Making of the Mizo Identity

Hiren Gohain
Democracy in India is only a topdressing on
the Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic (B R Ambedkars speech introducing
the draft Constitution of India in the Constituent Assembly, 4 November 1948).

eople in the Indian mainland are

vaguely aware of the North East as
a far corner of the country inhabited
by more or less backward tribes. That
a member of one such tribe had been the
speaker of the Lok Sabha, that a chief election commissioner of the country belonged
to the North East or that a talented theatredirector from the region once headed
the National School of Drama, are facts
that have not made much difference to
the popular perception about the region.
Barring a handful of informed Indians,
it may be news to a vast majority of people
in the country that many such tribes
have evolved into, and developed aspirations of, distinct national groups.
Joy L K Pachuau, a Mizo academician
working in a university in Delhi, has
authored this insightful and informative
study of the ethno-national group to
which she belongs. She has combined an
insiders intimate knowledge with the
tools of modern ethnographical research
and techniques of contemporary discourse analysis to throw light on the
rise, aspirations and travails of this relatively obscure ethno-national community.
Pachuau is to be commended for her extensive and in-depth archival work.
The books title suggests that identity
is not seen as something given and
fixed, but as a process renewed through
constant production and reproduction
of historically-evolved material and discursive practices. This approach also
enables Pachuau to pose questions about
the ethno-national identity, not all of
which are answered in this book.
So-called Special Region
On October 2015, the Indian Express
reported that the voting rights of tens
Economic & Political Weekly

EPW

DECEMBER 26, 2015

REVIEW ARTICLE
Being Mizo: Identity and Belonging in
Northeast India by Joy L K Pachuau, New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2014; pp 290 , Rs 895.

of thousands of Bru tribals who had fled

Mizoram in 1997 following an ethnic
conflict, and have since been living in
relief camps in Tripura, is being challenged by several political parties of
Mizoram, including the Congress and
the BJP. The paper reported that voluntary organisations and students unions
have also challenged the voting rights of
the Bru tribals. The main contention of
these groups is that the Brus had not
lived in Mizoram for the past 18 years
and have chosen not to return.
This demand is clearly at odds with the
Constitution, which, in general, upholds
the rights of minorities and the principles
of democracy. But in many ways, the
ground reality in India threatens such
principles. The author shows how the official construction of the North East as a
special region of Indiadictated by military strategy and the needs of economic
policyhas led to it being seen as a
tribal and backward zone, compared
to the more developed and apparently
more modern mainland (pp 4749).
This binary influences both elite opinion
and popular imagination. The book also
has a pertinent discussion of a majoritarian homogenising idea of Indian
nationhood that has taken shape in
post-Cold War years (pp 41ff).
Such hegemonic claims, proposed in
a drastic and non-negotiable manner,
provoke resistance from groups adversely
affected by them. At times such resistance takes a violent form and goes on to
become endemic. The lazy assumption
of a natural fit between national consolidation, modernity and democracy
appears to come unstuck at this point.
Hence, there is a need for a careful
vol l no 52

re-examination of both the national

question and the question about groups
in the North East that are in various
phases of crystallisation towards ethnonational identities.
The author follows in footsteps of
scholars who have thrown light on the
part played by colonialism in the development of ethno-national identities. The
colonial administration and Christian
missions collaborated in shaping the
processes. But the author also qualifies
her account by bringing to light the
role played by the tribes themselves in
the construction of such identities. For
instance, the Mizos imparted a distinctive colouring to Christianity in light of
their own perceptions and traditions.
When the missionaries first presented
Christ as a saviour of souls the response
was not very enthusiastic. But the
image of the vanquisher of the devil,
struck a powerful chord with the
Mizos (p 167).
In Chapters 3 and 4, Pachuau examines
at length the discursive practices among
educated Mizos which, from the late 19th
century, helped form the Mizo ethnonational communitystrong inflection of
ethnic consciousness has combined with
the rise of new social ties and institutions
and cultural practices. For example, in
the case of a death, which is both an
intimately familial and public event, there
are now in place mandatory customary
funeral practices signifying the cohesion
of social life in the veng (locality)these
are, however, not noticeable among
peoples who have gone further down
the path of modernity (pp 201ff).
The rise of the Mizo ethno-nationality
is inseparable from the influence of forces
of modernity. The moot point is that
such modernity has not been a product
of innate development of the tribes, but,
as mentioned before, the joint contribution of colonial administration and
Christian missions. The tribal population
27

REVIEW ARTICLE

woke to a sense of ethnic identity and

broad solidarity by responding to such
influences within the limits set by the
colonial system (p 160). It is significant
that the word hnam stands for both tribe
and nation.
While throwing such insights, Pachuau
lets her informants do the talking. However, she shares their disappointment that
development in her state has proceeded
at a slow pace (p 47).
Imagined Community
Analysis, such as the one undertaken
by Pachuau, perhaps warranted a more
critical examination of colonial motives
in this corner of the North East. Apart
from the strategic value of this piece of
land (for example its utility in protecting access to the commercially important Chittagong port), and the colonial
powers keenness to extend the regime
of law and order to it, there was the
indubitable urge to make economic gains
for the empire. By 189293, the Changsil
Bazaar established by the British saw sales
transaction worth Rs 47,252 (p 106 n).
The ethno-national identity promoted

