Dolly Kikon
University of California, Santa Cruz, Anthropology, Faculty Member
Many articles written after the 2015 Dimapur Lynching failed to read sexual violence and the culture of impunity against the backdrop of the history of militarisation. There is little doubt that the law-enforcing machinery failed at their... more
Many articles written after the 2015 Dimapur Lynching failed to read sexual violence and the culture of impunity against the backdrop of the history of militarisation. There is little doubt that the law-enforcing machinery failed at their job. However, judging Naga society as a xenophobic collective that reacted on mere suspicion of sexual violence, falls short of addressing the core issue of sexual violence and the culture of impunity. By placing the violent Dimapur Lynching as an opening vignette of this monograph on the experiences of survivors of sexual violence in Dimapur, I explore three important points. First, Kikon describes the everyday lives of survivors of sexual violence, and highlight how their experiences and trauma cut across ethnic community, class and religion in the city of Dimapur. Secondly, Kikon explains how testimonies of survivors and the existing culture of impunity need to be understood within a context of power relations, inequality, and poverty in a militarised society. Finally, recognising the ongoing advocacy work to rehabilitate survivors in Nagaland, this monograph traces the cultural debates on domestic and sexual violence and highlights how women’s rights and gender justice is often perceived as a threat to the existing social order in Naga society.
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Indian studies, Race and Ethnicity, Gender Equality, and 15 moreNagaland, Northeast India, Indigenous Peoples, Gender And Violence, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Indian History, State, AFSPA, Ethnicity and National Identity, Sexual Violence and Impunity, AFSPA, 1958; Internal Security; National Security, Culture of Impunity, Indian Laws, Militarism and Militarisation, and Dimapur
In this book, we bring together resource persons, students, and researchers working across the region, and, in doing so, we hope to facilitate new ways of learning together. The Eastern Himalayas are commonly characterised as a... more
In this book, we bring together resource persons, students, and researchers working across the region, and, in doing so, we hope to facilitate new ways of learning together. The Eastern Himalayas are commonly characterised as a biodiversity hotspot, and this also applies to agrobiodiversity. In one village, it is not uncommon to find a large number of landraces cultivated over centuries.
Like many ethnographic researchers, our ongoing work on food sovereignty
is grounded in our respective engagement with scholarship,
initiatives, and community-centred dialogues in the Eastern Himalayas. It
is a challenging task to comprehend the rapid transformation both in terms
of scale and operation across the region. This is where conversations with
scholars, farmers, policy makers, activists, and community knowledge
keepers in Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Northeast India encouraged us
to focus on the depth and texture of everyday lives, practices, and activities.
There were seeds and crops we saw in the weekly markets, across
households, and also in the farms. And then, there were seeds and crops we
witnessed in museums, offices, seed banks, family kitchens, and storehouses.
Considered significant and ordinary simultaneously, the seed collectors were
state officials, scientists, farmers, students, and community leaders. The story of seeds for the future were associated with agriculture, crops, and community history. Some of our interlocutors referred to seeds as community heritage, others defined it as the value and container of our future. Prioritising local and regional land use and food production across the Eastern Himalayas, our research asks how and to what extent do traditional food crops and knowledge systems shape present subsistence strategies among upland communities. Across the Eastern Himalayan region, seed initiatives undertaken by Indigenous communities are greeted with interest and enthusiasm. This book spotlights these initiatives and activism.
Like many ethnographic researchers, our ongoing work on food sovereignty
is grounded in our respective engagement with scholarship,
initiatives, and community-centred dialogues in the Eastern Himalayas. It
is a challenging task to comprehend the rapid transformation both in terms
of scale and operation across the region. This is where conversations with
scholars, farmers, policy makers, activists, and community knowledge
keepers in Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Northeast India encouraged us
to focus on the depth and texture of everyday lives, practices, and activities.
There were seeds and crops we saw in the weekly markets, across
households, and also in the farms. And then, there were seeds and crops we
witnessed in museums, offices, seed banks, family kitchens, and storehouses.
