Fluid attachments in Northeast India: introduction

Abstract

This introduction presents the context and theoretical basis of fluidity of attachments in Northeast India. A large cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity, an international border situation, and various forms of unsettled relations with ‘mainstream India’ characterize Northeast India. These aspects form the frame of highly dynamic movements of identity and ethnicity formation. This special issue includes five papers that focus on these dynamics in terms of ‘fluidity’; they present new situations of shift between different layers of identification, re-signification of cultural practices in the process of their selection as emblems of groups‘ identity, changes in groups’ specific practices after religious conversion, and shifts from one identity to another. They show that shifts of ethnic identity are old processes in the region, whereas other levels of identification, such as lineages, clans, villages, and new ‘cosmopolitan’ identities coexist alongside ethnic identity, and gain particular salience in certain situations or points of time.