English with cultural studies

Christianity in contemporary Liangmai-Naga Context needs re-examination. The fact is that Christianity, which is based on Christ's life and his salvific works has not been deeply contextualized. The community has not experienced radical transformation and social liberation. These elements have led to the question; why Christianity has not brought a social and spiritual revolution in Liangmai Christian life? Given this circumstance, this paper is an attempt to radicalize Liangmai Christian theology as a tool for salvation and liberation. It is to root its theology in a sound contextual methodology. For that purpose, a communitarian approach is viable as a hermeneutical tool for Liangmai theology. Such a local and grounded method can interpret the Gospel to bring social justice and salvific dimensions in the Liangmai community.

Tribal people of Northeast India never experience “racism” until they moved outside of their land, or they came in contact with dominant groups. While this may be true for many other people too, and this is because racism is not a new phenomenon, but it is never indoctrinated in tribal cultures.

Tribal theology(ies) can produce appropriate knowledge and praxis for tribal Christians using a proper methodology(ies). Choosing a suitable methodology is critical for developing relevant and dynamic theology. Here, theology and methodology are interrelated and go hand in hand. In other words, the outcome of any theology is determined by the methodology applied. If an appropriate methodology is not selected, the theology constructed will have a systemic flaw and be irrelevant to the church and society. Therefore, picking an appropriate methodology will decide what kind of theology one produces. And out of several methodologies proposed and applied in tribal theology, the researcher would like to adopt communitarianism as the most realistic approach to tribal theology. Thus, this paper attempts to evaluate the existing methodologies in tribal faith expression. Not only that, but the researcher also once again recommends a communitarian approach as a viable methodology in tribal theology.

K. Thanzauva (1946- ) from Mizoram is one of the most influential theologians from Northeast India. He with few others are the pioneers of tribal Christian theology. His works are immense and they continue to make a huge impact in the theological circle in India. The contribution of Thanzauva on tribal theology ranges from the tribal understanding of community, methodology, ecclesiology, social ethics, the concept of humanity, spirituality, and many more. He tries to provide an elaborate methodological presupposition for the construction of theology in the tribal context of Northeast India.

LIANGMAI AND CHRISTIANITY: FAITH IN SEARCH OF UNDERSTANDING AND TRANSFORMATION IN INDIGENOUS/TRIBAL CONTEXT is a critical and contextual faith reflection of the Gospel in the grass-root Liangmai socio-cultural milieu. It is Liangmais’ faith seeking an understanding of God’s purpose and vision for His people. It is a theological exploration of the Liangmai Christian spirituality in the light of the Gospel and the living realities of the people. 
Secondly, this book is not a systematic theology, nor a dogma, nor a doctrine, nor a belief system, nor even a biblical commentary. However, it is an appraisal, an authentic faith investigation on the word of God (Bible) in the Liangmai context. It is the word of God that confronted the Liangmais’ world for a broader synthesis of both the dimensions and for enhancing each other.
M. Maisuangdibou did his Doctoral Studies from Federated Faculty for Research in Religion and Culture (FFRRC), Kottayam, Kerala, affiliated to Senate of Serampore University, Serampore, West Bengal. He is the author of Tribal Theological Hermeneutics: Methodological Issues in Interpretation and Liangmai Narratives: An Integral Look at History, Society and Culture. 
This book is available in the e-book: names of the website are pdfdrive.com and b-ok.asia

The tribal world, which is overtly communitarian, has to make use of this communitarian expression in its research. Tribal Christians seeking knowledge cannot avoid community aspect as it is the community and within this community that their life evolves. The centrality of communality in tribal context demands any research on tribal, and by tribal scholars and intellectuals, to critically utilize communitarian features and elements.  This discourse on communitarian methodology is to determine the practicality of the said approach. For this matter, the paper would attempt to review the existing methods in tribal theology, ascertain their feasibilities and drawbacks. Further, it would propose a communitarian methodology as a viable model for tribal theology. For that reason, the study undertaken is explicitly explorative and constructive with few inputs from other domains.

There are five theories available on the historical origin of the Nagas as appropriated from different sources located in the contemporary Naga society. There theories are (1) mythical origin, (2) originated from Mongolia, (3) originated from China, (4), Originally from Southeast Asia, (5) Present territory origin. The approaches of the study are oral-historical analysis and library works. It takes into consideration the numerous views offered by oral experts, scholars, intellectuals in Naga context. Moreover, the five theories presented are interconnected in several ways therefore to bestow a single theory as a conclusive one is inconceivable at the present stage as the debate on the subject-matter is an ongoing process.

