e-Essays from the Northeast
Cultures of Peace: Festival of the Northeast — Essays commissioned under the project, 2020-21
Cultures of Peace: Festival of the Northeast is a project collaboratively begun by Zubaan and Heinrich Böll Stiftung/Heinrich Boell Foundation focuses on the Northeastern region. This section features essays commissioned under Cultures of Peace project in 2020. We invite you to read, share and comment on these essays, which focus on food cultures and music, through a gendered lens, highlighting stories from diverse backgrounds across the region. Read more about the project that these grants are realised under here.
2020
Kumam Davidson’s essay brings us flavours from the banks of Loktak Lake in Manipur as he explores the cultural, moral, and gendered ethos of the processes of production, sale, and consumption of fish and Thangjing laphu, a variety of the banana plant found in the state. The essay also documents the impact of COVID-19 on cultivators and vendors/sellers in the region, and exhibits the remarkable resilience of the women vendors selling these indigenous food.
02. Longing for a Plate of Food in Kalimpong by Anisa Bhutia
In this essay, Anisa Bhutia takes us on a tour of Kalimpong through food and highlights how food has a gendered history served on a plate, an accretion of centuries of continuity and change, stories of solidarity and struggles of adaptation by women who moved between regions, communities, and households.
03. A Kitchen Story: Participation, Patriarchy and Cooking Pork by Ningreichon Tungshang
Ningreichon Tungshang’s essay delves into the rich traditional knowledge of cooking pork in her hometown in the Ukhrul hills of Manipur. She writes about her journey of establishing an indigenous kitchen in the national capital, Delhi, and bringing back the traditional flavours of feeding, sharing and fostering community through food. This indigenous pork preparation also became a transformative experience which shed light on how gender roles are made and can be broken at home through food.
04. What We Pickle by Roshni Chetri
Roshni Chetri’s essay explores the evolving role of women in the food culture of the Nepalese community of Gangtok, particularly through the lens of pickle-making, and how it intersects with traditions, gender roles, and cultural exchange. Through her food journey, she shows us how these pickles made with the basic aim of survival and preservation gradually evolved from marker of ethnic identities into a platform for creating one’s space, empowerment and cultural exchange.
05. Music, hymns, and creation in the Lai-Haraoba rituals of Manipur by Longjam Meena Devi
Longjam Meena Devi’s essay talks of the importance and various aspects of the Lai-Haraoba rituals among the Meitei community of Manipur, and the significant role of the Maibi priestess , who are believed to be associated with supernatural powers. Through its celebration of ancestral deities and natural forces, Lai Haraoba serves as a reflection of the Meitei people’s beliefs, social structure, and cultural resilience, preserving ancient traditions in a modern world.
06. Sacred Chants and Irreverent Limiricks Expressions of Women in Ao Naga Folk Songs by Talilula
Talilula writes about the song and comic traditions of the Ao Naga community which provides a liberating space for the performers, especially the women. It also highlights how women, through songs, are able to not only talk about issues pertinent to their lives, but also question social, cultural and gender roles and relationships ascribed by the society.
07. A Tradition of Singing at Work in the Sumi Naga Community by Abokali Jimomi
Abokali Jimomi’s essay is a documentation of work songs and chants integral to traditional Sumi society, and transmitted orally through generations. More than just music, these are repositories of ancient knowledge and a way of life for them. These songs, sung in paddy fields, fostered work efficiency and social cohesion, helping to preserve cultural identity in a predominantly agrarian society. Highlighting the gendered nature of these work groups and the work songs, the essay further explores how this singing tradition has shifted its venue from the fields to cultural festivals due to changing agricultural systems.
08. The ‘Seen’ and the ‘Unseen’ Women Musicians in the Darjeeling Hills by Tsheten Bhutia
Tsheten Bhutia writes about the rising trend of music as a career choice by Nepali women in the hills of West Bengal. Through interviews with female musicians, the article highlights the societal prejudices, family restrictions, and gendered expectations that women face when pursuing music professionally, especially when the music genres they choose do not fit into the traditional mould of genteel music.
Longnam Wanbiang Kharpuri’s essay explores how women in Meghalaya create music while manoeuvring the intricacies of male-dominated spaces and a culture that is charged with many complexities of politics, tribal identity, and gender.
10. ‘Ulaai Ada Aideu’ to ‘Aaja Baby Aaja’ Wedding Songs in Assam by Rini Barman
Rini Barman’s essay talks about a genre of songs and melodies of Assam – the biya naam – which formed an integral part of both human and animal weddings, and its gradual disappearance in face of changing landscape of weddings, shifts in music trends, influences of globalization and commercialization, and the blurring of lines between pure forms of music and globally infused music.
