Papers presented at the Seminar on "Ethnicity, Culture, and Nationalism: Problems in the Context of North-East India", held in Sept. 1995 at the North Eastern Hill University.

Communications présentées à une conférence organisée par le North-East India Council for Social Science Research, les 5-6 décembre 1986.

Papers presented at the Seminar on the Problems of Ethnicity in the North-East India, held in 2006 in New Delhi, organized by Astha Bharati.

Dr. N.K. Das had the privilege of conducting systematic social anthrpological research in Nagaland and other regions of North-eAst during 1976-88. Based on the material thus collected, Dr. Das has critically examined the ethno-historical and socio-political processes and factors causing ethnic conflict in sensitive North-East India. Using anthropological insight and historical anlaysis of pre-state segmentary social system among the Zounuo-Keyhonuo Naga, and examines the processes of state formation among the Ahom, Kachari, Meitei, Jaintia, Koch, Karbi and Khasi tribes in time and space dimensions. Other crucial subject matters discussed in this pioneering work are 'concept of tribe' fallacy of unilineal descent theory', 'matriliny to patriliny', 'peasantization','Inequality', `slavery', `social-stratification',`sanskritzation', `Christinaity', `Naga', `Mizo', `(Udayachal) Assam', `GNLF', `TNV', `Karbi',`Bodo' movements, and cultural revivalism.

Contributed articles presented at the Seminar on Ethnic Issues, Secularism, and Conflict Resolution in North-East India held at Shillong during 25-26 April, 2001.

Examines how oral culture provided a platform to people in shaping the discourse of Mizo nationalism.

"Ethnic Life-worlds in North-East India: An Analysis" draws upon the phenomenological notion of the life-world to understand the culturally-embedded construction of communities, for whom the lived experience of cultural politics constitutes their identity. It analyses the cultural and political determinants of ethnic- and identity-oriented struggles in India's North-East, as well as the cultural politics of ethnic mobilizations in the region. Such mobilizations are an attempt to construct a self-identity distinct from that constructed by the state - both colonial and post-colonial India - which becomes a source of concern for the latter with regard to its achieving legitimacy and development in the region.While both the state and insurgent groups carve out their distinct ideological and political agenda on to the life-world of the North-East, it is at the point of diversion that the struggle for establishing such agenda falls into the trappings of constitutional determinism. This book analyses the articulation of ethnic politics in North-East India that takes into account moves for integration, as well as apparent differences. In doing so, it critically examines two major insurgent outfits of the region - NSCN and ULFA. It also discusses struggles launched by the Naga and Assamese people and develops a neologism of nations-from-below, arguing that one needs to take into account the concrete totality of the people's lived experiences.It bases this analysis on a critical discussion of the colonial construction of tribal identity and its post-colonial critique. Thought-provoking and analytical, this book opens a new window to the study of India's North-East, which will intrigue students and scholars across various disciplines of development studies, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, political science and ethnic studies, and will be of interest to policy-makers, NGOs and global humanitarian communities.