Conflict and Reconciliation: The Politics of Ethnicity in Assam: The Politics of Ethnicity in Assam

Diverging from reductionist studies of Northeast India and its multifarious conflicts, this book presents an exclusive and intricate, empirical and theoretical study of Assam as a conflict zone. It traces the genesis and evolution of the ethnic and nationalistic politics in the state, and explores how this gave birth to nativist and militant movements. It further discusses how the State’s responses seem to have exacerbated rather than mitigated the conflict situation. The author proposes ethnic reconciliation as an effective way out of the current chaos, and finds the key in examining the relations between three communities (Axamiyā, Bodo and Koch) from Bodoland, the most violent region of Assam. She stresses upon the need to redefine ‘Axamiyā’, an issue of much discord in Assam’s ethnic politics since the modern-day formulation of the Axamiyā nation. The book will prove essential to scholars and students of peace and conflict studies, sociology, political science, and history, as also to policy-makers and those interested in Northeast India. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 List of Maps 10 List of Abbreviations 12 Glossary 16 Preface 18 Author’s Note 20 Acknowledgements 26 Introduction: Assam, Conflicts 28 Part I 44 1 Conflicts Within, Conflicts Without: Communities and Concepts 46 2 What is Axamiyā? Understanding an Interethnic Identity 71 3 Identity, Interrupted: Nation-building and the Break with Interethnicity 95 4 Ethnic Fragmentation and Divided Communities 114 5 State Policy, Ethnicity and Conflict 128 Part II 154 6 Addressing Conflicts: Militarisation and the Culture of Violence 156 7 Addressing Conflicts: Negotiating, Power Sharing, Co-opting 173 8 Resolving Issues, Transforming Conflicts, Restoring Relations 192 9 Back to the Future: Tradition and Transformation 211 Bibliography 224 About the Author 241 Index 242 The Politics of Ethnicity in Assam Tracing the historical roots and contemporary manifestations of ethnic conflict in Assam in India’s northeast, this book provides a rigorous and intensive analysis of the nationalist politics of the state, with implications for conflict and separatism as well as prospects for peace and reconciliation.