11. Shifts in Music Consumption by Narola Changkija
In this essay, Narola Changkija speaks about the changing scenario of music making and music consumption – capturing the shifts of musical tastes and technology from her hometown in remote Nagaland to the larger and ever-evolving global musical maps, from stereos and tape cassettes to Tiktoks and Instagram reels – to highlight how musical art is shaped and shared, and how in turn it shapes cultural behaviours and tastes.
12. Soundscapes Of War by Nicky Chandam and Longjam Meena
In this essay, Nicky Chandam and Longjam Meena write about the khongjom parva songs and songs about Sarengla which originated from two major wars which took place in Manipur — the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891, and The Second World War (Battle of Imphal) — to show the agency of women singer-character.
The Zubaan-Sasakawa Peace Foundation Grants for Young Researchers from the Northeast
The Zubaan-Sasakawa Peace Foundation Grants for Young Researchers from the Northeast support independent research by making available small grants to those working in the fields of humanities and social sciences. Read more about the project that these grants are realised under here.
This section features essays written by our research grantees from the grant cycles of 2020-21, 2019-20 and 2018-19. We invite you to read, share and comment on these essays, which reflect the range and variety of subjects that preoccupy young researchers and writers from the region.
2020-21
In the 2020-21 The Zubaan-Sasakawa Peace Foundation Grants for Young Researchers from the Northeast grant cycle, the selected essays explored gender and its intersections through the themes of Gender and Public Space and Gender and Disability. We will be releasing one essay under each theme weekly–stay tuned!
01. Building Solidarity Through Digital Activism in Assam by Shreya Khaund
This paper aims to conceptualise online feminist spaces created by marginalised gender identities in Guwahati, Assam, while also focusing on the existing interplay between digital platforms and local protests. Speaking to members of LGBTQIA+ communities in Assam, this paper highlights the importance of social media in creating space for diverse forms of feminist activism in a conflict-driven state. The implementation of the National Register for Citizenship (NRC) and the change in the Citizenship Rights Act (CAA) have complicated the region’s social and political fabric and increased vulnerability to communities beyond a state’s political imagination. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown period when digital spaces became even more relevant for those with access to disseminate information, connect with people and explore alternative forms of resistance.
Muslim women form a significant number of the domestic workers in Assam, hired as cleaners but whose work, like cooking, remains invisible. This paper looks at the exclusion of Muslim domestic workers from the kitchen and argues that this is driven both by their religious and class identities. It throws light on how religious prejudices and stereotypes play out in myriad ways in daily and public life. The paper adds to the literature on the religious composition of domestic workers in Assam and the exclusion they face in their workplace because of their religious identity.
This paper is based on the Baghjan blowout tragedy, which happened in the Tinsukia District of Assam during the pandemic year of 2020. On the one hand, the COVID-19 pandemic made social distancing and staying at home the new ‘normal’; on the other hand, this tragedy forced people to flee for ‘relief’, leaving their burnt-down homes behind. Public spaces such as schools, bridges or any other open spaces transformed overnight into a shelter for the victims. Women struggled even to access toilets. The demarcation between the ‘public’ and the ‘private’ in such a scenario went through alterations. Thus, this paper, a combination of ethnographic texts, narratives, photographs and art pieces, investigates gender, disasters and the meaning of ‘public’ spaces for women.
04. Masked Maladies by Sradha Tamang PT
This project is a visual narrative that attempts to portray the feelings of a girl living in a world that claims to be safe but, in reality, restricts and limits her. The images explore her never-ending desire to know what it’s like to be free—to know how the streets of Kalimpong look at midnight, to explore new places to eat, to meet new people, to go on treks, to stay in a tent with a view of the mountains near a river, to learn how to cycle on open roads, to do everything that she desires and to do all of these things freely. As a photographer, I have confronted myself and the space as well as my practice through this project.
05. What Citizenship Means in a ‘Periphery’ of a Periphery: Women’s Narratives by Minakshi Buragohain
The last few years have seen a vibrant debate on citizenship in the country, opened up by the process of updating the NRC in Assam, necessarily raising questions on who is and is not a citizen and traversing its multiple layers addressing the challenges posed by globalisation and other factors. North-east India, located beyond the chicken neck, has been in the peripheral political imagination of the powers that be, leading it to being reduced to a resource frontier. However, it is important to underline that the periphery, too, is not homogeneous. This paper tries to understand the periphery within the periphery through women’s lenses.
The paper examines the situation of Mising women in Assam and highlights the inadequate representation of women in governance, both at the village level and in legislative assemblies. The paper also explores the traditional roles of women in Mising society, particularly in Kebangs or traditional village councils, where women’s opinions are often devalued and dismissed. Although the needs of the community are changing, women’s rights to participate in decision-making processes are still restricted by customary laws and practices that prevent women from taking part in traditional village councils. The paper calls for a shift towards equality, as well as greater participation of Mising women in public life.
