Author: editor

By Lipokmar Dzüvichü

This article explores the relationship between territoriality and state making practices in the Northeast Frontier of British India in the nineteenth century. It examines the complex ways in which colonial territorial strategies were framed and enacted in a variety of spatial settings. Territoriality formed an important strategy of the British raj in its attempt to “control actions, interactions [and] access” of people, things and relationships over the frontier geographies. By establishing symbols of state institutions in the “wild” frontier spaces, colonial officials sought to institute and put in place a semblance of order and control over the imperial margins. These undertakings were in turn closely entangled with the colonial efforts to transform the “ill-defined” frontier landscape into clearly defined state spaces. Colonial territorial strategies were not only critical in order to define its spatial and institutional presence in the frontier, but also simultaneously aimed to historicize colonial authority and territorial possession. Colonial territorializing strategies were, however, not a simple linear enterprise. It proceeded over a landscape that was marked by a variety of political systems, relations and practices. Even as colonial authorities worked its way into the region, the state attempt to institute new forms of regulations and authority would also engender various responses and reactions by a variety of actors. The article will examine some of these complex processes that accompanied state territorialization initiatives and ascendancies in the frontier.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14717281