Tribalization in civic space: Locating civil society in the Naga context

ABSTRACT The Naga, comprised of various tribes, were traditionally governed by independent village republics. The inclusion of the Naga areas into the modern Indian State has been opposed, ensuing in a long-drawn armed struggle for sovereignty. Military measures have been used to deal with this struggle. Naga society is characterized by dualities in the form of the categorization of tribes as an administrative category against the discourse of a greater Naga identity, experiences of electoral politics to the Naga indigenous form of democracy rooted in the village republic, and the protracted Naga political struggle to the idea of Nagaland state as a solution, among many others. These dualities have shaped collective actions in the forms of associations and organizations to constitute the Naga civil society. The paper examines the socio-political realities and the resulting collective actions as a dimension of civil society.