Author: editor

Converting the Nagas and Kukis: Missionary Representations

Article

By Ningmuanching

This paper is a study of missionary encounter and the coming of Christianity to Manipur, and its influence on the historical development of Naga and Kuki identities. Through a discussion of missionary representations and conversion of the hill population around Manipur valley which constituted a part of the Assam Mission Field of the American Baptist Mission, the paper argues that the missionary representations of the people were distinct from colonial official representations. Rather than classification of people from hills and plain as well as Nagas and Kukis according to one’s place in the scale of civilization, differences were represented on the basis of one’s propensity towards conversion. It shows that inspite of their instrumental contribution in providing written languages for the Naga and Kuki group of tribes, missionaries were not the only agents here. The allegiance exhibited by converts towards their own spoken dialect equally emphasizes the agency of the hill people in the reshaping of their social world in which the language of a group became the primary basis of identification. Ironically, the mission project to reduce the dominant dialects of the Nagas and Kukis into a written form was to establish linguistic borders between the different tribes.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782730

Minorities in Japan and India: A Comparative Study of Ainu and Borok Tribals

Article

By M. Kamlianlal Zou

Minorities are often subjected to unjust exploitation and desisted from social, political and economic opportunities. The government’s machineries and constitutional provisions for protecting the minorities sometimes become a tool in the hands of the dominant group to exploit the minorities. As a result minorities feel alienated, suffer from inferiority complex and may lead to a rebellious attitude depending on the social setting in which differential treatment operates. This paper analyses the difficulties faced by minorities in Japan and make a comparative study between the Ainu of Japan and the Borok tribals of Tripura in India. These two tribals are indigenous peoples, and they maintained an independent kingdom and administered themselves before their ancestral lands were annexed by the dominant community. As a result, they were reduced to a minority and became a stranger in their own land.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782644

Ranking of districts in North East states of India by the use of Standard of Living Index using 2001 and 2011 census

Article

By Phrangstone Khongji

Due to limited literature available to highlight the economic level and status for states and districts of North east India, the present study attempts to capture the same by extracting the information on living standards of people through the eight variables collected during the 2001 and 2011 census. Standard of living index is constructed through the use of principal component analysis, where states and districts in the region are ranked. This study can have important policy implications, concerning directing the resources to those districts of the region which have slip in the rank between the two censuses.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782553

Wari Leeba: The Declining Storytelling Tradition of the Meiteis of Manipur and Tripura

Article

By Sukla Singha

There is a popular notion that ‘literature’ is primarily written or printed. Another western concept is that it is the written word that is legitimate or valid and modern or progressive, whereas the spoken word is a representative of the primitive or uncivilized world. These notions have been challenged time and again by alternative textualities such as oral traditions, paintings and illustrations. The oral tradition of storytelling has been in vogue since time immemorial across many communities of India as well as the rest of the world. These stories would serve as a grand repository of memories and histories of the respective societies through the power of the spoken word. But with rapid urbanization, these stories are faced first with distortion and then with extinction, as the storytellers of the older generation pass away. This paper attempts to understand the storytelling tradition of Manipur, popularly known as the Wari-Leeba (that forms an integral part and parcel of the Meitei culture) as well to find out probable causes of its declining/deteriorating status in the adjacent state of Tripura that is a home to a good number of Meitei population.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782498

Spreading the Dreaded Virus: Social Dimension of HIV/ AIDS in Churachandpur, Manipur

Article

By Johny Lalbiaklian

The problem of HIV/AIDS is not only a medical problem but it is increasingly recognised as a social problem. It is important to examine the many influences in the society that have a bearing on HIV/AIDS. Development of an appropriate respond to HIV/AIDS requires an understanding of the specific society, its history, its culture and its dynamic. Social issues surrounding the risk of HIV/AIDS and its infection are important ones that illuminate a number of social problems and value conflicts within the society. This paper attempts to address the social dimension of the causes and impact of HIV/ AIDS in the district of Churachandpur, Manipur. It is observed that various social activities such as tribal festivals, youth activities and even faith-based festivals play significant role in contributing to the spread of the diseases among the youth. There are diverse responses with regard to the general attitudes towards the infectants where benevolent feeling and sympathy are shown by the families and society broadly.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782396

Increasing Public Value in the Shillong Region of Meghalaya

Article

By Leon Miller

Social networking is increasingly being applied to municipalities to improve social-economic performance, improve the relationship between government and the public, and increase benefits for all stakeholders. The literature on social networking stresses that it increases transparency, reduces corruption, and enhances a locale’s ‘smart municipality’ image. However, in spite of the success of social networking in other global contexts there has been no development of a theoretical model that explains the factors that make it effective for improving social and economic conditions in the Shillong region. This article explains how social networking could be applied to the Shillong region to integrate the resources of society to increase benefits for all stakeholders. Thus, this article contributes to literature on social networking by explaining how the fundamental concepts and principles related to social networking provide the basis for a theory of how the concept can improve social conditions.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782292

