ABSTRACT

This book presents a comprehensive account of the debates on sovereignty, self-determination and nationalist upsurges in India’s Northeast, especially Assam. At a deeper level, it analyses how multi-ethnic societies engage with the nation state. Based on the framework of international relations and geo-politics, the volume locates internal tensions and contradictions among different ethnic groups, alongside the complex interrelationships between the centre and the region. It also proposes a new structure of ‘Common Ethnic House’ to resolve persistent inter-ethnic tensions among different communities and the impasse between the Northeast and the centre.

This book will interest scholars and researchers of politics and international relations, sociology and social anthropology, area studies, peace and conflict studies, especially those concerned with South Asia and Northeast India.

part |13 pages

Locating the problem

chapter |12 pages

Sovereignty and national identity

The troubled trajectory in Northeast India

part |72 pages

Situating the debate

chapter |13 pages

Sovereignty at the frontiers

Contests and contradictions

chapter |21 pages

Sarbabhoumo Asom

Three public discourses

chapter |17 pages

Swadhin Asom

Contesting territories and linkages

part |43 pages

Migration, contested citizenship and the identity

chapter |25 pages

Immigration, indigeneity and identity

The Bangladeshi immigration question in Assam

chapter |17 pages

The state and the migrants

Contextualising the citizenship debate in Assam

part |32 pages

National consciousness

chapter |19 pages

Assamese identity and the ethnic dissent

Asom Sahitya Sabha at the crossroads

part |81 pages

Civil society, Indian state and conflict resolution

chapter |21 pages

Between state and the insurgents

Violation of human rights in Assam

chapter |23 pages

The ULFA and Indian state

Role of civil society in conflict resolution

chapter |18 pages

Accommodating differences

The Indian democracy and Assamese nationalism

chapter |18 pages

Postscript

Ending the impasse and reintegrating Northeast India