Centre for the Study of Social Systems
School of Social Sciences
CSSS Colloquium
Khuraijam Bijoykumar Singh
(Assistant Professor, SCSNEI, JNU)
Will be presenting a paper on
LAND, SITES AND IDENTITY AS CONTESTED TERRAINS:
Spatial Politics of Hinduism and Sanamahi Religion in Manipur
Date & Time: August 21, 2018 (Tuesday), 3.30 pm
Venue: CSSS Committee Room (No: 13), SSS-II
Abstract: In the present context of Manipur, which is one of the Union Indian States, there are two dimensions of this strategies — the “Meitei nationalism” driven by Hinduism on one hand and “Sanamhism” (pre-Hindu religion of the Meiteis) on the other hand each of which has its own strategies and politics. Thus the present territory of Manipur becomes a contested space for many socio-religious groups and political space they claim is a set of relationships, which include the land, sites and identity that cannot be reducible to one another. Therefore, land, religious sites, territory and identity become contested among various socio-religious and ethnic communities. To claim this physical space as a legitimate space exclusively for one’s own, they utilize mythology, rites and ritual as significant legitimatizing sources of their claims. The the present paper is an attempt to examine the contemporary spatial strategies of the Meiteis who followed Hinduism and Sanamahism. It also examines how such spatial strategies in both the cases attempt to translate the facts of social geography into a matter of faith, belief and ultimately shaped their history.
Bio: Khuraijam Bijoykumar Singh teaches at the Special Centre for the Study of North East India (CSNEI), JNU. Before joining this centre he taught Sociology of Education at North East Regional Institute of Education (NERIE), Shillong, a constituent unit of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi. His areas of interest includes social context of education and culture, religion, peasant studies, identity and state formation in North East India.
