Book Reviews 329 Haynes, D., McGowan, A., Roy, T., & Yanagisawa, H (Eds.). (2010). Towards a history of consumption in South Asia. Oxford University Press. Hussain, M. (2021). Combining global expertise with local knowledge in colonial India: Selling ideals of beauty and health in commodity advertising (c1900–1949). South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 44(5), 926–947. https://doi.org/10.1080/00856 401.2021.196859 Kaur, H. (2010). Of soaps and scents: Corporeal cleanliness in urban colonial India. In Douglas Haynes et al. (Eds.), Towards a history of consumption in South Asia. Oxford University Press. McClintock, A. (1995). Imperial leather: Race, gender and sexuality in the colonial contest. Routledge. Prasad, S. (2015). Cultural politics of hygiene in India, 1890–1940: Contagions of feeling. Palgrave MacMillan. Suchismita Chattopadhyay Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Krea University, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, India E-mail: suchismita.chattopadhyay@graduateinstitute.ch Jelle J. P. Wouters (Ed.), Vernacular Politics in Northeast India: Democracy, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), 413 pp. `1,795, ISBN: 978-0-19-286346-1 (Hardback). DOI: 10.1177/09731741231174288 This volume is a welcome addition to the growing scholarship on the region known as North-east India. A renewed focus on the region in the past two decades has witnessed publications on sociopolitical and historical aspects endeavouring to understand the current dynamics of the region. However, when it comes to (electoral) political analysis of India as a country, Wouters rightly points out that the North-east region is left out (p. ix). Perhaps parliamentary democracy and its entanglements with regional sociopolitics are less understood. The different ways in which power relations, decision-making, consensus building and cosmopolitics play out in the North-east are perhaps embedded in the chequered history of the region, which is an intertwining of the flow and movement of populations and their changing relationships alternating between reciprocation and subjugation, and animosity and rebellion. The history of the region is of various kingdoms and the movement of people from Bengal to the cultivable land around the Brahmaputra river (p. 18) from precolonial, colonial to post-colonial times (Baruah, 1999, 2021), and has contributed to the ever-changing demographics of the region and the current anxieties of citizenship (p. 268). The Burmese invasion of Assam and the Anglo-Burmese treaty of Yandabo in 1826 became a turning point in the history of the region. The ‘Northeast’ gradually became a British colonial resource frontier with the discovery of oil, coal, timber and the establishment of tea plantations (Baruah, 2005; Guha, 1991; Hilaly, 2007). The division of British India in 1947 into India and 330 Book Reviews West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) resulted in a narrow corridor at Siliguri that joined the Indian ‘mainland’ with its North-eastern region (p. 4). This absurdity of cartography adds to the ‘remoteness’ of the region and it being envisaged as a frontier (Joshi, 2013). Locally, however, the region may be ‘viewed as a central meeting place of several historical communities and narratives’ (Saikia, 2006, p. 37). Wouters argues that the dialectics between ‘local politics’ and constitutional ‘exceptionality’ underscores the relationship between the ‘centre’ and the ‘peripheral’ north-east (p. 5). The Sixth Schedule is seen as a continued imposition of the British policy of exclusivity by the Indian state (p. 19). Contrary to Wouters’ view, it was the result of the efforts of Rev J. J. M. Nichols Roy, a Khasi member of the Constituent Assembly, who debated in favour of the implementation of the Sixth Schedule which was drafted largely by him. It was instrumental in the formation of autonomous regions within Assam with special provisions (pp. 20–21). Ethnic unrest in the region after Indian independence and subsequent negotiations to address it, pushed for the creation of the states of Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Even though the states participate in ‘democratic’ legislative and parliamentary elections conducted by the Indian state, the reorganization of the region has been fraught with nationalistic movements. In the substantial introduction, Wouters delineates the central themes of the book—‘ethnicity, democracy, and indigeneity’ (p. 6), which are explored within the theoretical framework of citizenship, performance, ethno-territoriality, millenarism and charisma. The 13 interdisciplinary essays written by anthropologists, historians and geographers unravel ways in which the political is expressed by different groups within the confines of a nation state. The people of the region speak languages, ranging from Indo-Aryan, SinoTibetan, Tibeto-Burman to Mon-Khmer (van Schendel, 2002). They practice religions that vary from local animistic and spiritual to variations of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. The economy comprises subsistence, agrarian, plantation and extractive modes. But what form does local politics take? What were/are the vernacular processes of debate, consensus-making, creation of authority and protests against authoritarian regimes, and to what extent have such processes continued through the pre-colonial, colonial and present post-colonial periods? Raijmel meetings provoked