1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910791244603321

Autore

Longkumer Arkotong

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York : , : Continuum, , 2010

ISBN

1-4725-4921-X

1-282-55204-X

9786612552045

1-4411-8644-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (273 p.)

Collana

Continuum Advances in Religious Studies ; ; v.10

Disciplina

299.5/4

Soggetti

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

Heraka movement

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

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

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

"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.