Considered significant and ordinary simultaneously, the seed collectors were
state officials, scientists, farmers, students, and community leaders. The story of seeds for the future were associated with agriculture, crops, and community history. Some of our interlocutors referred to seeds as community heritage, others defined it as the value and container of our future. Prioritising local and regional land use and food production across the Eastern Himalayas, our research asks how and to what extent do traditional food crops and knowledge systems shape present subsistence strategies among upland communities. Across the Eastern Himalayan region, seed initiatives undertaken by Indigenous communities are greeted with interest and enthusiasm. This book spotlights these initiatives and activism.
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For a city in India's northeast that has been embroiled in the everyday militarization and violence of Asia's longest-running separatist conflict, Dimapur remains 'off the map'. With no 'glorious' past or arenas where events of... more
For a city in India's northeast that has been embroiled in the everyday militarization and violence of Asia's longest-running separatist conflict, Dimapur remains 'off the map'. With no 'glorious' past or arenas where events of consequence to mainstream India have taken place, Dimapur's essence is experienced in oral histories of events, visual archives of the everyday life, lived reality of military occupation, and anxieties produced in making urban space out of tribal space. Ceasefire City captures the dynamics of Dimapur. It brings together the fragmented sensibilities granted and contested in particular spaces and illustrates the embodied experiences of the city. The first part explores military presence, capitalist growth, and urban expansion in Dimapur. The second part presents an ethnographic account of lived realities and the meanings that are forged in a frontier city.
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During the last decade, indigenous youth from Northeast India have migrated in large numbers to the main cities of metropolitan India to find work and to study. The migration is facilitated by new work opportunities in the hospitality... more
During the last decade, indigenous youth from Northeast India have migrated in large numbers to the main cities of metropolitan India to find work and to study. The migration is facilitated by new work opportunities in the hospitality sector, mainly as service personnel in luxury hotels, shopping malls, restaurants and airlines. Prolonged armed conflicts, militarization, a stagnant economy, corrupt and ineffective governance structures, and the harsh conditions of subsistence agriculture in their home villages or small towns impel the youth to seek opportunities outside their home region. English language skills, a general cosmopolitan outlook as well as a non-Indian physical appearance have proven to be key assets in securing work within the new hospitality industry. Leaving the Land traces the migratory journeys of these youths and engage with their new lives in cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Thiruvananthapuram.
Research Interests: Military History, Racial and Ethnic Politics, Youth Studies, Hospitality Studies, Migration, and 10 moreUrban Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Migration Studies, Northeast India, Race And Ethnicity (in ) migration of indigenous people, Indigenous Peoples, History of Race and Ethnicity, Tourism and Hospitality Education, Critical Youth Studies, and Affect Studies and Affective Labour
Many articles written after the 2015 Dimapur Lynching failed to read sexual violence and the culture of impunity against the backdrop of the history of militarisation. There is little doubt that the law-enforcing machinery failed at their... more
Many articles written after the 2015 Dimapur Lynching failed to read sexual violence and the culture of impunity against the backdrop of the history of militarisation. There is little doubt that the law-enforcing machinery failed at their job. However, judging Naga society as a xenophobic collective that reacted on mere suspicion of sexual violence, falls short of addressing the core issue of sexual violence and the culture of impunity. By placing the violent Dimapur Lynching as an opening vignette of this monograph on the experiences of survivors of sexual violence in Dimapur, I explore three important points. First, Kikon describes the everyday lives of survivors of sexual violence, and highlight how their experiences and trauma cut across ethnic community, class and religion in the city of Dimapur. Secondly, Kikon explains how testimonies of survivors and the existing culture of impunity need to be understood within a context of power relations, inequality, and poverty in a militarised society. Finally, recognising the ongoing advocacy work to rehabilitate survivors in Nagaland, this monograph traces the cultural debates on domestic and sexual violence and highlights how women’s rights and gender justice is often perceived as a threat to the existing social order in Naga society.
