Ethnic Life-worlds In North-east India: An Analysis

摘要

North-East India has been a largely contested space since India's independence in 1947. There has therefore been a discernible lack of understanding between the tribal societies of the North-East and the more dominant societies as regards each other's life worlds, value systems, and cultural ethos. The Indian state has also failed to create an inclusive national identity within which various communities can meaningfully co-exist. The book under review has several insights to offer into the politics and culture of this neglected part of India. The authors argue that there is logic of domination in the Indian state's construction of the national identity in the North-East, which has more to do with territorial integrity and the constitutional authority of the state and little with the ethnic life worlds of the people (life-world is described as the foundation of any society which 'presents and preserves a set of values and norms that are self evidently real'). Due to this tendency for domination, there is very little state sensitivity towards accommodating specific ethnic and cultural identities, which defy the logic of the state.