Village Formation Among Sumi Naga of Nagaland: A Case Study

Abstract

The study of space in anthropology provides an outlook on society and culture from the view of the space that people live in. A study on village formation among the Sumi looks at understanding the Sumi culture and society from the socio-cultural perception of their land, that is, the village, which is strongly connected to beliefs, migration rituals, customs and social and cultural perceptions of their village. The research looks at the village formation using genealogy to understand the dynamics of Sumi kinship fabricated in the cultural construction of their space. The study details Sumi space following the Co-production Model of Low (2009) , which looks at the production and construction of space and the concepts of spatial practices and representational spaces of Lefebvre (1991) . The study uses anthropological research methods such as case studies, participant observations, interviews and genealogy of the village founders [village land is an heirloom of the chiefs ( kukami)] among the Sumi for inquiry.