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| 1 |
ID:
185103
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| 2 |
ID:
144686
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| Summary/Abstract |
This introduction presents the context and theoretical basis of fluidity of attachments in Northeast India. A large cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity, an international border situation, and various forms of unsettled relations with ‘mainstream India’ characterize Northeast India. These aspects form the frame of highly dynamic movements of identity and ethnicity formation. This special issue includes five papers that focus on these dynamics in terms of ‘fluidity’; they present new situations of shift between different layers of identification, re-signification of cultural practices in the process of their selection as emblems of groups‘ identity, changes in groups’ specific practices after religious conversion, and shifts from one identity to another. They show that shifts of ethnic identity are old processes in the region, whereas other levels of identification, such as lineages, clans, villages, and new ‘cosmopolitan’ identities coexist alongside ethnic identity, and gain particular salience in certain situations or points of time.
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| 3 |
ID:
154548
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| Summary/Abstract |
In the last decade, large numbers of indigenous youth from the uplands of Northeast India have migrated to metropolitan cities across the country. Many end up in the new service sector, getting jobs in high-end restaurants, shopping malls and spas. The demand for their labour is due to their un-Indian ‘exotic Asian’ appearance and a reputation for being hardworking and loyal. Such labour market value is a remarkable reversal of their position considering the earlier colonial stereotypes of their savagery and disobedience, reproduced through the de-politicisation of their armed insurrections during the post-colonial period. This paper addresses their daily experiences of vulnerability and marginality as well as the freedom and aspirations that a migratory life seem to engender.
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