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You are here: Home arrow Articles arrow English Articles arrow Ethnicity, Autonomy and Governance - The Maras: A Case Study
Ethnicity, Autonomy and Governance - The Maras: A Case Study - The Maras: A Case Study Print E-mail
Written by Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Sushil K. Pillai, PVSM   
Tuesday, 25 July 2006
Article Index
The Maras: A Case Study
Autonomy
Ethnicity
Governance
Conclusion
End Notes
Page 3 of 6

Ethnicity

As with the concept of ethnicity itself, its definitions too keep changing. Thus, there is a need to state the sense in which it is used in the context of this paper. Many discussions generalise as if there is only one type of ethnicity, but it is more realistic to think of ethnicity as a continuum, varying in terms of salience, intensity and meaning. Along this spectrum several types of ethnicity can be distinguished. Domination ethnicity, enclosure (inward looking) ethnicity, competition ethnicity, optional (low-intensity) ethnicity. Ethnicity is not static; it is a matter of ever-changing relational positioning, which refers us to the dynamics of ethnicity, shifting from one mode to the other.17 It can be ethno-centric (the Maras), nationalistic (Nagas), competitive (Nags vs. Kukis) or even opportunistic (as with the demand for autonomy by the Paites). Irrespective of its form, it represents the dialectics of domination and emancipation. The players in the dialectics of ethnicity are ethnic groups on the one hand and the dominant majority on the other. The ethnic groups are historically formed aggregates of people having a real or imaginary association with a specified territory, a shared cluster of beliefs and values connoting its distinctiveness in relation to similar groups.18 Ethnic conflicts occur when territory is claimed by rival groups at the synapse of historical migration routes, as in the case of India’s NE, or through fear of assimilation and disempowerment by the dominant group, e.g., the imagined, homogenised, ‘Ugly Indian’.

The empirical experience from the Northeastern region highlights the following features:

    * Ethnicity is dynamic and keeps changing. Tribes are still renaming, grouping and degrouping themselves. The Kukis were accepted as Nagas in 192919 but are their bitter enemies today. In 1925, W C Smith listed 14-shared physical and cultural traits as markers of Naga ethnicity.20 Contemporary markers are just 4 – language, race, religion and colour.21 Even in these markers, differences are found in many of the same ethnic groups, e.g., the Nagas do not have a common language. Increasingly, with modernisation, these markers have acquired a political significance and ethnicity is now a political tool for acquiring power and redistributing it. When serious underlying socio-economic problems are simplified as ethnic demands, the solution becomes much more complex.

    * There is a copycat feature to ethnicity. In 1945, the Mara Chiefs petitioned the Additional Superintendent, Lungleh, in words echoing the Naga submission to the Simon Commission in 1929 and added, "Now that we know the wisdom and good news concerning other tribes we are very desirous to also state our wants."22 The Paites taking the cue from the Hmars formed a Paite National Council to demand a separate district. Also, others demand concessions given to one group.

    * Identities are often acquired. The way in which boundaries are drawn can create identities such as the ‘NE Identity’. This lends itself to political manipulation by both the state and insurgent groups and also raises the question as to how far back in history one can go regarding identities and the physical boundaries that define them? As everywhere else, ethnic nationalism can be attempted through selective historical events, e.g., the Naga Federal Government has declared "the demarcated boundaries between regions and sub regions from the day of the British shall have legal recognition of this Yezhabo."23 On the other hand, the NSCN (IM) has declared that the boundaries of Nagalim rest on the banks of the Chindwin.

    * Upsets in ethnic composition in India due to internal migration and external migration from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal, particularly into Assam and Tripura have critical impact.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 25 July 2006 )
 
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