Arkotong Longkumer
Biographic Data
| ID | 620797 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Arkotong Longkumer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Arkotong |
| FAMILY NAME | Longkumer |
| SIGNATURE | LONGKUMER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 99 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Reflections on The Greater India Experiment
Hindu Nationalism, Gurus and Media
This commentary offers a reflection on the triangular interactive relationship between Hindutva, gurus and media. It suggests that Hindu nationalists understand gurus to be a specific form of valued Hindu cultural good, which helps to explain mediatised activist attempts to defend gurus from legal and media scrutiny, and historicises the theme of guru domination, caste politics and Hindutva through the optics of matter and media, exploring both t…
Indigenous Religion(s)
This chapter explores the shift to ‘indigeneity’ and ‘indigenous religion’ among the Sámi, through a focus on Sámi activism at Alta (1979–1981, concerning a proposed power plant) and Standing Rock (2016–2017, concerning a proposed pipeline). It is based on a combination of multi-sited fieldwork, interviews and textual sources, and proceeds along the lines of ‘light comparison’, inspired partly by the comparative logic of indigeneity and indigenou…
Nagas can't sit lotus style’
This article is a preliminary attempt to understand the dynamics of how Patanjali and Baba Ramdev represent ‘Hindu nationalism’, or Hindutva (Hinduness) in Nagaland, India. One can read Baba Ramdev's foray into the region through the promotion of yoga, Ayurveda, and national health, as a form of ‘neo-Hindutva’ that is increasingly diffuse and moves away from a more militant pathway of established Hindutva designs. If one considers the work of Pat…
Neo-Hindutva’
The start of this century has seen Hindu nationalism emerge as a more dominant force than ever before. Hindutva is also evolving and shifting in new, surprising, and significant ways, requiring us to reassess and reframe prevailing understandings. This special issue seeks to identify and understand the ways in which Hindu nationalism increasingly permeates into new spaces: organisational, territorial, conceptual, rhetorical. It develops and expan…
Along Kingdom’s Highway
The aim of this paper is to examine the story of the American Baptists and how their mission activities in the Naga Hills District (1871-1955) have impacted upon present day politics in the Indian state of Nagaland. Baptists make up nearly 95% of the current Naga population in Nagaland. The paper will investigate the relationship between the Baptist mission’s philosophy on education, Christian conversion and the subsequent rise of a sense of ‘nat…
Spirits in a Material World
This article is about woodcarving and the role it plays in religion. It is an attempt to grapple with the idea of heritage as partnership — involving “persons in action,” that is between human and non-human persons — focusing on the work of an artist, Lepten, and the seven themed wooden pillars he and others carved in Mopungchuket village in Nagaland, India. It demonstrates, in this case, how heritage as a process opens up conversations between r…
Bible, guns and land
This paper will argue that to understand Naga sovereignty, one must take into account the intimate connection between Christianity and nationalism. This relationship is centred on the idea of ‘Nagaland for Christ’, a central slogan (also seen as a covenant) for all Naga nationalist groups. It suggests that God is the primary agent in sovereignty, and that the land is connected with the idea of Nagaland for Christ. I argue that national territory …
The power of persuasion
The paper will examine the intersection between Sangh Parivar activities, Christianity, and indigenous religions in relation to the state of Nagaland. I will argue that the discourse of ‘religion and culture’ is used strategically by Sangh Parivar activists to assimilate disparate tribal groups and to envision a Hindu nation. In particular, I will show how Sangh activists attempt to encapsulate Christianity within the larger territorial and civil…
Rice-Beer, Purification and Debates over Religion and Culture in Northeast India
The aim of this paper is to examine the importance of rice-beer (zao) amongst the Zeme Nagas of Assam. Colonial officials and Christian missionaries brought new ideas into Zeme social and cultural practices, quite different from their own. One way to frame this interaction is to examine the tension between world-views held by indigenous religions and Christianity, and what this tension represents for the Zeme. I aim to demonstrate how the terms '…
Lines that speak
