This book explores contesting identities, international politics, migration and democratic practices in the context of globalizing India. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research, it looks at one of the oldest migratory routes across a volatile region in eastern India which is fraught with violent claims of separate statehood. The book offers an account of how the 'North Bengal' region has acted as a gateway to migrant populations over time and points to why it must be understood as a shifting and liminal space through a study of Bodoland, Gorkhaland, Kamatapuri, Siliguri and the Greater Cooch Behar movements. It shows the region's politics of identity or quest for homeland not as a means of compensating for the lack or absence of identity, but as an everyday practice of living that very absence, across borders and boundaries, without arriving at any definitive and stable identity, along with impacts and manifestations in democratic political processes. A major intervention in modern political theory - shedding new light on concepts such as home and homeland, space and self, sovereignty, nation-state, freedom and democracy - this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of political science, modern South Asian history, sociology and social anthropology, and migration and diaspora studies.

This book explores contesting identities, international politics, migration and democratic practices in the context of globalizing India. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research, it looks at one of the oldest migratory routes across a volatile region in eastern India which is fraught with violent claims of separate statehood. The book offers an account of how the 'North Bengal' region has acted as a gateway to migrant populations over time and points to why it must be understood as a shifting and liminal space through a study of Bodoland, Gorkhaland, Kamatapuri, Siliguri and the Greater Cooch Behar movements. It shows the region's politics of identity or quest for homeland not as a means of compensating for the lack or absence of identity, but as an everyday practice of living that very absence, across borders and boundaries, without arriving at any definitive and stable identity, along with impacts and manifestations in democratic political processes. A major intervention in modern political theory - shedding new light on concepts such as home and homeland, space and self, sovereignty, nation-state, freedom and democracy - this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of political science, modern South Asian history, sociology and social anthropology, and migration and diaspora studies.

This book examines the making of the Goddess Durga both as an art and as part of the intangible heritage of Bengal. As the 'original site of production' of unbaked clay idols of the Hindu Goddess Durga and other Gods and Goddesses, Kumartuli remains at the centre of such art and heritage. The art and heritage of Kumartuli have been facing challenges in a rapidly globalizing world that demands constant redefinition of 'art' with the invasion of market forces and migration of idol makers. As such, the book includes chapters on the evolution of idols, iconographic transformations, popular culture and how the public is constituted by the production and consumption of the works of art and heritage and finally the continuous shaping and reshaping of urban imaginaries and contestations over public space. It also investigates the caste group of Kumbhakars (Kumars or the idol makers), reflecting on the complex relation between inherited skill and artistry. Further, it explores how the social construction of art as 'art' introduces a tangled web of power asymmetries between 'art' and 'craft', between an 'artist' and an 'artisan', and between 'appreciation' and 'consumption', along with their implications for the articulation of market in particular and social relations in general. Since little has been written on this heritage hub beyond popular pamphlets, documents on town planning and travelogues, the book, written by authors from various fields, opens up cross-disciplinary conversations, situating itself at the interface between art history, sociology of aesthetics, politics and government, social history, cultural studies, social anthropology and archaeology. The book is aimed at a wide readership, including students, scholars, town planners, heritage preservationists, lawmakers and readers interested in heritage in general and Kumartuli in particular.

This book examines the making of the Goddess Durga both as an art and as part of the intangible heritage of Bengal. As the 'original site of production' of unbaked clay idols of the Hindu Goddess Durga and other Gods and Goddesses, Kumartuli remains at the centre of such art and heritage. The art and heritage of Kumartuli have been facing challenges in a rapidly globalizing world that demands constant redefinition of 'art' with the invasion of market forces and migration of idol makers. As such, the book includes chapters on the evolution of idols, iconographic transformations, popular culture and how the public is constituted by the production and consumption of the works of art and heritage and finally the continuous shaping and reshaping of urban imaginaries and contestations over public space. It also investigates the caste group of Kumbhakars (Kumars or the idol makers), reflecting on the complex relation between inherited skill and artistry. Further, it explores how the social construction of art as 'art' introduces a tangled web of power asymmetries between 'art' and 'craft', between an 'artist' and an 'artisan', and between 'appreciation' and 'consumption', along with their implications for the articulation of market in particular and social relations in general. Since little has been written on this heritage hub beyond popular pamphlets, documents on town planning and travelogues, the book, written by authors from various fields, opens up cross-disciplinary conversations, situating itself at the interface between art history, sociology of aesthetics, politics and government, social history, cultural studies, social anthropology and archaeology. The book is aimed at a wide readership, including students, scholars, town planners, heritage preservationists, lawmakers and readers interested in heritage in general and Kumartuli in particular.

