Short description:

Democratisation is a formidable task in the Himalayan region owing to its immense cultural heterogeneity. The process of democratisation has accentuated ethnic competition, assertion of identity and demand for ethnic homelands to protect, safeguard and promote political and development interests of various groups. The book argues that the play of ethnicity, the creation of political parties and interest groups, the emergence of social movements, the voice of protest and opposition do not indicate a crisis in democracy, but comprise the instruments by which the state is pushed towards reform, welfare, inclusive politics, and is obliged to listen to the people.

Long description:

Democratisation is a formidable task in the Himalayan region owing to its immense cultural heterogeneity. The process of democratisation has accentuated ethnic competition, assertion of identity, and demand for ethnic homelands to protect, safeguard, and promote political and development interests of various groups.

This volume discusses competing interests; identity politics that permeates political formations, the transformations in the traditional forms of governance and their adaption to democratic institutions; the genesis and periodic eruptions of ethnic assertions, and attempts to resolve ethnic conflict. It shows how recent efforts at deepening democratic values and implementing social justice have been resisted and contested. The book argues that the play of ethnicity, the creation of political parties and interest groups, the emergence of social movements, and the voice of protest and opposition do not indicate a crisis in democracy but comprise the instruments by which the state is pushed towards reform, welfare, and inclusive politics, and is obliged to listen to the people.

Rich in ethnographic research, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of social and political anthropology, political studies, South Asian studies, Nepal and Himalayan studies, sociology, and development studies.

Table of Contents:

List of illustrations

Notes on contributors

Introduction: steering democratisation and negotiating identity in the Himalayas

Vibha Arora and N. Jayaram

PART I Shifting selves and competing identities

1 Seeking identities on the margins of democracy: Jad Bhotiyas of Uttarkashi

Subhadra Mitra Channa

2 The politics of census: fear of numbers and competing claims for representation in Naga society

Debojyoti Das

3 The making of the subaltern Lepcha and the Kalimpong stimulus

Vibha Arora

PART II Negotiating democracy

4 Monks, elections, and foreign travels: democracy and the monastic order in western Arunachal Pradesh, North-East India

Swargajyoti Gohain

5 ?Pure democracy? in ?new Nepal?: conceptions, practices, and anxieties

Amanda Snellinger

PART III Territorial conflict and after 

6 Demand for Kukiland and Kuki ethnic nationalism

Vibha Arora and Ngamjahao Kipgen

7 Displacement from Kashmir: gendered responses

Charu Sawhney and Nilika Mehrotra

Index