Study based on the tribal communities of Meghalaya, India.

The state of Meghalaya, formed on 21 January 1972, is a state of fascinating socio-cultural significance. Its heritage can be traced from the prehistoric times of Stone Age up to the present. Though comprising mainly of the matrilineal Khasi, Garo, and Jaintia tribes – the state also houses many other lesser known communities such as the Hajong,Sakachep, Biate, Koch, Dalu, Margnar and the Nepali. All these communities find voice in this volume. This book looks at the state of Meghalaya exhaustively from the perspective of heritage documentation and maintenance. The 38 chapters written by anthropologists and independent researchers, present the rich traditions found in the region. This volume will be of great help to academicians, researchers, students, and laymen interested in a comprehensive study of the region. Please note: This title is co-published with Manohar Publishers, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in South Asia.

Contributed seminar papers.

Dimensions of Social Exclusion focuses largely on social exclusion in the context of communities and social groups who have or have not been considered in discussing the benefits of mainstream inclusive society or development. Contemporary understanding of social exclusion has revived great interest among academics, researchers and policy makers in understanding problems from the perspectives of social exclusion. The decision to adopt the perspective of social exclusion has not been universal; rather the nature of this is very heterogeneous. In addition, the concept of social exclusion is not static; in reality, it is a process. The process is seen in the marginalization and discrimination of people in their everyday lives and interactions. The term ‘exclusion’ has become a part of the vocabulary in Europe and other developing societies like ‘poverty’ or ‘unemployment’; it is one of those words which seem to have both an everyday meaning and an underlying sense. It emphasizes the social aspects of concerns such as housing, health, employment, education, participation in social activities and festivities, social interaction and social intercourse. It excludes certain communities and groups from interaction and access to social resources through social arrangements, normative value systems and customs. Exclusion based on caste is one example and patriarchy is another, which is a form of systemic or constitutive exclusion. Having social, cultural, political and economic ramifications, it is also a complex and multi-dimensional concept. These dimensions are interwoven and are addressed in the different papers of the volume. This book revolves around the societal interventions and institutions that exclude, discriminate, isolate and deprive some groups on the basis of group identities such as caste or ethnicity. It covers a wide spectrum of societies and communities living in various cultural environments. The multidisciplinary nature of the book will render it helpful to students and researchers of sociology, anthropology, historical and political studies, demography, social work and gender studies in particular and the humanities in general.

This book revisits social theory with a view to highlighting certain essential features of ‘good’ social theory: its ability to raise certain questions, its explanatory power, its critical and reflexive interrogation of concepts, its search for objectivity, its concern to make sense of empirical data and its aim of projecting some degree of generality and abstraction. With particular attention to issues of nationalism, democracy, civil society, state, feminism, neoliberalism, minority rights, environment and North-East Indian society, it considers whether new and more relevant theoretical questions need to be asked. It will therefore appeal to scholars of social theory and political sociology with interests in new approaches to social theory and the development of local or ‘indigenous’ social thought.