ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the notion that dreams and dreaming can be studied as indices of important relational, devotional and political subjectivities. It shows that how dreams can take an authoritative role in shaping people's daily lives because they can offer glimpses of the future and are thus capable of altering a family's fortunes. The chapter introduces the Angami Nagas community life and social structure and situates the discussion within a historical trajectory intersected by colonialism, Christian missions, postcolonial Indian state-making and global consumerism. It discusses the day-to-day issues, struggles and small victories that made fieldwork on dreams both a challenge and an exciting research exercise. The Angami are one among as many as 88 distinct cultural-linguistic ethnic groups that self-identify as Naga settled in the mountainous Indo-Myanmar borderlands. In many instances dreaming and dream interpretation have a particular pattern or structure. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