07. Nursing in Mizoram: A Gendered Perspective by Lalramnghaki Ralte
With the outbreak of COVID-19, the significance of medics prevails worldwide. The pandemic resurfaces the gender gap in the nursing profession along with the stigmatization of the image of a ‘male nurse’. Throughout the century, the traditional image of a nurse has always been female. The root of such perception is often questioned and needs to be examined. Since nursing emerged as an early women’s profession in Mizoram, the paper is an attempt to analyse nursing from a gender perspective in colonial settings to understand the present nature of nursing in Mizoram.
08. Wushu Woman: Visual Reflection of Women in Sports in Sikkim by Sheela Bantawa Rai
This visual narrative follows the life of Binita Rai, a female Wushu coach from Samdong, East Sikkim. Despite the limited opportunities for women pursuing careers in sports in a small state like Sikkim, Binita has represented India in various international tournaments and is an executive member of the Sikkim Amateur Wushu Association (SAWA). However, her journey has not been easy, as sustaining a career in sports for women is just as difficult as building one. Binita has faced many challenges and continues to do so, including those stemming from systematic sexism in sports. This project is about her successful career against the odds as well as a meditation on the several challenges she still has to come across, many of them because of the existing systematic sexism in sports.
This essay is an attempt to document the lived experiences of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in Nagaland, with a special focus on women with disabilities. By focusing on the various models of disability, this essay contextualises how the PwDs are socially and culturally perceived, stigmatised and discriminated against in Naga society. Based on a qualitative method, this essay documents the experiences of persons with disabilities narrated by them or by their parents and siblings. This essay also investigates the psychological, structural and infrastructural support given by the family, church, society and government for the PwDs in Nagaland. The essay concludes with recommendations for mainstreaming the PwDs in Nagaland at all levels.
10. Exploring the Space of Gender in Ao Naga Folklore of Nagaland by Rongsenzulu Jamir
Ao Naga folklore encompasses different realities and fantasies. In Ao Naga society, the predominant roles of leadership, moral authority and social privileges are attributed differently to men and women. Women are seen represented in multiple overlapped roles: as helpmate, refined lady, percussor in socialisation, cunning-manipulative matriarch, and aggressive maleficence entities. The paper reasons how the ‘dormant and unbending’ women’s roles are seldom glorified, patriarch-biased and at times reversed, justifying that the appropriation of gender spaces through traditional folklore is a multi-layered complexity than what meets the eye.
11. Devithans: A Gendered Sacred Space by Abriti Moktan
Devithans are gendered public spaces holding immense spiritual and cultural value to the local people of Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya. These sacred natural sites are worshipped as the abode of local deities. They reify the cultural hallmark of the local people sustained through intergenerational transmission of traditional knowledge and are one of the many mediums reproducing gendered norms in the society. The younger generation exposed to formal education bears a different disposition towards these gendered sacred spaces, which are founded on strong belief systems. However, this system is undergoing transformation, which has resulted in the tailoring of gendered practices.
Discussions on gender and infrastructures are not new in the borderland communities of Northeast India. In the last three decades, the regions have been silent victims of material infrastructure construction like large dams, transnational highways, and railways. Being engaged with material infrastructure meant reconsidering women’s voices in the male-centric development planning, process, and implementation. This paper presents ethnographic narratives about Tangkhul women’s struggles, hardships, and injustices at the cost of the Mapithel dam in Manipur. The paper also introduces the concept of ava khon (mother’s voice). For a Tangkhul Naga, ava khon is lovelier and sweeter than the voices/songs of sampheirok (cuckoo), nasha (dove), and koktui (common cuckoo). However, when material infrastructure’s construction, land ownership, and compensation are concerned, the ava khon is unheard, voiceless, and valueless. The paper argues that mega infrastructure projects should be paid to the community’s social relations and accommodating them beyond the material infrastructure.
13. The Dancing Bodies by Chabungbam Babina Devi
The awards remind her of the bruises she had to cover before her performances. Once a versatile dancer, she lay immobile, reminiscing her decades of unacknowledged contributions. She sheds a tear, listening to a voice on the radio that could have been hers if only she had resisted. She resumes dancing after spending her prime time in the humdrum of married life. The younger dancer worries about a similar fate. These stories bear testimony to a culture of suppression that choreographs the dancing bodies. The author weaves together the experiences of dancers she met in her journey of becoming one.
