Cultural Identity of the Nagas Amidst Tribal theology and Globalisation

The line of reasoning in this book is that cultural identity of the Nagas is in great danger in the processes of globalisation, hybridisation and the multiculturality of the present societies for which something must be done to preserve, promote and popularise the Naga/Tribals cultural identity. It maintains that the holistic concept of Tribals/Naga worldview is congenial for the contextualisation of the Gospel and made an attempt to construct Christian Tribal Theology of Identity. It will be relevant for any researchers and general readers, who are interested on the issues of the indigenous people like the Nagas.

Dr. A. S. Pillarson did his B.Th. (1991) at Eastern Theological College, Jorhat; BD (1997) and M.Th. (2001) at United Theological College, Bangaluru; M.Phil. (2011) and PhD (2020) at Pondicherry Central University, Puducherry. Some of his articles have been published in both national and international Journals.
He has been teaching as Lecturer in some theological colleges. Since January 2021 he has been on the Faculty of Asian Institute of Theology, Dimapur. He is married to Mrs. T. Kikanaro Jamir, Retd. Head Mistress, Government Higher Secondary School, Chumukedima, Dimapur, Nagaland, India.

This book is based on my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Thesis.' It took about seven years to complete writing this book. I choose to write on this subject so as to enthuse further research on this research field among the younger Naga generations. Under the broad subject area of this study, i.e.. Cultural Identity, attempt has been made in this book to cover the multidisciplinary topics like "Naga cultural identity, globalisation', and 'tribal theology. Doing research on such multidisciplinary subjects is an uphill task, yet I took this as a challenge and carried out the research. The book presupposes that Gospel's values were already present in the Naga and their culture which need to be rediscovered for theologising.
I faced certain challenges while researching and writing this book. The first challenge I encountered came from my own better half. When I was preparing to go for data collection in North-east India for my research, she got seriously sick. Her hospitalisation and complete medical treatment in a hospital in Chennai in 2013 took totally four months! The second biggest challenge I faced while researching and writing the book was the untimely passing away of my former thesis Supervisor on 9th March 2015. That was the time when I was seriously engaging with my data analysis. Alas! It was out of the blue that this thing happened. The third and most colossal problem I faced was when my wife underwent a left fronto-temporoparietal craniotomy and total excision of meningioma on 14.12.2016, yet by the grace of God, her surgery at the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India was successful, but she requires life- long follow-up to asses her clinical condition. Out of these challenges and others, I learned an important lesson that strong determination pays with fervent prayer to God if we are to achieve something in life. Otherwise, I would not be in this position to publish this book.

Cultural, social and political discriminations of the indigenous peoples like the Nagas have not ceased even in this 21" century. They are often marginalised economically too. Indigenous peoples like the Nagas' peaceful efforts to maintain their cultural identity or exercise control over their traditional lands often led to accusations of treason. The focus of this book is the Nagas, but there are numerous references to other ethnic groups in North-east India, because there are lots of commonalities between Naga culture and cultures of other ethnicity especially in North-east India.
This book analysed Naga cultural identity including Naga identity formation, taking into consideration their worldview (political, social, economic, religious and cultural), origin, migration, ethnicity, and ancient and contemporary Naga society, modernisation and westernisation, western missionaries and erosion of Naga cultural identity and measures to safeguard Naga cultural identity. The younger Naga generations tend to think that their cultures are somewhat lower in status in comparison with the Western culture. This kind of perception necessitated one to examine what went wrong in the course of promoting and preserving Naga cultural identities and suggest what should be done in this regard.
Cultural identities form an integral part of Naga socio-cultural, economic and political structures. Primarily, cultural identities require one to ask questions about the 'self' and the 'other.' Most of the movements in North-east India are, in a way, a search for ethnic and cultural identity. Since culture gives identity to people, preserving ones cultural heritages becomes a crucial issue. The foremost reason of examining the cultural identity of the Nagas in North-east India in this book is to enable them to maintain their cultural identity and empower them to live with full human dignity. Moreover, the book not only discussed the development of Christian Tribal Theology and attempted to construct Christian Tribal Theology of Identity but also it analysed the influence of globalisation on the cultural identities of the tribals in North-east India with particular focus on the Nagas and suggests ways and means to response to its negative influences. This research assumed that Christianity strengthened Naga identity.