur

Article

By Kamei Beeju and Pounga Newme

In contemporary discourse, the female labour force encounters persistent marginalization in its pursuit of acknowledgment and respect. Within the fabric of Indian society, the labour or service endeavours undertaken by women in the domain of homemaking often remain unacknowledged, notwithstanding their substantial contribution to the domestic economy. This study critically examines the role of women in livelihood activities as an indispensable component in cultivating acknowledgment coupled with respect and recognition. The ethos of respect and recognition serves as a catalyst for individuals in their pursuit of fostering peace and harmony within the societal milieu. Within this context, the economic contributions made by women often languish in obscurity, characterized by the paradoxical phenomenon of remaining both unpaid and invisible. In Tousem, Tamenglong District of Manipur, women are lauded for their active roles in driving economic and social change, alongside their commitment to environmental stewardship. This research aims to highlight their key economic contributions to uplift their families and communities. Additionally, it seeks to unveil the status of women in village contexts, shedding light on gender dynamics. Through this inquiry, the study emphasizes the need for greater recognition and support of women’s diverse efforts, providing insights for both scholarly discourse and practical policymaking towards gender equity and empowerment.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13285899

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Border Disputes in North East India: A Study of Assam-Mizoram Border

Article

By Jangkhongam Doungel

This article traces the border disputes between Assam and her neighbouring states in North East India, and observes that it is purely a legacy of colonial rule in the region. Tribal territories in North East India were demarcated in the province of Assam one after another and foot hills were declared as reserved forests which are now the border dispute zone. Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh began to face border dispute with Assam after their separation from Assam. The present border dispute between Assam and Mizoram is in the 509 square miles reserved forest area which Mizoram claims it as its area since pre-colonial era but Assam also made similar claims to it. Mizoram advocates solution of the problem on the basis of the notification of 1875 but Assam advocates for solution of the problem as per notification of 1933. There is no clear-cut mention of inter-state boundary to be claimed as constitutional boundary. Hence, amicable solution of the border dispute may be possibly be achieved only through political dialogue between the two states.

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Inter-state Border Disputes in North-East India: A Case of Assam and Meghalaya

Article

By Bitupan Doley, Parimita Bhuyan, and Jayanta Krishna Sarmah

This paper attempts to trace the root cause of the boundary dispute between Assam and Meghalaya and highlights the governmental efforts towards the settlement of inter-state border conflicts between the two states. It particularly study four aspects of border disputes based on field notes: people’s participation in border conflict resolution, responses of people of disputed areas towards government interventions, civil society participation in disputed areas, and development of inter-state border areas between Assam and Meghalaya. The field study reveals that people of the bordering areas are consulted regarding resolution of border dispute between the two states; however, their voices do not receive adequate weightage in the process of boundary demarcation. The field study clarifies that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) expressed their concern regarding the resolution of border disputes; however, there are limitations regarding their participation in interior areas of border dispute. It is revealed that frequent occurrences of border conflicts have a negative impact on the development of inter-state border areas. Further, the field study also clarifies that illiteracy, lack of adequate information and inadequate awareness among people are the main causes of inter-state border disputes between the two states.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12795910

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State and Local Conservation Traditions: A Comparative Study of Fortress Conservation and Traditional Forest Forts

Article

By Rajiandai Bariam

The paper attempts to contribute to existing discourse on conservation and political ecology by juxtaposing the concept of “fortress conservation” which favors the creation of protected areas, to the concept of “forest forts,” a traditional conservation practice woven into a traditional village society. By drawing insights from the theory of political ecology and colonial conservation laws and practices, the present paper reiterate the critique of “fortress conservation” while advocating a dialogue between the state, conservationists, and the local people. Unlike the forceful and displacive conservation projects and discourse that harbors dissent and protests, straining relationships between state and people, the paper shifts the paradigm emphasizing the healing of relationship among human agencies as of utmost importance, and a vital step in restoring our relationship with nature. It opines that if conservation is to be deeply successful and sustainable, the minimization of casualty and cases of displacement must be part of the equation. Furthermore, it seeks to explain such a possibility through the traditional forest forts in which the local people engaged in the traditional practices of conservation themselves based on their long-standing and time-tested traditional ecological knowledge.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12748889

Mizoram Assembly Election 2023: Bucking Bipolarity and Regurgitating Ethnicity and Governance