This paper delves into the socio-cultural dynamics of the Darjeeling Hills, focusing on a notorious locale known as ‘Butcher Basti’. Here, amidst a backdrop of superstitions and societal squalor, the inhabitants, conversing in a unique blend of Urdu and Nepali termed as Butcheriya, navigate complex gender assumptions that shape their conception of public space. Through interviews and oral testimonies primarily from women, this study examines how domesticity and religion intersect to influence women’s visibility and subjectivity in the public sphere. Despite challenges in sourcing historical data, inherited memories and current practices shed light on the community’s socio-cultural landscape. The paper also questions the label of ‘Nepali Muslims’ and explores inter-religious interactions and cultural syncretism, particularly within the context of Muslim women’s public lives. Drawing from personal experiences and local narratives, the study maintains objectivity, prioritizing the voices of Butcher Basti residents in shaping the discourse.
This paper provides a brief history of the author’s interest in disability and folktales and explores selected stories from Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s (1864-1938) famous collection of folktales, Burhi Aair Xadhu (1911), using an intersectional feminist disability framework. It highlights that several tales from this collection portray disability through the lens of ableism, and are extremely derogatory and dehumanising for persons actually living with disabilities. The paper elaborates on four themes that cut across several folktales in the collection and argues that it is now time to create new tales that are more relevant to the current socio-political landscape of Assam.
16. Unwinding the Constructed: Gender in Darjeeling by Nawami Gurung
In Darjeeling, gender norms and roles are strictly laid out and we’ve always been expected to live within these gendered boundaries. People tend to live strictly along gendered lines of action. If one is seen to behave differently from their gender roles, generally this act is not held in high regard by the people. Even though pronounced forms of patriarchy, as in other Indian societies, may often be absent, subtle but influential subjugation informed by gender inequity are everyday experiences here. If one is seen to deviate from these institutionalised practices, they are usually ridiculed and treated with contempt. My visual research visually documents people who are defying gender norms through their physical appearances. Something as simple as a girl keeping short hair or choosing to sport facial hair, may seem like an insignificant act but they are bold markers of defiance. They know that their choice of appearance will be met with scorn, loathing and at times ostracisation, but they still stand by these choices despite regular internal struggles.
17. Wanglei Sungba: A Prestigious Ancient Profession Disgraced By Alcohol Abuse by Linthoi Chanu
Wanglei Sungba is an ancient practice of making fermented rice wine as well as the art of the distillery process in Manipur. The essay aims to highlight the plight of the present-day brewers in context with the prohibition law that existed in the state. While ‘yu’ is still considered as an important traditional drink in several indigenous rituals and ceremonies, the quality of the drink being produced illegally is undermining its actual usage or significance in our current society. This essay tries to bring a brief summary of the traditional rice wine with the hope to spark further discussion and understanding.
18. Gender and Public Space: Work and Leisure by Aayushi Gurung
Women’s Work and Women’s Worth: For most women, work and leisure are primarily shaped by external forces such as pre- determined family and societal values and not by their individual agency. While work can be defined or calculated as paid or unpaid, leisure is not a clearly demarcated activity; it can often be combined with work itself, especially in the case of women. But leisure is a more complex concept than we imagine. It reflects larger power structures even within specific genders. The very idea of leisure is alien to one class of women, whereas women with considerable socio-economic capital tend to enjoy far more time and space for activities unrelated to work. The purpose of this visual project is to explore the interrelationship of work and leisure in women’s lives within a rural setting in the villages of Darjeeling Hills, mostly places in and around Kurseong. My intention was to document and analyse the daily activities of women, many of which are conducted in public spaces. Through this visual research, my objective is also to study the disparities that exist between the experiences of women from different classes during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.
Zubaan-Sasakawa Peace Foundation Grants for Journalists from the Northeast
In the 2020-21 grant cycle, along with announcing the annual grant for young researchers from the Northeast, Zubaan also introduced the Zubaan-Sasakawa Peace Foundation Grants for Journalists from the Northeast. Aimed at early to mid-career journalists, this particular grant was a direct response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent lockdown, and their impact on the world of waged work, particularly freelance and independent media work in the Northeast and adjoining areas.
10 journalists were selected in total, with their proposals looking at different dimensions of the gendered impact of the pandemic, be it women’s work, access to healthcare, migration, or LGBTQI+ rights. To read their articles/ view their photoessays on these various themes that have been published on various online portals and written with the support of the grant, click here.
2019-20
In the 2019-20 grant cycle, the selected essays focus on the themes of memory, migration, and children’s literature. We will be releasing one essay under each theme weekly–stay tuned!
Memory
01. An Artist and Her Craft: The Story of Nameirakpam Ibemni and Khongjom Parba by Thokchom Wangam
This paper looks at Khongjom Parba, a form of oral ballad practiced in Manipur through the lens of one of its most famous practitioner, Nameirakpam Ibemni Devi. As the first woman balladeer of the art form, she is responsible for its growth and the form it has acquired today. Having its origin after the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891, Khongjom Parba gives us a novel way of looking at the past. As performances which rely primarily on oral transmission, it goes beyond the realm of the written and the ways in which histories have been ‘written’ till now. By highlighting different ways in which people have responded to the art form and the way different characters are treated within the ballad, this paper explores various ways in which people understand and live with their ‘pasts’.
