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ID: 111288

Emergent micro-national communities: the logic of Kuki-Chin armed struggle in Manipur / Zou, S Thangboi

Zou, S Thangboi	Journal Article
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2012.

Summary/Abstract

The granting of scheduled tribe status to the Kuki-Chin people eroded their allegiance to clan and linguistic/dialectal identities. While they do not have any problem with a pan-ethnic identity, their primary loyalty is to their own clans and communities. Invocation of kinship ties by different groups does not necessarily translate into a common political agenda. There are at least 15 armed groups among them that have combined into two larger groups-the United People's Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO)-and signed a peace agreement with the state and central governments. Whereas the militant groups deviated from the macro-nationalist project of the Indian state, their micro-nationalist struggle is not informed by any coherent ideology. The root motivation of their armed struggle clearly originated in their fear of being marginalised by ethnic competition among various peoples of Northeast India in general and of Manipur in particular.

Key Words

India ; Manipur ; Northeast India ; Micro - National Communities ; Kuki - Chin ; Pan - Ethnic Identity ;
Kuki National Organisation

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ID: 180617

Riverine bazaars, trade and chiefs in the colonial Lushai Hills / Zou, S Thangboi

Zou, S Thangboi	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

The Lushais maintained commercial contact with the surrounding plains traders in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The British administrators recognised the importance of trade and bazaar in relation with independent Lushai chiefs and to use them as a diplomatic tool to influence the behaviour of the Lushais. The British introduced riverine bazaars in the interiors of Lushai hills to satisfy Lushais’ desire for tradable commodities; to facilitate the interests of plain merchants in a profitable rubber trade; and to provide security to their subjects within their territories. The failure on the part of the Lushai chiefs to provide security to the marketplaces and resumption of raids in the British territories paved the way for the British to directly interfere in the Lushai affairs. This paper contradicts the Romantic notion of Lushai village communities being self-supporting and isolated autarchy and the notion of self-sufficiency of ‘Indian village communities’ as propagated in the nineteenth century.

Key Words

Trade ; Rent ; Rubber ; British ; Chiefs ; Bazaar ;
Lushais

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