ABSTRACT
Northeastern India is a uniquely heterogeneous society and polity. Colonial and post-colonial policies have intensified both consolidation and stratification of its tribal and non-tribal groups. Ethnicity, identity assertion, agrarian change and resource conflicts are intermeshed with questions of security, militarisation, governance and development. The chapters included in the Readings address a range of interrelated issues from colonial to contemporary times. This Introduction locates the chapters within a broader context of writings on the region and discusses critical cross-cutting themes. It touches upon the framing of northeastern India as an administrative and political entity and traces the biogeographic and historical evolution of the region’s diversity. It deals with customary practices and the persistence of patriarchy even in these relatively egalitarian societies. Analysing the politics of development, it points to the emergence of elites, the tussle over resource control, particularly land, and the impact of national and global capital on people’s livelihoods.