02. Light and Shadow: How Women Remember the Nellie Massacre by Jabeen Yasmeen
This paper addresses the present and absent voices of women in narrating the story of the Nellie Massacre in Assam in 1983. The women carry the stories of their violent past while dealing with and responding to the changing political landscape of Assam. This paper attempts to visibilize these stories, and in turn, add different layers to our understanding of the violent event. The women addressing such events often display different dispositions — sometimes they are animated and willing to communicate, and at other times, they are reluctant to reveal too much to inquisitive strangers. Sometimes, they speak together in a group trying to find their space in the discourse while building solidarity through remembering collectively. This paper hopes to build on the existing narratives of the massacre while focusing on the specific impact on gender during violence wrought against the idea of identity and belonging.
03. Burning Tite Pati: Healing Practices of the Indigenous Himalayan Peoples by Aqui Thami
This paper is an offering of knowledge-keeping that emerged from a collaboration with the author and her grandmothers. It honours and celebrates the food and medicine of the indigenous Himalayan people—medicine that comes from the soil and into the kitchen, which fills their stomachs and hearts and feeds their souls. To the author and her community, this food is not just medicine. Rather, it is complementary both to the needs of the body, and those of the soil—it is sustainable, organic and regenerative. The author puts this work together with the intention to acknowledge her grandmothers as keepers of these bodies of knowledge, practiced and honed over thousands of years, silenced but still not forgotten. Emerging from the times she spent with her grandmothers in her forest, or sitting at their feet listening to them, she shares her learnings and insights about these rituals and practices through illustrations.
During the secret killings in Assam, family members, close aides and suspected sympathizers of insurgents from ULFA and human rights activists from MASS were abducted, tortured, or gunned down. Witnesses to these killings continue to remember the surrendered cadres and police to be behind the death and the disappearance of their loved ones, where the army was ubiquitous. This paper challenges the erstwhile ‘secret’ nature of the killings. It attempts to unravel the silences, particularly of women who bore witness to those killings, and expose how the state assaulted people’s social lives in Assam in the name of counter-insurgency operations. Their stories mark both resilience and resistance.
05. ‘The One Taken by God’… by Rosemary Ishorari
‘Shamans’ or ‘Deodinis’ among the practitioners of the Bathou religion have been in existence since time immemorial. Though now they are few and far between, the Boro society in Assam has always looked upon them with awe and reverence. While their origin, history and what they signify in these contemporary times might have taken a detour in attempts to comprehend their existence, one aspect that has never undergone change is that of their gender. Interestingly, only women have taken on the role of shamans among the Bathou practitioners of Boro society. ‘The One Taken by God…’ is an attempt to document oral histories and testimonies associated with the ‘Deodinis’, explore how private and public memory live on, find articulation in recounting her actions and status in Boro society, and to retrieve what might have been lost in translation along these years.
06. Gender in Folk Tales: Re-reading Khamba Thoibi by Sainico Ningthoujam
This paper examines the operational nature of the imagination and representation of female characters in Khamba Thoibi, a popular folktale in Manipur. The story is deeply embedded in the community’s historical and cultural memory and is often referred to as an epic of the region. Through this paper, the author interrogates conventional representations of femininity that rely on a dichotomy between docile domesticity and obstinate autonomy that is projected as a transgressive trait. By analysing the depiction of gender relations in the narrative, she explores larger thematic concerns of the oral folktale genre such as questions of class mobility, divine intervention and the socio-political expectations of the period.
07. Women and the Ethnic Conflict of Gorkhaland: Contesting History by Dipti Tamang
This paper revisits the political conflict of 1986 (popularly known as Chyasi ko Andolan) in the Darjeeling Hills through the oral narratives of women who witnessed the conflict in various capacities. The conflict emerged out of direct contestations between the state and the political front––Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), spearheading the movement for the creation of Gorkhaland from the state of West Bengal. Chyasi is deeply embedded in the mental and emotional psyche of the people of Darjeeling Hills with memories of sacrifices, loss, pain, fear and trauma. A political analysis of conflicts remains incomplete without bringing in the memories of conflict that play an important role in the lives and histories of the people of these regions. Women’s stories often remain unheard, marginalized and silenced despite women being integral to these political processes. This paper uses oral narratives in the form of women’s experiences and stories to explore the political conflict of 1986 and its gendered dynamics in the Darjeeling Hills.