Tribal women in northeast India face intersecting marginalisations rooted in gender, ethnicity, tribal categorisation, geography, and economic exclusion. While tribal societies have historically enabled women’s participation in community, agriculture, social life, and economic decisions, patriarchal structures continue to limit their access to leadership and resources. This paper examines the Liangmai-Naga customary practice of liuleh—women’s inheritance and possession of movable property—as a culturally embedded mechanism for enhancing the empowerment and self-reliance of tribal women today. Employing a qualitative ethnographic approach, mainly interviews, this study draws on in-depth interviews with women and elders of the Liangmai-Naga community, further supported by oral literature and customary practices. Findings suggest that liuleh provides women with a degree of economic security and social agency, despite patriarchal norms and shifting socio-economic conditions. By situating liuleh in the study, the article highlights its potential to advance gender justice. In that case, it contributes original insights to the debates on tribal inheritance systems and their applicability for modern-day gender empowerment in India.

Northeast Indians face racial discrimination in the times of covid-19 pandemic is a systemic continuation of exploitation and alienation perpetrated by the mainland Indians on the “others.” Northeast Indians are a target for prejudice, stereotype, and intolerance based on colour, race, caste, and sex(ism) in mainland India. The covid-19 situation has intensified the rate of racial discrimination and exploitation. The issue is that the northeasterners are alienated in their own country and from their own house (state) yards. This state of affairs has led to anger, alienation, mental traumatization, frustration, and fear among the northeast Indians who have migrated and settled in various parts of India. To examine the issue at hand, the researcher employs an explorative, community-based study where an investigation is prepared by collecting a number of lived-experience of the Northeasterners who share about racial discrimination and a survey on the issue both in times of normalcy and the pandemic.

If education is crucial for any civilization, will the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) improve India's education system in the future? Education in Northeast India (NEI) is unalike from India's rest due to several reasons such as geographical distinction, cultural diversity, religious pluralism, socio-cultural heterogeneity, and linguistic varieties. NEI is a mini world within the world. The multiplicity of life and nature in NEI is a boon for the world to cherish and learn. However, the region has become the most neglected area in the country. This trait has alienated the region's population from the rest of India; it also created a socio-cultural gap. In this given context, can the NEP 2020 improve the education of the people? The vision of NEP 2020, instead of uplifting the NEI from educational slumber, could create more hurdles if the socio-cultural milieu of the people is not taken into consideration. Therefore, an attempt to contextualize the existing education system in NEI and interrelate with NEP 2020 is vital in this paper.

Deimperalization and decolonization are prefixed by the word ‘de-’, which means there is something to remove, reduce, and reverse. Deimperalization and decolonization are closely intertwined, and they serve a similar purpose. Deimperialization is the phenomenon of dismantling imperialism, and decolonization is the aspect of resisting colonization , especially the colonial structures left by imperial powers. Before going further, one begins by highlighting what ‘imperialism’ and ‘colonization’ mean. One of the difficulties in defining imperialism and colonialism is that they are hard to distinguish from each other. Frequently, the two concepts are treated as synonyms.  However, in the strict sense of the terms, imperialism is an ideological concept which upholds the legitimacy of control of one nation by another; whereas, colonialism is one form of practice that results from the ideology of imperialism.  Indeed, it is arguable that while colonialism is virtually over today, imperialism continues promptly as Western nations are still engaged in imperial acts.  The impacts of imperialism and colonialism and the present facets of neo-colonialism are mainly felt in the area of colonized mentality, language and culture, academia/theology, economy, and socio-polity. 
This paper is an attempt to explore and locate the issues of imperialization and colonization of the tribal mind, language (culture), and academia. It will undertake to dismantle imperialism and colonialism in the natives’ life. Here the methods employed are a blend of postcolonialism , decolonization , and the tribal-natives’ reading. Overall, the paper aims to deconstruct the imperial and colonial legacy, and it tries to reconstruct the natives’ life and culture by infusing their histories, cultures, heritage, and traditions.

The research attempts to construct a tribal hermeneutics utilizing tribal resources. The study is vital because tribals, as a distinct community, need interpretation models of their own to read or interpret the Gospel and other texts relevantly and transformatively. The study advanced a hermeneutical exploration. The researcher profoundly depends on diverse materials from oral resources, library works, and other sources. The investigation categorically observes and suggests that culture and tradition, such as myths, could provide relevant resources for theological hermeneutics in a given context. The overall argument is that tribal theology has to critically use cultural values to make the Gospel more relevant and liberating.

The ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic is one of the significant challenges the world has ever faced in the last 20 and more centuries. The coronavirus, which is tiny and unseen with the humans' naked eyes, has crushed and ravaged the world and put the latter on war footing to respond to this deadly situation. This extreme state of affairs has left humans' life and their faith in science and technology, such as machinery, equipment, technical know-how, and medicines, to reexamine the idea of human development, progress, and life itself. In such a circumstance, Christian faith, church, and theology have to revisit and reflect on the Word of God to discover life's meanings, mission, and praxis to uplift the spirit of the world, church and faith holistically. Hence, the community of faith should respond sincerely to the current pandemic to make itself relevant to the world now and then and be faithful to the Gospel. For this purpose, the study undertaken is explorative and community-based action-oriented one seeking life's reorientation and commitment.

