The river Barak flowing through Northeast India is the critical cultural and economic resource fo... more The river Barak flowing through Northeast India is the critical cultural and economic resource for thousands of people residing on its banks. The indigenous Hmar tribe have many sites of great spiritual and religious significance located on its course and in small islands in the river. The river is not merely a lifeline, but is integral to their cultural history and sense of selfhood. Currently, the Hmar are opposing the construction of the Tipaimukh dam on the Barak in Manipur. This paper discusses the arguments advanced to oppose this dam as it will displace numerous Hmar villages and submerge their sacred sites: the administrative irregularities and procedural violations, geological instability of dam site and environmental considerations, social costs and the threat of cultural extinction, lack of participatory project implementation, and absence of informed public consent of the affected Hmar.
Manipur is a multi-ethnic state located in Northeast India witnessing a divisive politics of iden... more Manipur is a multi-ethnic state located in Northeast India witnessing a divisive politics of identity and acute ethnic conflict. Following a socio-historical perspective, we identify the causes and manifestations of transformations in ethnic identity and 'tribal' affiliations, the marriages and the divorces that are reconstituting Kuki identity in contemporary Manipur. Our argument is substantiated with specific examples of the Nagaisation of some Kuki tribes and the re-definition of Hmar identity. The politics of identifying the self, differentiating from the other, and distancing from historical affiliations has become an interminable quest in Manipur and submerged the state completely in mindless violence.
Roads are bitumen covered concrete metaphors of modernity and development, and they materially re... more Roads are bitumen covered concrete metaphors of modernity and development, and they materially represent fantasies, collective hopes, and aspirations of future(s). They symbolize movement, connectivity, transactions and transportation, and eminently reflect governmentality. Our article is about Manipur’s connective infrastructures, and it focuses on internal roads, and a border highway that connects Imphal (Manipur’s capital city) to Dimapur at Nagaland in North-east India. We explain the infrastructural deficit within Manipur and decision-making about them being influenced by a hill-valley socio-ecological ethnic distributional conflict. The road links and is part of the uneven development route. We provide an ethnographic account of a truck journey undertaken between Imphal and Dimapur in 2018, and this enables us to understand routinized corruption and the collusion of state and non-state actors therein. The road is the symbol of hope, and a developmental desire, and epitomizes s...
The river Barak flowing through Northeast India is the critical cultural and economic resource fo... more The river Barak flowing through Northeast India is the critical cultural and economic resource for thousands of people residing on its banks. The indigenous Hmar tribe have many sites of great spiritual and religious significance located on its course and in small islands in the river. The river is not merely a lifeline, but is integral to their cultural history and sense of selfhood. Currently, the Hmar are opposing the construction of the Tipaimukh dam on the Barak in Manipur. This paper discusses the arguments advanced to oppose this dam as it will displace numerous Hmar villages and submerge their sacred sites: the administrative irregularities and procedural violations, geological instability of dam site and environmental considerations, social costs and the threat of cultural extinction, lack of participatory project implementation, and absence of informed public consent of the affected Hmar.
Manipur is a multi-ethnic state located in Northeast India witnessing a divisive politics of iden... more Manipur is a multi-ethnic state located in Northeast India witnessing a divisive politics of identity and acute ethnic conflict. Following a socio-historical perspective, we identify the causes and manifestations of transformations in ethnic identity and 'tribal' affiliations, the marriages and the divorces that are reconstituting Kuki identity in contemporary Manipur. Our argument is substantiated with specific examples of the Nagaisation of some Kuki tribes and the re-definition of Hmar identity. The politics of identifying the self, differentiating from the other, and distancing from historical affiliations has become an interminable quest in Manipur and submerged the state completely in mindless violence.
Roads are bitumen covered concrete metaphors of modernity and development, and they materially re... more Roads are bitumen covered concrete metaphors of modernity and development, and they materially represent fantasies, collective hopes, and aspirations of future(s). They symbolize movement, connectivity, transactions and transportation, and eminently reflect governmentality. Our article is about Manipur’s connective infrastructures, and it focuses on internal roads, and a border highway that connects Imphal (Manipur’s capital city) to Dimapur at Nagaland in North-east India. We explain the infrastructural deficit within Manipur and decision-making about them being influenced by a hill-valley socio-ecological ethnic distributional conflict. The road links and is part of the uneven development route. We provide an ethnographic account of a truck journey undertaken between Imphal and Dimapur in 2018, and this enables us to understand routinized corruption and the collusion of state and non-state actors therein. The road is the symbol of hope, and a developmental desire, and epitomizes s...
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Papers by vibha arora