The essay attempts to analyse two reference books of ‘Ekal Vidyalaya’ in upper Assam, a school operated by the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangha. The Ekal Vidyalayas are part of a larger social movement called ‘Ekal Abhiyan’ that aims to bring overall development in tribal dominated areas. These schools are not mainstream; instead, they act as an alternative school for students who belong to underprivileged backgrounds. The students (mostly lower and upper primary) enrolled under government schools are encouraged to join these schools to get help with their lessons. Apart from the regular help with lessons, the school functions under a distinctive Hindutva ideology of inculcating Hindu ways of life. The reference books distributed to students are part of this larger ideology. The curriculum and pedagogy are designed under ‘panchmukhi Shiksha,’ the five-tier education system borrowed from ancient Hindu religious texts. This essay investigates the gender dimension of the curriculum by analysing reference books, and interviews conducted among teachers and the school’s management.
09. Ning-them by Kumam Davidson Singh
Ning-them is a short fiction about finding oneself and one’s family. It is also a tale of friendship, love and betrayals rooted in Manipur and Delhi. Ning-them, the main protagonist struggles with identity crisis and un/belongingness; an experience that Sam and Pari also share in their own ways. The story centres on the three of them and their conflicting identities and relationships. It is told through Ning-them’s memory; often fragmented and in the process of retelling partially comes into terms with the conflicts.
10. Voices Behind Bars: A Mizo Woman’s Prison Writings by Hmingthanzuali
Twenty years of Rambuai (troubled times) resulted in political turmoil and chaos in the hills of Mizoram. While the entire population experienced this period of troubles and suffered its effects, texts on Rambuai have been dominated by male narratives. New scholarly approaches continue to underplay the role women played during this period. This paper is an attempt to investigate unexplored personal accounts to create a new paradigm in Rambuai history. It locates an individual female agency from the autobiographical memories extracted from the unpublished prison writings and diaries of B. Vanlalzari, a female political prisoner during the Rambuai period.
11. Revisiting Kalimpong in Memory and History: A Look into the Town’s Vibrant Past by Tsheten Bhutia
This paper is about a period in Kalimpong’s history when it was a bustling trade-town, a potpourri of the world’s population (Datta-Ray, 1984), a town that connected India to Tibet, China and perhaps to the world, where its inhabitants depended on trade to make a decent living. The research paper revisits this period through the medium of memory and history through the eyes of men and women, and in a very significant way is about their personal histories. It explores the nexus between past, memory and history through the ‘lived realities’ of different individuals who have been a witness to a time period which is almost in contrast to the present day scenario. In so doing, it emphasises that in understanding the cultural history of Kalimpong or any other place, it is pertinent to take into account the myriad experiences and stories of people who are an integral part of a place’s history and culture.
12. A Kitchen Across the Khal by Nilanjana Bhattacharjee
A Kitchen across the Khal is a short story with three women–the narrator, her mother Rosie and her grandmother Champa– at the centre. Written in first person, the story is the narrator’s understanding of relationships and conversations in a partition-displaced household. It is a story of intergenerational trauma, conflicts within the household and the patriarchal regulation of bodies.
13. Memories of Meter Gauge: Narratives of Women from Lumding Railway Colony by Rituparna Sengupta
The railways arrived in Assam in the latter half of the 19th century, which led to the formation of several railway and industrial townships in the region. Woven from the recollections of women from the authors own family and long-time residents, this essay attempts to explore the inter-generational experiences of the female inhabitants of Lumding railway colony.
Children’s Literature
01. Kereng Kothoma: A Modern Retelling of the Folk Tales of Tripura by Biprajit Bhattacharjee
Kereng Kothoma: A Modern Retelling of the Folk Tales of Tripura is a translation project. The translated stories revolve around the lives of the Tripuris, i.e., the indigenous, working-class people of Tripura and their numerous adventures and misadventures. Originally in Kokborok language, these stories for children have been transmitted orally through generations. This project aims at preserving and extending the longevity of these stories and the culture and tradition associated with them so that the valuable memories don’t get lost in this age of chaos, consumerism, and instant gratification. It tries to capture the celebration, reaffirmation and dominant blueprint of shared cultural values, their meanings, and the development of gender identity and expectations associated with it that begin from childhood.
02. Stories by the Fire on a Winter Evening: Assamese Folk Tales Read and Re-Told by Chandrica Barua
This paper is the germ of an idea, a call for the urgent necessity and the collaboration of other writers, artists and researchers to rethink our archives, to make unfamiliar and unknowable what we accept passively. In this paper the author situates Lakshminath Baruah’s folktales in their historicity and context, and offers an argument for retelling these stories through a feminist perspective for the current generation of readers. She rewrites three of these stories with an attempt to uncover and expand moments of feminist potential, while trying to maintain the spirit and the linguistic essence of the original. The three retold stories are – Siloni’r Jiyek’or Xadhu (The story of the kite’s daughter), Tula aru Teja (Tula and Teja) and Kaati Jua Naak Kharoni di Dhaak (Put Kharoni on the cut off nose).
