Conflict and Reconciliation

The Politics of Ethnicity in Assam
2 ed
ISBN: 978-1-041-06120-5
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 216 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Transition in Northeastern India

Diverging from reductionist studies of Northeast India, this book examines Assam’s layered and intricate conflicts empirically and theoretically. It traces the genesis and evolution of ethnic and nationalistic politics in the state, exploring how these dynamics gave birth to nativist and militant movements. By analyzing structural, cultural, and historical violences in this multi-ethnic, polyphonic geography, the book connects identity politics to questions of ethnonationality, sovereignty, and armed resistance in postcolonial nation-states.

The volume scrutinizes how state responses – particularly militarization and policies perpetuating ethnic fragmentation – escalated rather than mitigated conflict. Through an in-depth study of Bodoland, Assam's most violent region, and the relations between three communities (Axamiya, Bodo, and Koch), the author stresses the need to redefine 'Axamiya', a contentious issue in the state's ethnic politics. The book proposes ethnic reconciliation through resuscitating traditional community-based practices upholding transitional justice, restoration, and mutual coexistence as pathways to breaking the durability of violence and establishing positive peace.

Part of the Transition in Northeastern India series, this revised edition more robustly engages with current conversations about structural violence, ethnicity, and decolonial feminist peace. It will prove essential to scholars and students of Peace and Conflict Studies, Sociology, Political Science, and History, as well as policy-makers and those interested in Northeast India.

Zielgruppe

Academic, General, and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Goswami, Uddipana

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of maps. Authors Note to the Second Edition. Acknowledgements. List of Abbreviations. Introduction: Assam, Conflicts 1. Cohesion, Conflict, Pre-Colonial Identities, and Colonial Logics 2. Colonial Continuities, Post-Colonial Policies, and Conflict 3. Militarization, Insurgency, and the Intractability of Violence 4. Tradition, Transformation, Ethnic Reconciliation. Postcript: Back to the Future. Index

Über Autor(innen)

Former Fulbright fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Uddipana Goswami teaches at Kennesaw State University’s School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development. Her books Gendering Peace in Violent Peripheries: Marginality, Masculinity, and Feminist Agency (Routledge 2023) and The Women Who Would Not Die (Speaking Tiger 2024) were finalists in the International Studies Association’s Best Global South Scholar Book Award and Georgia Author of the Year Awards respectively. Goswami is author of two academic monographs, two collections of short stories, and two poetry anthologies.