Reform, identity, and narratives of belonging : the Heraka movement in Northeast India / Arkotong Longkumer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Longkumer, Arkotong, author.

Series:

Continuum Advances in Religious Studies

Continuum Advances in Religious Studies ; v.10

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Group identity--India--North Cāchār Hills--History--20th century.

Group identity.

Heraka movement.

Nationalism--India--North Cāchār Hills--History--20th century.

Nationalism.

Zeme (Indic people)--India--North Cāchār Hills--Religion.

Zeme (Indic people).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Continuum, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Reform, Identity and Narratives of Belonging focuses on the Heraka, a religious reform movement, and its impact on the Zeme, a Naga tribe, in the North Cachar Hills of Assam, India. Drawing upon critical studies of 'religion', cultural/ethnic identity, and nationalism, archival research in both India and Britain, and fieldwork in Assam, the book initiates new grounds for understanding the evolving notions of 'reform' and 'identity' in the emergence of a Heraka 'religion'. Arkotong Longkumer argues that 'reform' and 'identity' are dynamically inter-related and linked to the revitalisation and negotiation of both 'tradition' legitimising indigeneity, and 'change' legitimising reform. The results have deepened, yet challenged, not only prevailing views of the Western construction of the category 'religion' but also understandings of how marginalised communities use collective historical imagination to inspire self-identification through the discourse of religion. In conclusion, this book argues for a re-evaluation of the way in which multi-religious traditions interact to reshape identities and belongings."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Circling the Alter Stone: Bhuban Cave and the Symbolism of Religious Traditions

3. Millenarianism and Refashioning the Social Fabric

4. Changing Cosmology and the Process of Reform

5. Negotiating Boundaries

6. Community Imaginings and the Ideal of Heguangram

7. Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendices.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9786612552045

9781472549211

147254921X

9781282552043

128255204X

9781441186447

1441186441

OCLC:

613192842