03. Children’s Literature of the Tai Phake community of Assam by Pow Aim Hailowng
This paper is an attempt to introduce Tai Phake children’s literature and to look at this age-old literature through a feminist lens. Tai Phake literature encompasses both oral and written work. A selected few among these works have been categorized as children’s literature, which are—Mo Kham Lao Luk (Lullaby), Pung (Folktale), Kham Son (Idioms) and Kham Ta (Riddles). The paper also illustrates the lives of the Tai Phake people who have maintained their culture and heritage, even as changing times have made it difficult to continue doing so.
The paper is an attempt to present the diverse oral narratives of the Zeliang community in Nagaland. These folktales from the village of Gaili in Nagaland have been passed on for generations by the elders and storytellers of the Zeliang tribe. The children’s tales included in this collection aim to give readers a look at the culture and tradition of the Zeliang people, while also introducing them to their vivid and unique literary imagination. These stories include myths and legends which highlight heroic figures and warriors from the village, while other fables show the organic relationship the community shared with nature and the environment. In many of the stories, we see strong women characters who take bold decisions but at the same time show deference to the conventions of the community. Therefore, the following folk tales also provide a way of looking into the relationship between labour and gender roles, cultural understanding of masculinity and femininity, and how desirability and romantic relationships, etc. are shaped within Zeliang society.
05. Folk Tales of Assam in Manuscript Painting: A Gendered Retelling by Meghna Baruah
This essay is a graphic narration of three folk stories from Assam, originally compiled by writer Lakshminath Bezbaroa. The author visually translates these three folk stories through a gendered lens to generate curiosity and interest among children. She hopes that this work breaks gender stereotypes among young readers.
Migration
01. Women Bringing ‘Outside’ Home: Imphal and Its Returning Young Women Migrants by Juliana Phaomei
Migration to the cities is a household phenomenon in the entire Northeastern region of India. For people in Manipur, the English word ‘outside’ serves more as a noun that means ‘anywhere outside Manipur’. In the ‘outside’, these migrants take on adjacent identities for navigating their way through different cultures and phenomena. However, when they return home for good, they come back to cities, towns and villages that function in ways completely different from the cities they were thriving in. The researcher, a young woman from Imphal, focuses on the stories of women who call Imphal home. This paper is divided into three main sections: i) the reasons of their leaving and returning, ii) how they are navigating this new home every day, and iii) what changes they would like for their city. These sections try to describe how young women who have returned home from outside are actively involved in the cultural production of the urban space that they live in, and how each woman has her own unique experiences and opinions. The paper also tries to bring out the overarching gender and development issues related to this phenomenon.
02. Consolidating the Sisters: Soul Food and the Reproduction of Festivals by Betsame Lamar
Considering the significant flow of individuals migrating from the Northeast to the rest of India, this paper argues for the need to recognise the diasporic community that is ‘internally’ formed by these individuals. Emphasising on the affective aspect, the paper additionally examines the role of food and cultural festivals on this populous.
03. Axom Deshor Bagisare Sowali: The Girl from the Tea Gardens of Assam by Devika Singh Shekhawat
This paper studies the Jhumur songs of the tea plantation workers of Assam, and looks at them as oral histories of the various communities and tribes brought to Assam by the colonial project of growing tea. It traces the history of migration, and the narratives and ever-evolving history and culture of the tea plantation workers of Assam. While looking at themes of alienation, exploitation and colonial/post colonial plantation regimes, this paper also traces the gendered cultural, social and economic politics in the history of migration which produce the fractured positionality of women tea plantation workers in Assam. While the women are usually treated as docile /invisible, in the Jhumur songs their memory is resilient and the songs are irreplaceable in recording loss, memories of ‘home’ and privations of daily plantation life.
2018-19
In the 2018-19 grant cycle, the selected essays focus on the broader framework of women’s multiple histories and gender in the Northeast.
01. Why Insurgent Groups in Manipur Kill Rape Accused by Makepeace Sitlhou (2018-19)
By analysing first-hand testimonies from the Imphal valley, this paper attempts to unpack questions of vigilante forms of gender justice, keeping in mind two important realities of the region–the fact that sexual violence perpetrated against women by security force personnel in Manipur has gone punished, and that indigenous and tribal communities in the Northeast region have their own customary laws for dealing with those accused of rape.
02. The Stories of the Red Coat by Ronnie Nido (2018-19)
Marked by their red coats, the ‘Gaon Buras/Buris’ (village old men/women) have been a part of village councils in Arunachal Pradesh for several years. This paper attempt to examine the position of women in the community and bring their narratives to the fore.
03. Nations, Communities and Queer Lives by Ditilekha Sharma (2018-19)
This paper explores certain faces of the quotidian of people who are living ‘queer’ lives in Manipur, through stories of struggles and negotiation of 8 people trying to survive abuse, find livelihood and acceptance from their family and community; amidst the hostility of nation-state conflict.
