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SCSNEI organises a lecture by Golan Suanzamung Naulak

SCSNEI organises a lecture by Golan Suanzamung Naulak

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SCSNEI organises a lecture by Golan Suanzamung Naulak
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MONTHLY SEMINAR SERIES
 
SPECIAL CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF NORTH EAST INDIA 
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES – BUILDING I
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY, NEW DELHI
 
 
Naming a People in Imaginary Homelands:
Tracing histories of Zo categorisations along the Indo-Burma borderland
 
Golan Suanzamung Naulak 
Integrated Mountain Initiative, New Delhi
 
Contemporary scholarship in North East India often misrepresent the Zo people, known by various names such as Chin, Kuki, Mizo or Zomi, with conflating ideas of nation, tribe and language. This paper traces the historical contexts in which these nomenclatures emerged and gained currency, especially during the post-Independent period and their accompanying political movements.  It argues that the politics of naming the Zo people into various nomenclatures was driven by multiple factors including British colonial classifications, recognition into scheduled tribes by the Indian state and the self-projection of ‘national’ movements within different Zo groups with their respective boundaries.
 
The preference for any of these nomenclatures to refer to the same group or a section of the group, in what F K Lehman considered as an exercise which is ‘far from being unambiguous’ and ‘replete with ambivalence’, also raises questions of their politics which produces the recurring need to find an encompassing, acceptable nomenclature for the Zo people. Each of these movement-based nomenclatures are examined in their respective histories of ideas, growth, territory, scale and significance so as to suggest a more meaningful engagement with local histories in the region.
 
DATE: March 08, Friday, 2019
 
TIME: 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
 
VENUE: Room no.324, 3rd Floor, SSS-I, JNU, New Delhi

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.