To the question, Jesus asked his disciple Peter, “who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16: 15); tribal  Christians have not responded conclusively and holistically up to the present time. The existing Christology in the tribal context is limited and narrow because it has not been constructed in an all-inclusive manner. Secondly, it is a collection of several limited tribal linguistic-conceptual expressions such as Jesus the Lizaba (Ao-Naga), Jesus the rooster of God, ancestor, and elder brother (Tangkhul-Naga), Jesus the pasaltha (Mizo-Kuki-Zou), Jesus the liangtuong (Liangmai-Naga), Jesus the bamboo (Ao-Naga), Jesus the indoi (Kuki), Jesus the arasentsur (Ao-Naga), Jesus the land (tribal), and more.  These tribal terms and notions are significant, yet they do not express an all-encompassing nature of Christ from the tribal perspective, as they are derived from particular tribes. Therefore, they lack inclusivity, standardization, or normative value in the whole tribal context. In other words, they are deficient in defining the holistic nature of Jesus Christ in the tribal world. Hence, there is a need to reenvision tribal Christology, which is all-embracing, critical, and relevant to all tribals. Against this background, the attempt in this paper is to redevelop a tribal-indigenous Christology by basically appropriating two aspects: first, the vivid tribal worldview of communitarianism, and second, the tribalness and indigeneity of Jesus Christ in the light of the Biblical teaching and the context of the tribal community.

Tribal episteme in general and literature, philosophy, worldview, and theology in particular represent an emerging voice in the Indian and world literary scenes. Tribal literature is unique of the unique due to its very nature as communitarian, land-centred, egalitarian, resistant, outspoken, and shared aesthetic values. It is eco-friendly, pastoral, mystical, nondualistic, essential unity of all realities, and spiritual-mythical conscious. This literature is the voice of the tribal people on their lives, cultures, worldviews, and religions.
This book attempts to write and develop hermeneutical tools and literary criticism of Tribal literature. It is a methodological exploration by reading tribal myths and worldviews. The book wrestles with several questions and issues on tribal literature: what is tribal literature? How to formulate tribal hermeneutics and literary criticism? How to systematize or methodize traditional tribal interpretational norms? How the self and the community are connected in tribal literature? How to read text(s) from a woman’s perspective? How to fuse the diverse horizons? And how to liberate and construct the identity and spirituality of the tribal communities in the (post)modern context? This volume asserts that tribal literature is communitarian, mostly folk and oral, liberative, transformative, eco-centred, open-ended, flux, and plurisignal.

Tribal people are one of the most religious people in the world. That is to say that there is no irreligious person in the tribal community. In fact, they do not know how to live without religion. Their religion and worldview are holistic in nature, as there is no separation between sacred and secular, and body and soul. Thus, everything is connected to their spiritual life. In other words, their whole life is religious and sacred. For instance, cultivating, farming, hunting, fishing, eating, dancing, celebrating, traveling, living, and so on are all sacred and spiritually linked. This religious way is the lifestyle of the tribal people. However, this religious life has undergone radical change beginning from the 19th century with the colonization of the northeast Indian region by the British Empire and the later entrance of Christianity and modernity. Several traditional indigenous tribal religions of northeast India are almost decimated with the introduction and expansion of alien forces. Today, only in the state of Arunachal Pradesh do the majority of the people practice the traditional primal religion, which they call Donyipolo.
The arrival of a foreign religion nearly annihilated the natives’ tribal religions. This critical situation provided a religious transformation from within that led to the rebirth and the avatar of tribal primal religions in the form of religious movements such as the Heraka among the Zeliangrong (Hamai) community beginning from the 1920s in Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, and the Donyipolo among the Arunachalis that was initiated in 1986. These two religious movements are the most well-known religious movements among the tribal communities of northeast India. They are the reformed versions of the indigenous religions. In this paper, the researcher will discuss the tribal religious movements of northeast India; however, it will limit its scope to the Heraka movement (of the Zeliangrong community of Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland) and its basic religious tenets.

Tribal ethics of northeast India are communitarian, which refers to a moral framework that prioritises collective well-being and community interests over individual desires. This emphasis on the communal over the individual is the primary form of moral actions and principles in tribal communities. Communitarian ethics arises from a specific context, i.e., the tribal ways of community living in every aspect of their lives. Despite being context-specific, one can argue that tribal ethics have universal relevance. Their values, which prioritise collective well-being, are not only applicable within the tribal communities but also have the potential to shape the contemporary world. The global relevance of tribal ethics connects one to the world's diverse cultures and provides a unique and enlightening perspective on ethical living. Therefore, tribal ethics has a global vision beyond time, space, and society. Fascinatingly, communitarian ethics are found, explicitly or implicitly, in every society and can be considered joint property. That means communitarian ethics is not an exclusive entity of any community or nation, including the tribal communities; however, the overt emphasis on communitarian living and its values in tribal communities makes this a point of departure in tribal ethics. In this article, the writers explore similar tribal ethical concepts and practices: chaliuraobo, tlawmngaihna, and sobaliba of the three tribal communities of northeast India, namely Liangmai-Naga, Mizo, and Ao-Naga.