This article navigates my experience of returning copies of the "Gaidinliu notebooks" from the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) to the Zeme Nagas of Assam, India. The notebooks were confiscated in 1932 by the British administrators and donated to the museum. They are from a religious movement, the Heraka, and their prophetess, Gaidinliu (1915-1993). Returning the notebooks highlighted a number of theoretical issues in approaching texts, particularly s…
Roy, Babul
Anthropos , Seite 738 - 739
Cleanliness is next to godliness
This article investigates the link between religious change and perceptions of and attitudes towards 'hygiene' and 'order' amongst adherents of Heraka, a religious reform movement among the Zeme Naga of Assam. It examines the problematic role of sacrifice, its relation-ship to the economy, and the consequent theological shift towards a monotheistic god, Tingwang, by focusing on the ritual of a Heraka village renewal. Not only does this ritual val…
Exploring the Diversity of Religion
This article considers the importance of “religion” and “identity” in the process of fieldwork in the North Cachar Hills, Assam, India. The political sensitivities in the region provided a difficult context in which to do fieldwork. This is chiefly because of the various armed insurrections, which have arisen as a consequence of the complicated remnants of British colonialism (1834–1947), and the subsequent post-independence challenge of nation b…
Religious and Economic Reform
The Heraka or Gaidinliu Movement among the Zeme Nagas of the North Cachar Hills, Assam, provides a case of millenarian activities based on agrarian reforms. The movement is associated with opposing British rule during the 1930s until India's Independence in 1947 under the guidance of Jadonang and later Gaidinliu. I examine the genesis of the movement which was based on agrarian reform by linking it with the influx of Kuki people and the effect of…
Neo-Hindutva’
The start of this century has seen Hindu nationalism emerge as a more dominant force than ever before. Hindutva is also evolving and shifting in new, surprising, and significant ways, requiring us to reassess and reframe prevailing understandings. This special issue seeks to identify and understand the ways in which Hindu nationalism increasingly permeates into new spaces: organisational, territorial, conceptual, rhetorical. It develops and expan…
Bible, guns and land
This paper will argue that to understand Naga sovereignty, one must take into account the intimate connection between Christianity and nationalism. This relationship is centred on the idea of ‘Nagaland for Christ’, a central slogan (also seen as a covenant) for all Naga nationalist groups. It suggests that God is the primary agent in sovereignty, and that the land is connected with the idea of Nagaland for Christ. I argue that national territory …
Nagas can't sit lotus style’
This article is a preliminary attempt to understand the dynamics of how Patanjali and Baba Ramdev represent ‘Hindu nationalism’, or Hindutva (Hinduness) in Nagaland, India. One can read Baba Ramdev's foray into the region through the promotion of yoga, Ayurveda, and national health, as a form of ‘neo-Hindutva’ that is increasingly diffuse and moves away from a more militant pathway of established Hindutva designs. If one considers the work of Pat…
Along Kingdom’s Highway
The aim of this paper is to examine the story of the American Baptists and how their mission activities in the Naga Hills District (1871-1955) have impacted upon present day politics in the Indian state of Nagaland. Baptists make up nearly 95% of the current Naga population in Nagaland. The paper will investigate the relationship between the Baptist mission’s philosophy on education, Christian conversion and the subsequent rise of a sense of ‘nat…
The power of persuasion
The paper will examine the intersection between Sangh Parivar activities, Christianity, and indigenous religions in relation to the state of Nagaland. I will argue that the discourse of ‘religion and culture’ is used strategically by Sangh Parivar activists to assimilate disparate tribal groups and to envision a Hindu nation. In particular, I will show how Sangh activists attempt to encapsulate Christianity within the larger territorial and civil…
Rice-Beer, Purification and Debates over Religion and Culture in Northeast India
The aim of this paper is to examine the importance of rice-beer (zao) amongst the Zeme Nagas of Assam. Colonial officials and Christian missionaries brought new ideas into Zeme social and cultural practices, quite different from their own. One way to frame this interaction is to examine the tension between world-views held by indigenous religions and Christianity, and what this tension represents for the Zeme. I aim to demonstrate how the terms '…