04. Visual Cultures of Assam by Shaheen Salma Ahmed (2018-19)
This paper explores the location of Assamese Muslim women as cultural citizens, and the possibilities of building up new networked archives to preserve and discuss the social memories of these cultural citizens.
05. Women’s Action in the Mizo National Front Movement (1966-1987) by Mary Vanlalthanpuii (2018-2019)
The signing of the Mizoram Peace Accord in 1986 has been called one of the most successful peace accords in the country. Using women’s oral testimonies, this paper addresses some missing aspects of the story by focusing on the memories of women.
Through a storytelling process that involves visuals and direct narratives, this paper attempts to look at indigenous kitchens through the lens of gender and memory. It looks at the idea of space, cooking, and rituals among communities involved in meaning-making through culinary habits.
This paper puts together the memories of Manipuri people, particularly Manipuri women, during the years of the Second World War. It offers a gendered reading of the War and establishes the centrality of oral testimonies in providing a perspective of the war from below.
08. My Grandmother: Exhibit A by Ayangbe Mannen and Leki Thungon (2018-19)
This project traces the personal journeys of four grandmothers within the context of family, gender, state, and violence. It is an attempt to narrativise and represent the intersection of familial memory with history.
09. Crossing Borders and Singing About Erotic Desires in Bhawaiyaa Folk Music by Rini Barman (2018-19)
This paper seeks to examine the evocation of erotic desire in Bhawaiyaa folk music, which has often come under moral disciplining and soft censorship by the state. By looking at the social and material conditions of local practitioners and memory keepers, it focuses on the social and collective histories of this singing tradition.
10. The Consequences of Sustained Disparities: Gender Politics in Nagaland by Ilito H. Achumi (2018-19)
Despite the fact that it has been more than half a century since Nagaland attained statehood, in Naga society, to do politics is to be a man. This paper attempts to take a closer look at Naga women’s political participation historically, and in present-day Naga society.
11. The Story of the Muun by Alyen Foning (2018-19)
Muuns are female shamans of the Lepcha tribe of Sikkim. This essay offers glimpses into the journey of the Muuns though stories and experiences collected from various Elders, male Shamans (boongthing), and practising Muuns.
12. The After Effects of Witch-Hunting: Trauma, Struggle and Revolution by Hrishita Rajbangshi (2018-19)
This paper tried to explore the gendered crime of witch-hunting and address the impact witchcraft accusations have. By focusing on the stories of the survivors, this paper aims to draw attention to the power wielded in private spaces, and the rehabilitation and coping mechanisms of the survivors.
Drawing on the lived experiences of Naga women in the fictional works of Easterine Kire and Temsula Ao, this essay aims to debunk the debated myth of a ‘privileged’ Naga women by looking at existing roles and representations of Naga women in social and political spaces.
This paper explores the discursive shifts in the representation of Aonglemla, a non-human entity that is believed to be malevolent. It also looks at how digital mediums have contributed to the continuity, fictionalisation and humanisation of Aonglemla through narratives detailing such encounters.
The Mishmi (Idu) tribe is known for its textile weaving skills. However, these weaving practices have seen a rapid decline over the years. This paper looks at how gender dynamics have intertwined with state politics to affect the weaving tradition in the region.
16. Working-Class Generations: A Gendered Family History by Jobeth Ann Warjri (2018-19).
Using the symbolic and sociological implications of the Khasi hearth, this essay examines the domestic and familial determinants of work in the working-class home by using the author’s own family history as a representative case study.
17. Looking at Nuns in Tibetan Buddhism Through a Gendered Lens by Sonam Choden (2018-19).
By looking at the everyday lives of Buddhist nuns, this paper attempts to explore the gendered struggles and resistance they face. Further, it partially looks at the construction of the female body and sexuality in Buddhist textual representations.
18. Tracing the Continuities of Violence in Bodoland by Rishav Kumar Thakur (2018-19)
This paper attempts to understand violence between ethnic groups and its subsequent avoidance in the aftermath of incidents of sexual violence, wherein the perpetrators and victims were identified as belonging to different ethnicities, in the region that is now called the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), India.
This paper looks at the historical legacy and representation of women in Vaishnavism in Assam. By drawing on Vaishnava texts and the hagiographical writings of Vaishnava gurus, it argues that the representation of female devotion within the tradition is based on gender and caste norms.
Through the interviews of 30 women migrant construction workers working in Hatigaon in Guwahati, this paper tries to highlight the various issues they face as a result of their gender and occupation.
21. An Imagined Graphic History of the Meitei Graphic Narrative by Natasa Thoudam (2018-19)
In the form of a graphic narrative intertwined with the story of the illustrative art of the Meiteis, this paper looks at the recently revived Meitei script and tries to write a creative story of it.