A Home for No One: Manipur and Belonging in the Idea of India

Описание: The questions of identity and belonging reign large over the trajectory of North-east Indian history, violence being a recurrent occurrence in it. The state of Manipur is no exception to this, and the recent civil strife serves as a reminder. The conflict predominantly centres around the ethnic clash between the Meitei and Kuki communities, and as it rages on for around four months now with spine chilling episodes of violence, the very idea of Manipur as a “state” hangs by a thin thread, as Arunabh Saikia puts it.

Typecasted often as a “distant zone of disturbed areas, with a history of law-
and-order problems”, the perception of the north-eastern states has and
continues to remain precarious and fragmentary in the larger picture, harbouring on the notion of “other”. The current situation in Manipur makes it essential for a re-evaluation of the same, with a deeper exploration into the recesses of the area’s history and the various strands pertaining to it, beyond the established perceptions.

It is with this objective that Voyages into the Past presents the panel discussion “A Home for No One: Manipur and Belonging in the Idea of India,” comprising
speakers Sudeep Chakravarti, author and Director, Centre for South Asian
Studies, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, and Samrat Choudhury, author
and journalist. The panel will be moderated by independent scholar Neellohit
Roy.