Lines that speak
This article navigates my experience of returning copies of the "Gaidinliu notebooks" from the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) to the Zeme Nagas of Assam, India. The notebooks were confiscated in 1932 by the British administrators and donated to the museum. They are from a religious movement, the Heraka, and their prophetess, Gaidinliu (1915-1993). Returning the notebooks highlighted a number of theoretical issues in approaching texts, particularly s…
Cleanliness is next to godliness
This article investigates the link between religious change and perceptions of and attitudes towards 'hygiene' and 'order' amongst adherents of Heraka, a religious reform movement among the Zeme Naga of Assam. It examines the problematic role of sacrifice, its relation-ship to the economy, and the consequent theological shift towards a monotheistic god, Tingwang, by focusing on the ritual of a Heraka village renewal. Not only does this ritual val…
Spirits in a Material World
This article is about woodcarving and the role it plays in religion. It is an attempt to grapple with the idea of heritage as partnership — involving “persons in action,” that is between human and non-human persons — focusing on the work of an artist, Lepten, and the seven themed wooden pillars he and others carved in Mopungchuket village in Nagaland, India. It demonstrates, in this case, how heritage as a process opens up conversations between r…
Hindu Nationalism, Gurus and Media
This commentary offers a reflection on the triangular interactive relationship between Hindutva, gurus and media. It suggests that Hindu nationalists understand gurus to be a specific form of valued Hindu cultural good, which helps to explain mediatised activist attempts to defend gurus from legal and media scrutiny, and historicises the theme of guru domination, caste politics and Hindutva through the optics of matter and media, exploring both t…
Religious and Economic Reform
The Heraka or Gaidinliu Movement among the Zeme Nagas of the North Cachar Hills, Assam, provides a case of millenarian activities based on agrarian reforms. The movement is associated with opposing British rule during the 1930s until India's Independence in 1947 under the guidance of Jadonang and later Gaidinliu. I examine the genesis of the movement which was based on agrarian reform by linking it with the influx of Kuki people and the effect of…
Exploring the Diversity of Religion
This article considers the importance of “religion” and “identity” in the process of fieldwork in the North Cachar Hills, Assam, India. The political sensitivities in the region provided a difficult context in which to do fieldwork. This is chiefly because of the various armed insurrections, which have arisen as a consequence of the complicated remnants of British colonialism (1834–1947), and the subsequent post-independence challenge of nation b…
Religious and Economic Reform
The Heraka or Gaidinliu Movement among the Zeme Nagas of the North Cachar Hills, Assam, provides a case of millenarian activities based on agrarian reforms. The movement is associated with opposing British rule during the 1930s until India's Independence in 1947 under the guidance of Jadonang and later Gaidinliu. I examine the genesis of the movement which was based on agrarian reform by linking it with the influx of Kuki people and the effect of…
Exploring the Diversity of Religion
This article considers the importance of “religion” and “identity” in the process of fieldwork in the North Cachar Hills, Assam, India. The political sensitivities in the region provided a difficult context in which to do fieldwork. This is chiefly because of the various armed insurrections, which have arisen as a consequence of the complicated remnants of British colonialism (1834–1947), and the subsequent post-independence challenge of nation b…
Cleanliness is next to godliness
This article investigates the link between religious change and perceptions of and attitudes towards 'hygiene' and 'order' amongst adherents of Heraka, a religious reform movement among the Zeme Naga of Assam. It examines the problematic role of sacrifice, its relation-ship to the economy, and the consequent theological shift towards a monotheistic god, Tingwang, by focusing on the ritual of a Heraka village renewal. Not only does this ritual val…
Roy, Babul
Anthropos , Seite 738 - 739
Rice-Beer, Purification and Debates over Religion and Culture in Northeast India
The aim of this paper is to examine the importance of rice-beer (zao) amongst the Zeme Nagas of Assam. Colonial officials and Christian missionaries brought new ideas into Zeme social and cultural practices, quite different from their own. One way to frame this interaction is to examine the tension between world-views held by indigenous religions and Christianity, and what this tension represents for the Zeme. I aim to demonstrate how the terms '…
