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NEISP is organising a seminar by Dr. Sodolakpou Panmei

NEISP is organising a seminar by Dr. Sodolakpou Panmei

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NEISP is organising a seminar by Dr. Sodolakpou Panmei
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NORTH EAST INDIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES-I

 

State of ethnographic enquiries: Narratives on the Nagas of British India’s North-East Frontier, 1832-1935

 

 

Dr. Sodolakpou Panmei

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi

 

This paper is on colonial knowledge production of the ‘Nagas’ of British India’s North-East Frontier. Its concerns are twofold. The first is the state in which the ethnographic enquiries of the colonial state were undertaken, particularly in the Naga Hills, through military-survey expeditions (1830s-70s), census operations (1872-1931), and official ethnographic monographs (1880s onwards). The second is the way the ‘Nagas’ figured in those projects, or the features associated with it and that of the ‘tribe’: their markers and portrayals in official discourse; gradual makings as administrative nomenclatures; and connotative changes over time. The Naga Hills went through a transition from conquest to occupation (1878/81), which roughly coincided with the growth of anthropology as a discipline in the metropole, and there were shifts not only in the patterns of British administrative practice, but also the ethnographic traditions and targeted audiences. The entanglements of ethnography and governance are considered. A careful contextualisation of the production of descriptive ethnography may suggest against taking an extreme position of perceiving ethnography solely for the purpose of colonial control. This paper is less about identity politics and more about the state’s politics of identification. The highlight is on the part played by the state practices and administrative expediencies in the constitution of the category, ‘Nagas’.

 

DATE:   September 22, Friday, 2017

TIME:   3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

VENUE: Room no.324, 3rd Floor, SSS-I, JNU

 

ALL ARE INVITED

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Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.