Rethinking the Idea of Indigeneity: An Indigenous Liberationist Response to Hindutva Cooptation and Assimilationist Agenda in Northeast India

This essay makes an intervention in contemporary conversations on the idea of "Indigenous/Indigeneity" by attending to a specific problematic wherein the idea is conceived and deployed in a hegemonic manner that furthers the arginalization of the already oppressed Indigenous communities. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jongte, R. C. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Univ. 2022
In: Journal of Hindu-Christian studies
Year: 2022, Volume: 35, Pages: 1-10
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
FD Contextual theology
KBM Asia
TK Recent history
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Summary:This essay makes an intervention in contemporary conversations on the idea of "Indigenous/Indigeneity" by attending to a specific problematic wherein the idea is conceived and deployed in a hegemonic manner that furthers the arginalization of the already oppressed Indigenous communities. This happens by way of the cooptation and assimilation of the cultures and histories of marginalized Indigenous peoples by dominant groups who also stake claim to Indigeneity. To understand and unpack this problematic - a situation in which dominance enters and coopts discourses on Indigeneity - this essay analyzes the often-strained relationship between the Indigenous peoples of Northeast India and "mainland" India and, more recently, the region's encounter with Hindutva ideology. Offering a corrective and a safeguard to such problematic conception and deployment of the idea, the essay proposes a conception of Indigeneity informed by the central liberationist tenet of "preferential option for the poor" that anchors the concept of Indigeneity on the ideas of marginality/oppression and liberation. It argues that the concept cannot be assumed to be inherently liberatory across space and time, and therefore, authentic conception of Indigeneity should be judged by its liberatory character.
ISSN:2164-6279
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of Hindu-Christian studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1823