ABSTRACT
The introductory chapter takes stock of the present context of research on and in Northeast India, asking; (1) what does the ongoing internationalisation of Northeast Indians studies imply for local scholarship and the people in the region and (2) what is the current state of research on “cultural identity” and “ethnic politics” and how do we move beyond it?
It is suggested that margins, backwaters, frontiers or different kinds of in-between spaces have proven to be much more productive sites of research than the much-discussed “heartlands” and national centres. The increased prominence of earlier forgotten regions like Northeast India can hence be understood as part of a more general shift in how the world is being perceived. That foreign scholars make an inroad is positive, yet something to think critically about. The indigenous communities of the region also seek to free themselves from colonial hegemonies and develop their own scholarship and ways of knowing. Such quests need to be supported. However important aspects of ethnicity still are, there are plenty of other fields in the social sciences and humanities that need to be taken up, for example, popular culture in urban centres, migration from the region and the development of more inclusive ways of being Northeasterners, class formation and the new tribal elite, and the intersections of humans and other living organisms. The ultimate aim of the introduction, and of the volume as a whole, is a critical scrutiny and repositioning of Northeast Indian Studies.