peasant protests against land revenue in colonial times and were declared an illegal ‘alternative authority’ (p. 64). The Raijmel or public assembly had become a rarity during the tumultuous 1990s (p. 77) but has since been revived in the Karbi Autonomous Region as a form of participatory governance for resolving disputes through deliberations and consensus. Positioned outside the formal political institutions of village governance, such ethno-polity could be envisaged as ‘both authority-driven and subaltern’ (pp. 62–63, Dowdy, Chapter 2). Rajmala, a verse text that chronicles the history of Tripura, invokes within it the concept of polycentric distribution of power, which implies that a tyrannical, non-righteous ruler could be overthrown by the people, a form of politics analysable as a ‘non- European precursor to democracy’ (pp. 89–90, Banerjee, Chapter 3). In the multi-ethnic state, the changing relationship between Tripuri rulers, the Book Reviews 331 highland communities and Bengali immigrants was pivotal in forming political alliances and rebellions leading to long-term communist party rule and its eventual defeat by a Hindu majority party. Under the overarching umbrella of constitutional democracy in the ethnically carved out north-eastern states, a large proportion of seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes. This creates a hegemony as well as internal competition between communities that strive to create a place for themselves by forming pressure groups to attain the coveted Scheduled Tribe status and territorial autonomy. In the Buddhist border districts of Arunachal Pradesh, the Buddhist monks participate in electoral politics in order to fulfil the territorial aspirations of creating an Autonomous Region in which cultural preservation and development activities will be under their control instead of the state’s non-Buddhist majority (Gohain, Chapter 5). In Mizoram, where assembly seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, the majoritarian politics marginalizes the non-Mizo minorities. Civil organizations demand their non-inclusion in electoral politics. Having been compelled to move across the state borders into Tripura for their safety, minority communities, like the Chakmas (who took refuge in India from Bangladesh), find themselves on the verge of losing their franchise (Pachuau, Chapter 6). Moreover, electoral politics plays out in the displacement of electorate within the Autonomous Region as a result of communal conflicts over land rights and citizenships. In Manipur, the ethnic conflicts between Kuki and Naga, Meiteis and Pangals and Paites and Thado-Kuki (p. 190), and their internal displacement, resulted in a drop in population numbers of particular ethnic groups in some districts and an increase in others. But it did not lead to delimitation of assembly seats, thus affecting the representations of these groups in the legislative assembly (Haokip, Chapter 7). In the Bodoland Territorial Region, people from a numerically larger religious group find themselves in a minority status due to not being ‘indigenous’ in the politics of seat reservation for Scheduled Tribes. Afraid of losing their citizenship, the internally displaced Muslims do not transfer their voting registration to new settlements (Sharma, Chapter 4). The National Register of Citizenship and the cutting off date of 1971, which refers to the creation of Bangladesh and with it an influx of refugees into the North-east region, has created a bias against those (especially Muslims) who are unable to produce documents to prove their citizenship status, creating a constant sense of anxiety (Deka, Chapter 11). The movement of people within the state, and across national and international borders impacts the outcome of local elections and, by extension, access to state largess. Evident in the protests and marginalization of certain ‘minority groups’ is a fear of numbers (Appadurai, 2006). While constitutional democracy may have become ‘normal’ in North-east India, ethno-politics continues to find expression in different forms of dissent. The Naga peoples’ protracted demand for sovereignty, a movement which has witnessed divisions, factional fighting and killings, has over the years transformed into a vision for a Christian nation guided by prophecy as claimed by the leaders of the dominant nationalist faction and their followers (Khamrang and Wouters, Chapter 9). However, this cosmopolitical vision of a chosen people and chosen land, who hope to take God’s message forward, glosses over the efforts of 332 Book Reviews reconciliation through an apology to, and forgiveness by, the relatives of those who were killed by the nationalists (see Joshi, 2012, p. 251). Resisting this larger vision within the envisaged ‘boundaries’ of the (Protestant) Christian nation, there are Naga who follow indigenous religions as well as creating new religious cults that invoke certain older practices. A new millenarian religious group named after the charismatic leader, N. Yahoi, formerly a Konyak Naga Baptist woman church leader with a degree in theology, aims to ‘establish a new social order…by reinstituting Konyak kingship’ (p. 247). By following certain practices of fasting, prophecy, divination and celebration of a coronation feast the cult has created friction between the Baptist Church and the followers of Yahoi (Heneise, Chapter 10). In the neighbouring state of Manipur, dissatisfied with the current ethnopolitics and