Research Interests:
Lemon farming promoted as rehabilitation programs in western Assam has generated income for villages that were deeply affected by ethnic conflict in the 1990s. Rehabilitation is tied to an economic logic linked with the market and a... more
Lemon farming promoted as rehabilitation programs in western Assam has generated income for villages that were deeply affected by ethnic conflict in the 1990s. Rehabilitation is tied to an economic logic linked with the market and a profit-driven measure of development. In the absence of an official reconciliation process on the ground, these economic initiatives have become an ambitious and attractive model for the Indian state to rebuild societies that have witnessed violent ethnic conflicts in Northeast India. Drawing from fieldwork carried out between 2016 and 2019 around Manas National Park, an area within the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts in western Assam, this article examines the experiences and impacts of lemon farming and focuses on practices of rehabilitation on the ground. The process of restoration includes communities living in the villages and the animals inside the park simultaneously. We show how communities are seeking to create connections with the land and their surroundings to overcome trauma and rebuild their lives. Specifically, we focus on lemon farming and the experiences of human–elephants relationships in Manas to highlight how these accounts produce an integrative account of rehabilitation in post-conflict societies. In the backdrop of militarization and structural violence, rehabilitating communities and animals is not a straightforward story. It entails proposing new theoretical frameworks to understand how reconstructing lives and the land is also about transforming relationships between humans and animals under circumstances that are often challenging. Ongoing lemon farming practices and living with elephants in Assam requires envisioning ways of belonging and living on the land and at the same time recognizing the boundaries.
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In Nagaland, state attempts to control coal mining are framed as efforts to stop practices labelled 'unscientific' by the government. In this article we explore the ways in which communities create their own mining infrastructure built on... more
In Nagaland, state attempts to control coal mining are framed as efforts to stop practices labelled 'unscientific' by the government. In this article we explore the ways in which communities create their own mining infrastructure built on networks of relations-materialised in Englishlanguage documents-and everyday technology-demonstrated in the prevalence of old trucks and improvised machinery. These objects enable livelihoods and supplementary incomes in this region. At the same time, they are also ways of challenging state attempts to control natural resources and for tribal communities to make claims on territory. We focus on coal mining infrastructure, technology and territorial claims in a frontier described variously as remote, inaccessible and underdeveloped, and explore the ways in which practices considered 'unscientific' endure and undergird an alternative system of community natural resource management and exploitation.
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'Nationalism' among the Nagas and the struggle for 'Nagalim' has, in the half-century since the 1951 Naga referendum witnessed several shifts and changing phases. While definitions of 'freedom' and 'self-determination' may differ, and... more
'Nationalism' among the Nagas and the struggle for 'Nagalim' has, in the half-century since the 1951 Naga referendum witnessed several shifts and changing phases. While definitions of 'freedom' and 'self-determination' may differ, and there is at present a plethora of Naga representative bodies, there is nevertheless broad agreement among Nagas, like with other movements in the north-east, of the hegemonic power of the Indian state. Governments at the centre have, by turns, adopted a policy of nzilitarisation and of extending grants to a small section of the local elite that it has co-opted in the task of governance. Any resolution of conflicts in the north-east, including the Naga one, could begin when both sides negotiate from a position of equals, and by an end to the process of militarisation that has tended to largely view dissent as a sign of subversion and anti-nationalism.
Bans on coal mining have been implemented in two tribal majority states in India's north-east frontier; Nagaland and Meghalaya. In Nagaland the state government imposed the ban in an attempt to capture control of coal extraction and... more
Bans on coal mining have been implemented in two tribal majority states in India's north-east frontier; Nagaland and Meghalaya. In Nagaland the state government imposed the ban in an attempt to capture control of coal extraction and trade, while in Meghalaya India's National Green Commission imposed the ban over concern for the environment and labour conditions. In both cases local communities have opposed the bans, and in some areas resumed mining under the authority of tribal councils and powerful civil society actors. In this paper we explore the politics of coal extraction that resulted in these bans and the response of communities and authorities. In doing so we made three main arguments that contribute to understanding of coal and communities in frontier regions where state control is partial and the legacy of armed conflict is powerful. First, in both locations the majority of the coal mining activity has been initiated and managed by members of tribal communities rather than profit-driven outsiders. Second, in contrast to other contexts in India (notably Orissa and Jharkhand) where large state or private enterprises seek to modify the law to enable coal extraction, in Nagaland and Meghalaya it has been communities that resent and challenge state and national laws being applied to their lands. Third, the right to extract coal is connected to the right of tribal communities to determine what happens on their lands.
