Politics of Ethnic Boundary Making and Maintenance: The Poumai Nagas of North-east India

Northeast states constitute the most important tribal belt of Indian nation-state. In post-colonial and post-India Independence period most of these tribal communities have been developed into ethnic web with the objective of asserting their distinctive identities vis-à-vis constructing and maintenance different boundaries mostly by elites and social organizational actors. Wherein, the present book has come out with indebt studies of theoretical understanding of politics of boundary making and maintenance from Barthian and post-Barthian angle. And outcome with an empirical fieldwork analysis of pan-Naga vis-a-vis a smaller community of Poumai Naga tribe experienced maintenance different levels of boundaries in North-East India. Doubtlessly, ethnic communities and tribal groups coexistence of reciprocal relationship is essentially expected in the Northeast region. However, in recent years this social boundary issue becomes sensitizing in the hand of different elites and social organizational actors through social construction. This has become a common syndrome in Northeast India at the present-day. To be pragmatic, one cannot isolate the other and maintain an exclusive community in this modernity world.