territorial disputes, the Meitie people speak in cosmopolitical terms of entering the epoch in which divine kingship will return in the form of an able leader, a reincarnation of Pakhangba, a mythical snake ancestor of the Meitie royal dynasty, who will resolve these disputes (Moon-Little, Chapter 9). The inability of the Meities, the dominant community, to get the benefits of affirmative action as they are not identified as Scheduled Tribe, accentuates their anxiety in the face of increased migration to the state from other regions (p. 201). Under the Sixth Schedule, communities continue to practice customary laws and indigenous forms of consensus making and resolution of disputes. While there is increased ethnic-boundary making, the fluidity of ethnicity (p. 306) has also been integral to the region where migration stories of communities point to their having reached from a place far away from the present ethnic homeland (Burlings, 2007). Population movements have resulted in incorporation of people into the dominant ethnic groups through either marriage or formal ceremonies of induction into clan membership (p. 68). Increasingly inter-ethnic marriages are coming under scrutiny with regard to land ownership (and affirmative action by the state for Scheduled Tribes) and the capitalistic economy. Among the matrilineal Khasi community of Meghalaya, the introduction of the Lineage Act Amendment Bill of 2018 (p. 290) by the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council, marginalizes women who marry a non-Khasi. While Khasi men are able to induct a non-Khasi wife into a new clan, the Khasi women, who are also traditionally the custodian of community land, lose ‘all their rights and privileges as a member of the tribe’ (p. 296) if they marry a non-Khasi. The dispute also stems from the increase in private land ownership in which community land is being converted into private land (Wahlang and Karlsson, Chapter 12). Increasingly, indigenous women are finding themselves being marginalized and subverted by patriarchal customary laws that deny them ownership of land, inheritance of property and participation in local politics (Nag, Chapter 13). Any demand for such inclusion is perceived as a threat to the customary practices of the community and, as an extension, their autonomous status. Besides territorial, ethnic and gender issues, generational difference of opinion also surface in the mosaic of conservation, development and new opportunities. In Sikkim, the younger generation of Lepcha activists promotes environmentally friendly eco-tourism while opposing the elite-led mega-hydroelectric projects. The present generation, especially the educated, who are exposed to global movements of indigeneity and environmental 333 Book Reviews conservation, are committed to protect the Indigenous Dzongu reserve but find themselves pitted against the local government which is keen to develop the infrastructure (Gergen, Chapter 14). While the North-east region is not homogenous by any account, its precolonial, colonial and post-colonial political history has continued to shape the current state of local politics. The politics of exclusivity and insider/outsider dichotomy has given rise to competition to control territory and resources. However, as Gellner points out in the afterword, ‘elections are and remain a key symbol of belonging and citizenship however contested and under question the latter may be’ (p. 360). The book brings together well-researched articles which will become essential reading in order to understand the ethno-politics of the region. However contested and imposed the political boundaries are, a general map at the beginning of the volume would have been useful to place the different states in relation to each other and the international borders. This would help the reader follow and understand the movements of designated groups and populations. ORCID iD Vibha Joshi https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0838-8448 References Appadurai, A. (2006). Fear of small number: An essay on the geography of anger. Duke University Press. Baruah, S. (1999). India against itself: Assam and the politics of nationality. University of Pennsylvania Press. Baruah, S. (2005). Durable disorder: Understanding the politics of northeast India. Oxford University Press. Baruah, S. (2021). In the name of the nation: India and its northeast. Navayana Publishing. Burlings, R. (2007). Language, ethnicity and migration in north-eastern India. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 30(3), 391–404. Guha, A. (1991). Medieval and early colonial Assam: Society, polity, economy. K P Bagchi & Co. Hilaly, S. (2007). The railways in Assam, 1885–1947. Pilgrims Publishing. Joshi, V. (2012). A matter of belief: Christian conversion and healing in north-east India. Berghahn Books. Joshi, V. (2013). The micropolitics of borders: The issue of Greater Nagaland (or Nagalim). In D. Gellner (Ed.), Borderland lives in Northern South Asia (pp. 163–193). Duke University Press. Saikia, Y. (2006). Religion, nostalgia, and memory: Making an ancient and recent TaiAhom identity in Assam and Thailand. The Journal of Asian Studies, 65(1), 33–60. Van Schendel, W. (2002). Geographies of knowing, geographies of ignorance: Jumping scale in Southeast Asia. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 20(6), 647–668. Vibha Joshi School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom E-mail: vibha.joshi@anthro.ox.ac.uk