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This essay draws from my ethnographic fieldwork in Northeast India and examines how identities are mediated through fermented food like bamboo shoot. These shoots come in different textures and forms: wet chunky pieces, sun-dried and... more
This essay draws from my ethnographic fieldwork in Northeast India and examines how identities are mediated through fermented food like bamboo shoot. These shoots come in different textures and forms: wet chunky pieces, sun-dried and stringy threads, smoked and curly strands. Our relationship with fermented food, as this essay highlights, determine how we organize, move, and order our lives, contributing to the creation of differences and alliances. At a time when we witness a global movement on fermenting cultures and the microbial world, this essay locates small-scale nonindustrial fermentation practices among communities across Northeast India. Exploring the significant role of food in shaping taste, practices, and politics on the ground, I show how fermenting cultures shape citizenship practices and identities. By highlighting narratives and representations of fermented food, this essay brings the extraordinarily varied and dense worlds of fermenting cultures and highlights the associative relationship between fermented food and communities.
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In this article, I explore notions of modernity, citizenship, belonging and transgressions in South Asia through the fermented food, akhuni. Fermented soya beans, popularly known as akhuni in Nagaland, a state in Northeast India with a... more
In this article, I explore notions of modernity, citizenship, belonging and transgressions in South Asia through the fermented food, akhuni. Fermented soya beans, popularly known as akhuni in Nagaland, a state in Northeast India with a majority tribal population, has a distinct pungent aroma and taste. This food is relished across the eastern Himalayan societies, including Nagaland, but routinely causes conflict between akhuni consumers and those who find the smell revolting. In 2007, due to increasing akhuni conflict in New Delhi, the Delhi police produced a handbook t hat cautions students and workers from Northeast India and eastern Himalayan societies that they should refrain from cooking akhuni and other fermented foods. Such official directives reiterate how the state plays a significant role in legitimising or prohibiting certain foods that particular social groups in contemporary India consume, relegating these communities to a remote position in the national social and culinary order. Against the backdrop of such friction, this article examines why akhuni consumers of the eastern Himalayan societies assert that eating fermented food is an integral part of their culture and history. Conversations about eating cultures, I argue, have to be understood as expressions of resistance, negotiation and the anxieties of striving to be a modern tribal in contemporary India.
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In a recruitment centre in Dimapur, Nagaland, indigenous youth are trained for employment as service personnel in luxury hotels, restaurants and airlines. Most of them are unemployed, seeking new future prospects outside the region and... more
In a recruitment centre in Dimapur, Nagaland, indigenous youth are trained for employment as service personnel in luxury hotels, restaurants and airlines. Most of them are unemployed, seeking new future prospects outside the region and the harsh existence of subsistence agriculture. English language skills, a general cosmopolitan outlook and their fair complexion have proven key assets in securing work within the new hospitality industry. In this article, we deal with the activities at the recruitment centre itself, looking at the skill sets – the ‘soft skills’ – and habitus that the instructors try to instill in the participants to make them employable. We apply the notion of ‘affective labour’. Such labour is all about care, or more precisely in this context, caring for customers. But care also has a wider resonance in the lives of the young migrants, that is, to care for the family, community and ancestral lands back home.
