Contemporary Issues and Insights of the Anthropology of North East India

The North Eastern Region comprises eight states. The region has myriad variegated tribes and groups and has vast natural resources. Every community has its own unique culture, traditional symbols and history. Despite of such heterogeneous nature of these communities, there are some similarities in overall culture among them. Therefore, one may particularly described the tribes in North East India as homogeneous yet heterogeneous. Because of such as homogeneous - heterogeneous paradox,different socio cultural issues are similar in broad but different if one looks into minutely. Aspect of culture such as food, drink, fairs and festivals, dance and music, indigenous knowledge such as ethno medicinal practices, magico-religious beliefs and practices and folklores, conversion into Christianity and so many such aspects of the tribes of North East India show similarity. However, if one minutely examines, there are so many other aspects of dissimilarities. For instance, the Meitei of Manipur which is not included in the scheduled tribe list of the North East India has a very highly rich culture, history and indigenous scripts unlike any other tribes of North East India. This volume attempts to discern different sociocultural practices of the ethnic people of North East India with special focus to ethnic people of Assam.