Lines that speak
This article navigates my experience of returning copies of the "Gaidinliu notebooks" from the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) to the Zeme Nagas of Assam, India. The notebooks were confiscated in 1932 by the British administrators and donated to the museum. They are from a religious movement, the Heraka, and their prophetess, Gaidinliu (1915-1993). Returning the notebooks highlighted a number of theoretical issues in approaching texts, particularly s…
The power of persuasion
The paper will examine the intersection between Sangh Parivar activities, Christianity, and indigenous religions in relation to the state of Nagaland. I will argue that the discourse of ‘religion and culture’ is used strategically by Sangh Parivar activists to assimilate disparate tribal groups and to envision a Hindu nation. In particular, I will show how Sangh activists attempt to encapsulate Christianity within the larger territorial and civil…
Nagas can't sit lotus style’
This article is a preliminary attempt to understand the dynamics of how Patanjali and Baba Ramdev represent ‘Hindu nationalism’, or Hindutva (Hinduness) in Nagaland, India. One can read Baba Ramdev's foray into the region through the promotion of yoga, Ayurveda, and national health, as a form of ‘neo-Hindutva’ that is increasingly diffuse and moves away from a more militant pathway of established Hindutva designs. If one considers the work of Pat…
Neo-Hindutva’
The start of this century has seen Hindu nationalism emerge as a more dominant force than ever before. Hindutva is also evolving and shifting in new, surprising, and significant ways, requiring us to reassess and reframe prevailing understandings. This special issue seeks to identify and understand the ways in which Hindu nationalism increasingly permeates into new spaces: organisational, territorial, conceptual, rhetorical. It develops and expan…
Along Kingdom’s Highway
The aim of this paper is to examine the story of the American Baptists and how their mission activities in the Naga Hills District (1871-1955) have impacted upon present day politics in the Indian state of Nagaland. Baptists make up nearly 95% of the current Naga population in Nagaland. The paper will investigate the relationship between the Baptist mission’s philosophy on education, Christian conversion and the subsequent rise of a sense of ‘nat…
Spirits in a Material World
This article is about woodcarving and the role it plays in religion. It is an attempt to grapple with the idea of heritage as partnership — involving “persons in action,” that is between human and non-human persons — focusing on the work of an artist, Lepten, and the seven themed wooden pillars he and others carved in Mopungchuket village in Nagaland, India. It demonstrates, in this case, how heritage as a process opens up conversations between r…
Bible, guns and land
This paper will argue that to understand Naga sovereignty, one must take into account the intimate connection between Christianity and nationalism. This relationship is centred on the idea of ‘Nagaland for Christ’, a central slogan (also seen as a covenant) for all Naga nationalist groups. It suggests that God is the primary agent in sovereignty, and that the land is connected with the idea of Nagaland for Christ. I argue that national territory …
Indigenous Religion(s)
This chapter explores the shift to ‘indigeneity’ and ‘indigenous religion’ among the Sámi, through a focus on Sámi activism at Alta (1979–1981, concerning a proposed power plant) and Standing Rock (2016–2017, concerning a proposed pipeline). It is based on a combination of multi-sited fieldwork, interviews and textual sources, and proceeds along the lines of ‘light comparison’, inspired partly by the comparative logic of indigeneity and indigenou…
Hindu Nationalism, Gurus and Media
This commentary offers a reflection on the triangular interactive relationship between Hindutva, gurus and media. It suggests that Hindu nationalists understand gurus to be a specific form of valued Hindu cultural good, which helps to explain mediatised activist attempts to defend gurus from legal and media scrutiny, and historicises the theme of guru domination, caste politics and Hindutva through the optics of matter and media, exploring both t…
Reflections on The Greater India Experiment
Sociology (11 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Politics (8 works) · South Asian Studies and Conflicts (8 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Indian History and Philosophy (6 works)