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Militarisation and structural violence under the Armed Forces Specials Powers Act (AFSPA) is tied to a strong moral framework to proselytise recalcitrant citizens. Deploying Jacque Derrida's point that law is not justice, this paper... more
Militarisation and structural violence under the Armed Forces Specials Powers Act (AFSPA) is tied to a strong moral framework to proselytise recalcitrant citizens. Deploying Jacque Derrida's point that law is not justice, this paper highlights how the pursuit of justice within the framework of law is a challenging task. Interrogating the contentions around what constitutes 'justice' under the AFSPA, this paper exposes how states legitimise lawlessness through draconian laws like the AFSPA. In this manner, lawlessness is established as a precedent for states to reproduce forms of lawless regimes and undemocratic mechanisms. This paper proposes that along with the campaigns to repeal the AFSPA, we need to reflect upon what kind of justice we seek. Repressive and discriminatory regimes of law, government or practice survive even after they have been formally dismantled. Here, both the state and its citizens negotiate reality regarding the limits of justice in their own way. For the Indian state, it has had to constantly over-extend its coercive powers in order to control the situation. While for its citizens who live under the AFSPA, such a reality is not only a matter of concern but it also redefines their position as citizens/subjects, to the extent that they question the very foundations of democracy, the language of rights and the unsatisfied appeal of justice. Their negotiations are a reminder that the state apparatus' exercise of power has largely remained unchanged in Northeast India. Despite the framing of rights - be they as part of colonial edicts or postcolonial constitutions - there are spaces where the limits of this discourse are constantly questioned. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.
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Presents a critical analysis of education policy in Indian-administered Nagaland. Role of culture as a determining factor in the dynamics of the Naga nationality movement; Ambiguity of the political responses of nation-states to ethnic... more
Presents a critical analysis of education policy in Indian-administered Nagaland. Role of culture as a determining factor in the dynamics of the Naga nationality movement; Ambiguity of the political responses of nation-states to ethnic demands; Preclusion of the possibility of an imaginative sense of history for Naga students in the creation of a 'new' Naga identity; Notion of a problematic collective self upon which state policies are initiated.
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The 3 August meeting between Naga leaders and Government of India representatives is a step towards seeking a solution to the Naga issue. Those who are sceptical about the Framework Agreement that has been signed have obvious questions on... more
The 3 August meeting between Naga leaders and Government of India representatives is a step towards seeking a solution to the Naga issue. Those who are sceptical about the Framework Agreement that has been signed have obvious questions on their minds. Who are the groups of people and classes that fi nd comfort in the idea of a unique Naga history and culture? What is so threatening about the idea of shared sovereignty? Will poor Nagas and their neighbours be able to raise the issue of an equitable redistribution of resources? Perhaps the answers to such questions will dislodge the rhetoric of a unique history and culture and push us towards demanding a just future and a concrete political deal.
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Development projects in the North East are packaged as economic interventions to improve the lives of people, but are detached from militarised ground realities. These initiatives to rebuild post-conflict societies mainly focus on... more
Development projects in the North East are packaged as economic interventions to improve the lives of people, but are detached from militarised ground realities. These initiatives to rebuild post-conflict societies mainly focus on training entrepreneurs and promoting livelihood schemes while overlooking how violence has transformed the very foundation of these societies. Generalising from the example of a workshop on food preservation in Nagaland that had no participants, this paper points out that governance should be rooted in the political and social history of a place - it should not be categorised as a time-bound crisis management project.
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In the last decade, large numbers of indigenous youth from the uplands of Northeast India have migrated to metropolitan cities across the country. Many end up in the new service sector, getting jobs in high-end restaurants, shopping malls... more
In the last decade, large numbers of indigenous youth from the uplands of Northeast India have migrated to metropolitan cities across the country. Many end up in the new service sector, getting jobs in high-end restaurants, shopping malls and spas. The demand for their labour is due to their un-Indian ‘exotic Asian’ appearance and a reputation for being hardworking and loyal. Such labour market value is a remarkable reversal of their position considering the earlier colonial stereotypes of their savagery and disobedience, reproduced through the de-politicisation of their armed insurrections during the post-colonial period. This paper addresses their daily experiences of vulnerability and marginality as well as the freedom and aspirations that a migratory life seem to engender.
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In this article, I focus on the social life of vernacular human rights culture in Northeast India and present three ethnographic accounts about experiences of human rights from the region. Often engagements about human rights with... more
In this article, I focus on the social life of vernacular human rights culture in Northeast India and present three ethnographic accounts about experiences of human rights from the region. Often engagements about human rights with different audiences – from policy makers, activists, academics, and grassroots organisations – quickly fall into two categories. Those who look out draw from international institutions like the United Nations and similar rights policies and regulations. While the second group, those who look in, connects with social and political movements in their local contexts. However, no categories are neat. Highlighting everyday experiences of human rights activities in Northeast India, this essay describes the ethics and challenges of engaging with notions of human rights in militarised societies like Northeast India.