Commentary

By V. Bijukumar

The recent Mizoram assembly election gave a clear verdict in favour of the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), a third political force in the state, against the conventional binary electoral politics centred on the Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Congress. While the incumbent MNF government, in its last leg of the tenure, clinched on new wave of ethno-regionalism to beat the perceptible anti-incumbency, the Congress tried to regain its lost electoral space promising efficient, transparent and corruption-free governance. The BJP unleashed a high-voltage campaign, but its outreach mostly confined to smaller ethnic minorities like the Chakmas and Maras than the dominant Christian Mizo ethnic community. Despite all these, ZPM’s promise of good governance with the slogan of “vote for a change, give this new party a chance” won the mandate of the electorate, both in rural and urban areas of the state. However, fulfilling its promises would be a daunting task.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12748911

Land Use and Livelihood: The Case of Shifting Cultivation among the Kukis

Article

By M. Mangkholen Haokip

Shifting cultivation as the main source of livelihood framed the life-world of the Kukis in the hills of Manipur. The socio-cultural, politico-administrative, religious practice and most importantly the land use system have an intertwined relationship with it. Though shifting cultivation has been debated and invites stringent scrutiny in policy arenas, it withstand as the chief source of sustenance for many in the tropics and sub-tropics till today. Important debates on the questions of sustainability and environmental consequences of shifting cultivation are intrinsic to the land use system of the cultivators. This paper is an attempt to examine the practices of shifting cultivation vis-à-vis the land use system among the Kuki shifting cultivators through a qualitative analysis. It argues that the land use system, reasoned by their livelihood (shifting cultivation) and the notion of forest conservation is an ingeniously developed sustainable technique of their association with the rough topography over a long period of time.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12748931

Identity and Violence: Exploring an Ethical Framework for Peace in the Context of the Indo-Naga Conflict

Article

By Venusa Tinyi

Violence is still one of the biggest threats to human civilizational values. It looms large around the globe in various forms. Despite advancements at several fronts, including the existence of several peace norms and organizations, we are yet to find an adequate panacea for violence. In this paper, an attempt is made to provide a conceptual framework to understand and address the problem of violence through the philosophical lens of Emmanuel Levinas. According to him, violence is grounded in how we see ourselves and how we see the others. Identity construction is thus seen as the root cause of violence. Having outlined the basic ethical ideas of Levinas to address the problem of violence, I present a case study of a conflict – the Indo-Naga conflict. I suggest that for understanding and resolving the conflict at a much deeper level, one has to go beyond the socio-empirical conditions to conceptual pre-condition that comes with a sense of ethical responsibility.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12748283

The Politics of Coal Mining in Meghalaya: Land, Ownership and Local Autonomy

Article

By Teiborlang T. Kharsyntiew

In the Northeast region of India, the state of Meghalaya is endowed with rich mineral resources like coal and limestones. Protected under the special status of the Sixth Schedule, land and its resources belong to the people. But over the last few decades, mining of these resources has changed not only the physical environment but also the tenet of indigenous land governance. While this transformation can be attributed to the change in land governance during the colonial and the post-colonial period, the extensive resource extraction from the mid-1990s onwards exposed the shortcomings of decentralisation of power and its effect on land governance in Meghalaya. Today the existence of multi-layer institutions of land governance that are inconsistence in powers and functions shapes the dynamics of coal politics and land governance in the state.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13309183

Living a Flooded Life: Women, City and Community in North East India’s Dibrugarh

Article

By Evy Mehzabeen

The paper makes a case-study analysis of the annually flooded Dibrugarh town of the Brahmaputra valley of India’s northeast, and looks at floods as disasters in the context of how women negotiate, adapt and survive an annual phenomenon of flood. The paper has tried to interweave multiple narratives arising from differentiated gendered roles played by women in the pre-flood, during floods as well as in the post-flood periods, as collected through interviews and discussions to showcase how women use their agency to make place within as well as outside the community through dialogues, shared experiences and inter-community social capital. It discusses gendering space through the changing lived spaces of a household in the flooded and non-flooded period for four different communities united by flood. The first section of the paper looks at the City as a site for recurring disaster. The second section discuss agency of women as an emanating tool to face, adapt and survive disaster, expanding beyond herself to family and community. The third section presents the spatialities of adaptation manifested through built-form, arising as an outcome of gendered vulnerability and adaptation practices, as translated onto the spaces they inhabit, throughout the flood-cycle.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12748263

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