Pastoral Care and Counselling- Towards Cultural Fidelity Among Naga Youth

About the Book In the past, youth generally tended to rely on the advice, wisdom, and judgment of their elders. Today, exposure to outside Nagaland in search of education and job opportunities has a major influence on their lifestyles, and significant section of Naga youth is becoming estranged and alienated from the Naga culture among migrant Naga youth.

In the present work, the author has intended to study fidelity to Naga culture among the youth staying outside Nagaland in different cities in India, (Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, and Kochi) compared to the youth residing in Nagaland. The transitional influences have brought a totally new outlook in the way youth look at life. This highlights the need of Pastoral care and counseling in the context, where the Naga youths may be helped to improve their coping ability to Naga culture and look for ways to make life interesting and befitting to the change of time.

About the Author Dr. Boholi Z. Sema is currently teaching at Clark Theological College, Mokokchung, in the Department of Christian Ministry (Pastoral Counselling). She completed her Bachelor of Theology (B.Th.) from Trinity Theological College, Dimapur; Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) from Eastern Theological College, Jorhat; Master of Theology (M.Th.) and Doctor of Theology (D.Th.) from Federated Faculty for Research in Religion and Culture (FFRRC), Kottayam, under the Senate of Serampore University. She has also authored a book entitled "Parent-Children Relationship Among the Naga Society towards Family Enrichment".

Foreword I am extremely honored to write a foreword on the book Pateral Carr and Celling Towards Cultural Fidelity among the Naga Youth, authored by my colleague Bohol 7. Sema. At the very outset, I would like to congratulate her on authoring such a profitable and valued book with many rich insights. Many scholars have attempted to look at the issues related to Naga youth staying outside of Nagaland from different perspectives. However, the present book stands out more powerfully because the author has looked at the issue of cultural fidelity with special reference to migrant Naga youth from the counseling perspective The author has methodically adopted a comparative study between Naga youth living in and outside of Nagaland in order to ascertain cultural fidelity. Such a comparative study makes this book a very absorbing read and helps us understand the real situation in relation to cultural fidelity among migrant Naga youth.

For centuries, the tribal people of northeast India particularly the Nagas lived in isolation from the outside world and with little inter-tribal contact. According to sources, it was from the early part of the 19th century that the Nagas started to interact with the so called "culture-producing organizations or "agents", marking the beginning of a new era in their history. Generally, it is believed that the advent of British colonial administration in the Naga Hills in 1832 and the introduction of Christianity by American Baptist missionaries in 1872 resulted in the interaction of the Nagas with western culture. This interaction impacted the Naga culture, which resulted in many changes and eventually led to the disappearance of many Naga cultural elements. Today, after more than a century of Christianity in their homeland, Nagas have started to re-evaluate the changes which occurred in their culture. This awareness is making the Nagas reflect critically on and assess the consequences of change in their culture. Nagas in general assume that these changes distorted their original culture and led to its disintegration and the disappearance of cultural values and elements.

The present Naga society is becoming increasingly modern and urbanized. The present complex socio-cultural shift is leading to unprecedented psychological problems and conflicts, especially among the youth. It is a reality that many Naga youth, both educated and uneducated prefer to go outside of their homeland.

Introduction There is no individual who has no culture.' Cultures will therefore include such dimensions as ways of living, thinking, language, arts, and crafts, eating habits, patterns of social relationships, political organizations, and notions of leadership, authority, power and rule. Religious and moral values, things deemed acceptable and unacceptable, are all elements of culture. They affect how particular persons and their social groupings understand themselves, how they understand the world. how they think to relate to their natural or physical environment; how they relate to the departed and how they deal with ancestors. These are all dimensions of culture.

Naga' youth expose to several conflicting, distracting, difficult and stressful situations. In the past, youth generally tended to rely on the advice, wisdom and judgment of their elders.

**Contents and Sample Pages**