Towards an Understanding of the Changing Hill Societies of Northeastern India
Venues
Friday, 31 March
Leiden University
Lipsius Building
Cleveringaplaats 1
Room 002
Leiden
Saturday, 1 April
Leiden University
Lipsius Building
Cleveringaplaats 1
Room 002
Leiden
Convenor
Dr Erik de Maaker
Information and registration
Erik de Maaker
emaaker@gmail.com
or
International Institute for Asian Studies
T +31-(0)71-527 2227
This two-day seminar will focus on continuity and change within the hill societies of Northeastern India.
The hill societies were classified by the colonial government into distinct 'tribes', based on linguistic and cultural traits. A continued emphasis on each group's distinctiveness has led scholars to neglect what these groups have in common, including their marginal position within Indian society. To compare beyond current political borders, the seminar will include presentations on communities in northern Bangladesh and southern China.
The hill societies have witnessed great change over the past 100-150 years. More and more people have gained access to some form of education and to basic allopathic medicine. Christianity is rapidly replacing indigenous religions. Swidden cultivation is losing prominence to sedentary forms of hill farming. New sources of wealth, including commercial forestry and government jobs, are creating social stratification in societies that were relatively horizontal, far removed from concepts such as caste and class. Yet the past resonates in the present, in oral histories, kinship, and conceptualizations of illness.
How does cultural transformation relate to social change? How are transformative processes encompassing the various communities? What does this suggest about the historical relationships between the distinct hill societies?
International Workshop
Leiden, the Netherlands
31 March - 1 April 2006
Towards an Understanding of the Changing Hill Societies of Northeastern India
Friday, 31 March 2006:
Willem van Schendel, University of Amsterdam
The Dangers of Belonging: Homelands in Northeast India
Ellen Bal, Amsterdam Free University
"One More Tribe in Transition": Identity formation among the Garos of Bangladesh
Robbins Burling, University of Michigan
Demographic Transition in a Garo Village in Bangladesh
Caroline Marak, North Eastern Hill University
The Role of the Mahari in the A.chik Society: Change and continuity
Stuart Blackburn, School of Oriental and African Studies
Oral Tradition and Culture Areas: From Northeast India to Southwest China
Alex Aisher, University College London
Returning Wealth to Spirits: Demographic change and forest regeneration in the upper belt of Arunachal Pradesh
Saturday, 1 April 2006:
Erik de Maaker, Leiden University
From the Songsarek Faith to Christianity: Religious change and cultural continuity in West Garo Hills
Mandy Sadan, School of Oriental and African Studies
Historical Photography and Transformations in Contemporary Historical Consciousness of Kachin Identity in Burma
Katia Chirkova, Leiden University
Official Status, Oral History and Regional Politics: Identity in Southwest China
The Workshop is sponsored by the International Institute for Asian Studies, the Research School for Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies CNWS, the Leids Universiteits Fonds