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‘Contested State‐craft’ on the Frontiers of the Indian Nation: ‘Hills–Valley Divide’ and the Genealogy of Kuki Ethnic Nationalism in Manipur
Author(s) -
Kipgen Ngamjahao,
Roy Chowdhury Arnab
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
studies in ethnicity and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.204
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1754-9469
pISSN - 1473-8481
DOI - 10.1111/sena.12184
Subject(s) - ethnic group , identity (music) , state (computer science) , homeland , nationalism , extant taxon , craft , government (linguistics) , geography , ethnology , political science , gender studies , history , sociology , anthropology , politics , archaeology , law , aesthetics , art , algorithm , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , evolutionary biology , biology
Drawing on scholars like Scott and Suan, it can be argued that a ‘hills–valley divide’ has prevailed in Manipur from the colonial period. The Kuki tribes who inhabit Manipur's hilly regions are underdeveloped compared to the politically and economically powerful Meiteis who inhabit its valleys. The postcolonial central and state government policies have failed to respond to local problems, which have created a regional imbalance and have sharpened the hills–valley divide. The Kukis have undergone many resulting economic hardships and have become further alienated and marginalized. To highlight uneven development and Kuki tribal minority marginalization, we refer to key ‘development’ indicators – administration, employment, poverty, health, and infrastructure – and analyse the Kuki quest for tribal identity and demand for an ethnic homeland in postcolonial India, by tracing the genealogy of their identity formation from archives, extant historiography, and ethnographic fieldwork.