History is mostly written by the winners about the losers, not the losers writing about
themselves. And the dominant winners write history about the losers to appropriate them
into their political agendas. The losing side has less or no chance of presenting their
stories. The history written by the dominant historians are not the true story of the
people. Hence, to a Dalit, a history of Dalit is not his/her story. To a Tribal, a history
of Tribal is not his/her story. To a woman, history is his-tory, not her story. This book
raises critical questions on such historiographical issues. It challenges that the
histories written by the colonizers, anthropologists and missionaries or dominant people
are always descriptive and prescriptive. The true story of the people are never told and
written. What has come about in the history is the subjective representation of
historiographer from outside. Perhaps, a complete mismatch in depicting who they are and
who they are not. This book brings to light the very fact of dehumanizing image projected
about the people's at the margins, especially the North East Indian tribes and make an
attempt to reimage the history written by and with the colonial and missionary prisms
about them.
Contents
Preface
1. Bird's Eye View of the North East India
2. Sunshine before Sunrise, Darkness before Sunset India's North-East and North-East's
India
3. Hegemonic Colonial Historiography over the History NEI Tribes
4. Oral History : A North East Indian Tribal Reading
5. Reconstructing Tribal Historiography : A Subaltern Perspective
6. Recovery and Reconstruction of Her-Story : Feminist Historiography
7. History of Dalits and Tribals Conversion in India : Theories and Motives
8. Theories and Motives of Conversion Movement among the Nagas in Nagaland
9. Christianity and its Impact on the Tribes of NEI
10. Ao-Nagas, Christianity and Administrators : Issues and Conflicts
11. Trends of Tribal Awakening in North-East India Since 1947
12. Identity Question and Ethno-Political Movements in North East India
13. Christianity and Public Sphere in India : A View from North East India
Dr. Walotemjen Jamir, B.A. B.D., M.Th. D.Th. was born on 19th August,
1974 in Mokokchung, Nagaland, India, and while being on the faculty at Gurukul Lutheran
Theological College & Research Institute, Chennai, he unexpectedly passed away on 15th
July 2018 at the age of 44. He earned his B.A. from North Eastern Hill University (NEHU),
Shillong, and studied Bachelor of Divinity at Clark Theological College, Mokokchung,
Nagaland; Master of Theology and Doctoral studies at FFRRC, Mar Thoma Theological
Seminary, Kottayam, Kerala; and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Theology by the Senate
of Serampore College (University) in 2014. He wrote number of articles in the field of
History of Christianity which were presented in various seminars and published in
journals. He also co-authored the book - `Mapping the Context: An Interdisciplinary
Exploration' (2011) published by Authors in Kohima, Nagaland.
Rev. Dr. Songram Basumatary, the Compiler and Editor of the book, is
an ordained minister of the Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church (NELC) who hails from
Assam, India. Currently he is the Professor and Head of the Department of Theology &
Ethics at Gurukul Lutheran Theological College & Research Institute, Chennai. He also
serves as the Dean of the Post Graduate Studies, and the Convenor of the Gurukul Summer
Institute. He has written wide varieties of articles which are published in reputed Indian
journals and edited books. He is the author of the book - `Ethnicity and Tribal Theology:
Problem and Prospect for Peaceful Co-existence in North East India' (2014) published by
Peter Lang; and the editor of the book - `Transforming Reformation: Reformation in
Perspectives' (2017) and `Migration in Perspectives: Towards Theology of Migration from
the Margins' (2018) published by CWI.
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