Seeds of Ethnicity

Three major approaches underline the bourgeoning literature on North­eastern India—the historico-political, the Marxian and the Pluralist. Emphasiz­ing on the class dimension of the turbu­lences in the various states of the region, the Marxian perspective has noted with concern, the evolution and growth of ‘little nationalism’ and nativist chauvin­ism. The pluralists on the other hand, have emphasized on the perseverance of ethnic identities and the elite mobiliza­tion of the ethnic group’s sense of rela­tive deprivation. The others, while not getting bogged down to the ethnic/class dimension of the North-eastern turbulen­ce encompassing the ‘seven sisters’, have attempted to explore its causes by pre­senting a socio-political account.