SHILLONG: An upcoming edited volume with the tentative title, “Understanding Manipur: History, Identity, Land, and the Politics of Belonging” seeks to bring together interdisciplinary scholarship to examine the complex historical and contemporary realities of Manipur.
Positioned within the broader landscape of Northeast India, Manipur’s present-day challenges are rooted in layered historical processes, from pre-colonial political systems and colonial administrative restructuring to post-colonial integration, evolving ethnic identities, and contested land relations. These overlapping trajectories have shaped ongoing debates around belonging, governance, territory, and citizenship across diverse communities.
The volume underscores that current tensions in the state cannot be viewed as isolated incidents, but rather as part of deeper structural and historical continuities. Issues such as land ownership disputes, ethnic identity politics, demands for autonomy, and perceived imbalances in development and political representation have contributed to an increasingly polarised environment. These are further influenced by borderland dynamics, migration, and security concerns.
Focus and Scope
The book aims to critically revisit Manipur through multiple academic lenses, situating contemporary developments within long-term socio-political and historical contexts. It will explore how power, identity, and memory are negotiated within and across communities, with particular attention to land relations, customary laws, governance systems, and inter-community dynamics.
Scholars will examine themes including pre-colonial histories, colonial cartographies, the evolution of ethnic identities, land tenure systems, development disparities, and the role of state and customary institutions in shaping inclusion and exclusion. The widening hill-valley divide, reflected in persistent inequalities, remains a central concern, especially in light of ongoing unrest and demands for separate administrative arrangements.
Key Themes
Contributions are invited on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:
- Pre-colonial history and hill-valley relationship: trade, raids and warfare
- Shared histories and contestations: rituals, festivals and intermarriages
- Colonial cartographies and administration
- Evolution & emergence of ethnic identities in the colonial & post-colonial period
- Land ownership, land tenure systems and customary laws
- Constitutional and legal safeguards for Hill peoples/tribals and ethnic politics
- State formation and integration with India: discontents and contestations
- Statist policies of enclosure, territoriality, ancestral claims and resistance
- The politics of conservation and resource control
- From autonomy to alienation: displacement and exclusion
- Armed conflicts, migrations and internal displacement
- Politics of indifference, dominance and partisan interventions
- Political economy of development and underdevelopment
- Structural injustice, institutional exclusion and infrastructural gaps
- The questions of Article 371 (C) and territorial integrity
- Conflict migration, citizenship, refugees & Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
- Borderland, Free Movement Regime and border fencing
- Re-imagining Manipur: Towards peace, justice, and beyond identity politics
Structure of the Volume
The book is tentatively divided into thematic sections covering:
- Historical foundations and the making of Manipur
- Land, territory, and customary governance
- State formation, constitutional questions, and governance
- Development, displacement, and structural inequalities
- Conflict, migration, and borderland dynamics
Objective
The volume aims to deepen understanding of Manipur’s socio-political landscape by:
- Re-examine the historical foundations of contemporary political and ethnic relations in Manipur.
- Analyse the transformation of land relations and territorial governance from the pre-colonial to the postcolonial period.
- Explore how ethnic identities have evolved and been politicised in relation to land, governance, and institutional Structures
- Examine the political economy of development and structural inequalities across hill and valley regions.
- Investigate the interaction between state institutions and customary governance systems
- Contribute to scholarly and policy debates on conflict transformation, justice, and peace-building in Manipur.
By combining archival research, ethnographic work, policy analysis, and indigenous perspectives, the project seeks to move beyond simplified narratives and highlight the structural forces shaping the region today. It also aims to imagine alternative futures grounded in pluralism, decentralisation, and sustainable peace.
Submission Details
- Abstract Submission (up to 250 words): May 30, 2026
- Abstract Acceptance Notification: June 20, 2026
- Final Article Submission: Sept 15, 2026.
- Word Limit: 4000-6000 words
- Manuscript Formatting Guidelines: Times New Roman, 12pt, double-spaced
Editorial Team & Initiative
The volume is edited by Yuimirin Kapai, Rammathot Khongreiwo, and Shaokhai Mayirnao, and is part of a research initiative by the Tangkhul Scholars’ Association (TSA). The project aims to foster critical, policy-relevant scholarship that contributes to a deeper understanding of Manipur and its ongoing challenges.
Scholars from disciplines such as history, political science, anthropology, sociology, law, geography, and development studies are encouraged to apply. Scholars of Northeast India and South Asian studies, Graduate and postgraduate students, policymakers and civil society organisations are particularly welcomed.
(Submission & Queries: yuimikapai@gmail.com; athot_naga@yahoo.co.in; shaokhaim@gmail.com)