This book focuses on issues of governance and the nature and complexities of social transformation in India s Northeast -- a problem zone for policymakers -- particularly since the early 1990s. While governance is the thread that runs through the volume, the latter at one level addresses the challenges of governing in global times a region historically marked by acute violence, interethnic conflict and insurgency; and at another, traces macro changes in the very forms and technologies of governance. The essays in this volume point to how changing forms and technologies of governing insurgency, development and culture do not remain mere instruments of peace, but define the very nature and content of both peace and conflict and their interrelationship in the region.

For the first time in the history of scholarship on the region, the three crucial issues of insurgency, development and culture have been analysed through the lens of governance. This volume, therefore, marks an important addition to the scholarship on the region.

In the first decade of the twenty-first century autonomy has become one of the major concerns of our social and political existence. The right to autonomous life is now a political, cultural and social call of both the individual and the group - a rare conformity that points to the crucial importance of autonomy in the agenda of critical thinking.

Though the notion of autonomy in the modern era was at first applied in a political context, the term was quickly taken up in the context of individual rational persons, their rights and existences. In the wake of anti colonial movements, the term gained new perspectives and meanings which would imply new rights and new responsibilities. It became the emblem of group rights, in particular minority rights. In time the idea of autonomy became not only the standard of rights and responsibilities, but also an issue of governmentality.

The present volume is a critical attempt to understand autonomy from both historical and analytical perspectives. An international group of scholars seek answers that go beyond the thinking of Immanuel Kant or a simple hermeneutic reading of the principle of autonomy. Autonomy, in this collective reading, emerges as deeply rooted in social practices and contentious politics.

This book is a comprehensive study on India's North East where violence, development and natural disasters that lead to eviction and displacement of `citizens` within a country produce more Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) than refugees. Dwelling upon this debate, the book discusses the two major sources of displacement, conflict and development, and presents a compendium of case studies drawn from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Tripura-the four worst-affected states of the region. The Introduction to the book highlights the silenced aspects of displacement, drawing upon the implications of the case studies presented and bringing them to the centre of any future theoretical enquiry into the society and politics of the region. Blisters on their Feet: Tales of Internally Displaced Persons in India's North East provides contrasting perspectives on what is often considered a simple answer to displacement, and views the phenomenon as a logical culmination of a package of policies initiated and undertaken in the region, particularly in the age of globalization. The case studies display rare insight, human rights sensitivity and commitment, sans any theoretical pretensions. The book serves as a useful key in placing the North East in the newly emergent discourse on displacement and brings it to the forefront of the public agenda. It offers important insights for policy makers and analysts, research scholars, human rights activists, lawyers, developmental specialists, students and socially concerned citizens.

The world seems to have recently discovered India and China as major players in Asia, and political and economic connections between the two countries are rapidly growing. Beyond the fashionable phenomenon, the two countries have much in common and many shared experiences. Both are developing countries with dynamic economies focused on lifting their people out of poverty. There are also differences as well, as India is a democracy while China is an autocratic state, and the speed of economic growth is much higher in India. This collection provides a comparative analysis of development-induced migration in India and China caused by urbanization and dam construction. The contributors include scholars from both countries working in both academia and consultancy positions.

This book studies minorities of South Asia and Europe in a comparative and transnational perspective. While country-specific studies in minorities are not rare, their comparisons within a region (like South Asia and Europe) or across them are almost non-existent. This is so because the history of the formation of minorities in many ways coincides with that of the formation of nation-states. As modern states emerge and their boundaries are drawn precisely, minorities are created -- if not 'trapped' and 'colonised' -- within them. Comparisons among minorities are often regarded as to politically volatile a subject to be encouraged by nation-states. Today it is imperative to undertake this task as the forces and processes of globalisation flush the minorities out of their respective state boundaries. Caught in the whirlpool of global politics, minorities sometimes do not know how to retain the autonomy of their social and political agendas. Modern minorities are the product of nationalist discourse. It suggests a new agenda in minority discourse.