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This article examines how adivasis in Assam assert their sense of belonging to the land. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted along the foothills bordering Assam and Nagaland, I present the everyday lives of adivasi villagers in a... more
This article examines how adivasis in Assam assert their sense of belonging to the land. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted along the foothills bordering Assam and Nagaland, I present the everyday lives of adivasi villagers in a militarised landscape and examine how adivasi belonging and identity are constructed in a political milieu where ideas of indigeneity and territoriality are deeply internalised. I look into how adivasi accounts highlight the weaving together of the histories of the tea plantations and social alliances with neighbours in the villages. I argue that these narratives are used to assert rights and claim an identity of belonging. Specifically focusing on adivasi accounts situated outside the tea plantations in Assam, this article seeks to contribute towards scholarship about everyday practices of belonging, memory and social relations in Northeast India and beyond.
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This article focuses on the pathways of indigenous migrants from Northeast India and examines their lives as workers in the hospitality industry. Experiences of indigenous migrants allows us to study emerging trends of indigenous mobility... more
This article focuses on the pathways of indigenous migrants from Northeast India and examines their lives as workers in the hospitality industry. Experiences of indigenous migrants allows us to study emerging trends of indigenous mobility and consumption in India. Indigenous migration from Northeast India is distinct because it is a movement away from a slash-and-burn subsistence agriculture and a sense of belonging determined by ethnic politics focused on autonomous homelands. In addition, experiences of indigenous migrants from the highlands of Northeast India with their un-Indian looks and their English-language skills present them as desirable workers in the hospitality industry.
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Morom captures multiple emotions and relations, and is not limited to romantic love or affection. It refers to relations of patronage between servant and master; bonding between friends; attachment and care between parents and children as... more
Morom captures multiple emotions and relations, and is not limited to romantic love or affection. It refers to relations of patronage between servant and master; bonding between friends; attachment and care between parents and children as well as the relationship between the state and the public, or lust, attraction and adoration between lovers. In addition, mercy, gratitude, sympathy, grace, compassion and charity are all encompassed as acts of morom. I met lovers and spouses who shared stories of abuse and violence, but layered their tortured lives in the language of sacrifice, and came across names of places and landmarks identified as sites of love.
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Politics in some parts of India operates more often through, and in response to, coercion and repression than democratic legality and participation. This is particularly the case in the Northeast, in Kashmir, and in the Maoist-controlled... more
Politics in some parts of India operates more often through, and in response to, coercion and repression than democratic legality and participation. This is particularly the case in the Northeast, in Kashmir, and in the Maoist-controlled parts of central India. And yet, such armed conflicts are often left out of accounts of India’s democracy. In the conflict zones, the rule of law is sometimes close to absent; sometimes it is violently enforced with impunity by police forces, paramilitaries and the army; sometimes it is co-opted by rebels; and sometimes it is imposed with exceptional powers for the purposes of militarisation rather than democratisation – all with the hollowing out of citizenship as its consequence. While Sundar and Kikon interrogate the human suffering that arises from counter-insurgency and conflict, they also raise important questions about the role of writing in foregrounding narratives of a different kind – narratives that might enable a different kind of politics in India’s conflict zones. A politics of the future. A politics of hope.
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During my fieldwork in the foothill border of Assam and Nagaland between 2007 and 2011, many people invited me to their homes and villages. I sat in Naga villages listening to conversations about spirits and black magic, drank sweet tea... more
During my fieldwork in the foothill border of Assam and Nagaland between 2007 and 2011, many people invited me to their homes and villages. I sat in Naga villages listening to conversations about spirits and black magic, drank sweet tea in Adivasi homes recording the history of their villages and ate tenga maas (sour fish curry) with Assamese coal traders in Gelekey as they reminisced about friendships and seasons. Initially, I often asked them about the Assam-Nagaland border conflict, but gradually realised how such questions appeared to be ‘out of place’ in the social conversations we were having. Why was locating the border in the foothills challenging in our everyday conversations?