The Legacy of Colonial Governmentality in Nagaland

Editorial

By Thongkholal Haokip

Tension continues to simmer in Nagaland over the 33 per cent reservation of seats for women in urban local bodies. The traditionalist Naga Hoho, an apex Naga body opposed to women reservation, argues that no law can be imposed upon the Nagas which affects their customary local self-governance as guaranteed by the Constitution of India. About 160 years ago a new form of colonial governmentality emerged as a response to the Sepoy Munity of 1857 in India. It began as a policy of non-interference, particularly on the custom and religion, of the colonized subjects by bifurcating civil and customary laws. As against the initial civilizing project of the colonialist which had threatened the natives’ customs and traditions, this form of rule intended to preserve it through indirect rule. There was a reversal in the colonial mission – from civilization to preservation and from integration to protection. As pointed out by Mahmood Mamdani, the native in due course of time became tribal and tribalism was looked upon as ‘culture in fixity’, politicised, so that it becomes ‘part of nature, fixed and unchanging’. There was, thus, the emergence of legal dualism – ordinary and customary law, and every policy began to be framed on a binary – British subject and the tribal.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782130

Being a tribal man from the North-East: Migration, Morality and Masculinity by Duncan McDuie-Ra

Book Review

By Hoineilhing Sitlhou

Duncan McDuie-Ra is an Australian academician who has done extensive research on the subject of Northeast migrants in New Delhi. He has written numerous articles on Northeast Indian culture and society, all of which are published in reputed journals and are excerpt from his more critically acclaimed book ‘Northeast Migrants in Delhi: Race, Refuge and Retail’. The article highlights the intersection between masculinity, ethnicity and migration within national boundaries with particular references to the Northeast frontier of India. For McDuie-Ra the theory that ‘migration cause the production and reproduction of masculine norms’ is relevant to understand the tribals of Northeast India. In Delhi, the concept of masculinity is reshaped in the face of changing gender relations and the status of tribals as a minority ethnic community. The article used the interpretative paradigm of study. He conducted ethnographic field research in Delhi from December 2010 to February 2011 and again in December 2011. The research is also informed by ten years of regular ethnographic fieldwork in Northeast India itself, primarily in Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland. The author established rapport, lived and interacted with his respondent in order to understand their everyday experiences and realities. In Delhi, the author lived in a North easterner’s neighbourhood, travelled with tribal migrants around the city and conducted interviews and conversations in the places where tribal migrants live, work and study. Delhi was chosen as the universe of study to understand the problem of tribal migration for three reasons: First, it has the largest community of tribal migrants outside the Northeast region, second, the tribal community in Delhi is more diverse and third, Delhi is the ultimate choice of destination for the tribals either to pursue their education or career.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12779977

Culture: A Barrier to Family Planning in the Khasi Society

Note

By Erica Kharsyntiew

Culture is the heart and soul of every society all over the world. It plays an important role in determining the shape of society as well as the lives of people belonging to that particular society. This paper attempts to show the influence that culture has on the Khasi society particularly on making family planning decisions. Not only does culture play a part, but religion as well. This is a society that has one of the highest fertility rates in India. One of the reasons behind this, maybe the influence of culture and religion. The results show that the couples are encouraged to continue to procreate because the survival of the society and the family is heavily dependent on the birth of a girl child. This paper attempts to show how society and religion affects reproduction and the attitudes towards adopting proper reproductive health care practices.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12779924

Notes on type of land ownership and indigenous
agricultural methods of the Bondo Community

Note

By Abhijit Mohanty

The interaction between human being and nature has always been reciprocal. This is apparently evident in tribal communities where there always exist a symbiotic relationship between their livelihood pursuits and the surrounding natural resource base like the forest, land, and water, out of which land is one of the vital source of livelihood for them. Agriculture followed by collection of minor forest produces are major sources for their sustenance. The present paper was an attempt to understand the pattern of land ownership and indigenous agricultural methods of the Bondo community found only in the Khairput block of Malkangiri district of Odisha. The study clearly depicts that, among the Bondo, land is considered as the most valuable tangible assets and categorised under individual and community ownership. With the age old practices, the Bondo has developed their own indigenous technique to cultivate different crops in a range of land. Hence, it is imperative to meticulously study these indigenous methods of agriculture practice by the Bondo community one of the particular vulnerable tribe of India.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12779875

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