| ID | 144688 |
| Title Proper | Watlong, the Naga queen |
| Other Title Information | negotiating local identities through narratives |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Stockhausen, Alban von |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | In the oral narratives of the Konyak and other Naga groups, the story of a woman is told who got married to an Ahom prince of the Assam plains and became a queen. Her name was Watlong. Recently a heated dispute between two Konyak villages arose regarding which village did Watlong actually originated from. Both villages claim her as the identification model by presenting stories, songs and objects of evidence handed down since generations. In this paper I follow the story of Watlong in its different variations in detail and suggest that the negotiation of identity among the (Konyak) Nagas, which is traditionally carried out through their specific oral narratives, is nowadays challenged through scriptualisation and notions of ‘the script’ mainly introduced by Christian mission. |
| `In' analytical Note | Asian Ethnicity Vol. 17, No.3; Jun 2016: p.353-369 |
| Journal Source | Asian Ethinicity Vol: 17 No 3 |
| Key Words | Identity ; Naga ; Northeast India ; Narratives ; Konyak ; Ahom ; Oral Tradition ; Scriptualisation |