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The possession of land and the control of territory are transcendental features defining the viability of human societies. When the possession of land is con- tested, conflicts are virtually inevitable and lethal violence is not an... more
The possession of land and the control of territory are transcendental features defining the viability of human societies. When the possession of land is con- tested, conflicts are virtually inevitable and lethal violence is not an unusual outcome. There are multiple ways to approach this topic; this study focuses on the conflicts that have arisen between indigenous peoples who occupy and have longstanding claims on land, and influxes of immigrant settlers seeking land they hope will lead to a better life.
The aim of this essay is to argue that these sorts of conflicts have certain features in common that transcend space and time. We begin by providing an outline of the etiology of these conflicts. Following this outline, we present two case studies; one that took place in the 19th century and that was largely settled by the early 20th century. The second is very much in the present; a conflict that is unfolding in the 21st century.
The first instance takes place inwhat is now theUnited States and involved the
struggle for land between various American Indian tribes as they clashed with settlers; some newly arrived from Europe and others of European descent. The second case study is taking place today in northeast India as immigrants, often undocumented, have moved into this region from Bangladesh and other nation- states in the area seeking employment as unskilled labor in agriculture and other industries.
The aim of this essay is to argue that these sorts of conflicts have certain features in common that transcend space and time. We begin by providing an outline of the etiology of these conflicts. Following this outline, we present two case studies; one that took place in the 19th century and that was largely settled by the early 20th century. The second is very much in the present; a conflict that is unfolding in the 21st century.
The first instance takes place inwhat is now theUnited States and involved the
struggle for land between various American Indian tribes as they clashed with settlers; some newly arrived from Europe and others of European descent. The second case study is taking place today in northeast India as immigrants, often undocumented, have moved into this region from Bangladesh and other nation- states in the area seeking employment as unskilled labor in agriculture and other industries.
The mission to civilize the “savage” Naga headhunters inhabiting the Northeastern frontier of India was accidental. The primary concern for the British administration was centered on protecting their lucrative tea trade and oil... more
The mission to civilize the “savage” Naga headhunters inhabiting the Northeastern frontier of India was accidental. The primary concern for the British administration was centered on protecting their lucrative tea trade and oil explorations in the Brahmaputra valley. Colonial regulations and expeditions systematically encroached upon community lands for tea plantations and pushed back the Nagas into the hills. The Naga Hills were declared Excluded Areas, which restricted movements of both outsiders entering the hills and the Nagas from coming out of these enclosures. Such regulations cut off trade and communication with the neighboring communities. Instead, military barracks, educational institutions, and mission churches came up in Naga villages. What was the process of conquering and educating the “Naked” Nagas? Was there any clash of interests between the British administration and the American missionaries? Most importantly, how did the Nagas see the transition of power in 1947? Have postcolonial nation-building processes been accommodative of the histories of peripheral regions? These are some of the questions that animate this chapter.
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Was bedeutet Geschlecht? Und was bedeutet Gerechtigkeit? Was hat in der Gesellschaft der Nagas den höheren Stellenwert, und wie ist das zu verstehen? Wie in vielen nationalistisch geprägten Gesellschaften waren Frauenrechte und... more
Was bedeutet Geschlecht? Und was bedeutet Gerechtigkeit? Was hat in der Gesellschaft der Nagas den höheren Stellenwert, und wie ist das zu verstehen? Wie in vielen nationalistisch geprägten Gesellschaften waren Frauenrechte und Geschlechtergerechtigkeit auchbei den Nagas lange Zeit Randthemen. Uns wurde gesagt, diese Themen könnten warten bis unser Volk die Freiheit erlangt hätte, für die es kämpft. Welche Bedeutung hätte es gehabt, unter diesen Umständen den Frauen der Nagas irgendeine Art von Rechten zuzugestehen? Solange Begriffe wie Frauenrechte und Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter für einflussreiche, traditionelle Organisationen der Nagas negativ besetzt sind, bleiben sie bedeutungslos. Ob das so bestehen bleibt, dieser Frage geht der Text mit Hintergrundinformationen nach.