in such circumstances might have been

of material use to the colonial power.
One also needs to look at certain
historical trends in British society. Explorations and discoveries of the 18th
and the 19th centuries were inspired by
both commercial greed and scientific
curiosity. They, in turn, gave rise to
ideas pertaining to the sacred duty
of civilising the savages. All this also
coincided with the dedicated and dauntless work of missionaries to spread the
word of god in the newly-discovered/
occupied areas. The Baptist Mission (both
English and American) were particularly
active in the North East. While in the
Assam Valley, missionary efforts did not
result in large-scale conversion, they
rendered great help in awakening the
people to a modern national consciousness and development of their modern
language and literature.
An interesting information provided
by the author is that the use of the term
Mizo itself as the name of the new
ethno-nationality is of comparatively
recent origin. It was consciously adopted
by a conglomeration of distinct tribes

who earlier had no such self-identification. In fact, the appellation was resisted
by some members who preferred the
term Lushai. Tribes such as the Thado
and the Mara were originally not even
regarded as part of the Mizo community
(pp 11718).
Pachuaus account thus provides support for Benedict Andersons contention
that the nation is an imagined community.
But one wishes there had been more
extensive examination of new political
and administrative structures, new ways
of earning livelihoods, new concepts of
property and the layering of customary
laws with new ideas of selfhood and
personal responsibility that came to prevail
gradually under colonial rule and forged
a strong imagined community. One is
also left wondering about the repercussions of the abolition of the ruling clans,
sailos, after Indian independence, on the
Mizo mental make-up.
An important, if thorny aspect, of the
formation of the Mizo identity not dwelt
upon by the author, is the colonial
co-optation of educated elements. Such
co-option was true even for communities

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vol l no 52

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REVIEW ARTICLE

such as the Bengalis in the early phase of

the colonial rule. The great Bengali
savants of the mid-19th century felt no
sympathy for the 1857 rebellion.
Aftermath of Independence
The strong remnants of colonial order in
the administrative structure handed
over to the independent Indian state
created problems for identities evolving
under such conditions. For example, there
are Mizos in Myanmar territory and the
Chittagong Hill tracts of Bangladesh
who are not integrated into the contemporary Mizo ethno-national identity.
Yet another ticklish question is the
relationship of the conscious Mizos to
the vai or outsiders and foreigners who
today enter Mizoram in fairly large
numbers. While the concept of the Mizo
nation requires the vai, it need not have
implied a conflictual relation. But the
prolonged sheltered existence under
colonial rule with strict inner line rules
restricting contact with outsiders, the
distrust generated by the missionary
identification of the Hindus as heathen,
the barriers of the caste system of the
plains meant that the Mizos had never
felt as part of a larger Indian identity.
Incipient Mizo nationalism had found an
anchor in the colonial order. The crucial
importance of the colonial order in
the making of the Mizo ethno-national
identity may be deduced from the active
role played by the administration in
eliminating the rivalry between the two
churches, the Welsh Presbyterian and the
English Baptist, and bringing them into
one fold for welding the Mizo society
into one.
In 1947, when the Mizos came, rather
abruptly, under the authority of the
same vai from whom they had hitherto
kept a distance, the shock of readjustment must have been great. As a district
of the state of Assam, though with
some rudimentary autonomy under the
Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, the
Mizos may have suffered from the
unconsciously overbearing manners of
Assamese political leaders and officials,
who were buoyed by Assamese nationalism. They may have also resented
the patronising ways of the traders from
the plains.
Economic & Political Weekly

EPW

DECEMBER 26, 2015

In 195960, the state government

and the centre adopted a pathetic
attitude in the aftermath of a deadly
famine triggered by bamboo-flowering.
The rodent population that multiplied
following the flowering devoured crops
in the jhum fields, triggering the famine.
The widespread sense of outrage eventually led to an armed struggle for independence from the 1960s under the
banner of the Mizo National Front. Apart
from lethal military campaigns, the
ruthless measures taken by the Indian
state to quell the insurrection included
drastic relocation of 75% of the population between 1967 and 1970 (pp 12930).
The period of tumult (buai) ended in a
negotiated settlement resulting in the
formation of the state of Mizoram in
1986. The nearly 20-year long period is
seldom mentioned by the Mizos, and
the degree of self-government permitted
under the new arrangement seems to
have diminished the urge to rebel. But
as the author remarks wryly, the issue
of relationship with India remains
wide open (p 135).
Two decades after the peace accord,
there has been tardy progress in the

achievement of goals set by the pact.

Besides these goals do not always tally
with the goals set by the Mizos themselves. Mizo ethno-nationality has also
not found it easy to resolve the problem
of minorities like the Hmar and the
Bru tribals residing within the borders
of Mizoram.
Anthropological Subjects
The author probes the milieu in which
the discourse on the North East took
shape. She gives a brief but illuminating
account of different phases of Indian
anthropology as shaped under the influence of the state. Policy necessities overshadowed the discipline throughout the
colonial period and traces of such policy
extended to the first decade of independence. The colonial obsession with
fixing and categorising populations dictated the choice of the tribe as the unit
of study. Following independenceand
the desire for decolonisationthe focus
shifted to the Indian Village, with an
unconscious bias towards Hindu civilisation. The tribes were now seen as
evolving towards castes of Indian society
through a process of Sanskritisation.

Journal Rank of EPW

Economic & Political Weekly is indexed on Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database
of peer-reviewed literature, which is prepared by Elsevier NV (http://tinyurl.com/o44sh7a).
Scopus has indexed research papers that have been published in EPW from 2008 onwards.
The Scopus database journal ranks country-wise and journal-wise. It provides three broad sets
of rankings: (i) Number of Citations, (ii) H-Index and (iii) SCImago Journal and Country Rank.
Presented below are EPWs ranks in 2014 in India, Asia and globally, according to the total
cites (3 years) indicator.

Highest among 36 Indian social science journals and highest among 159 social science
journals ranked in Asia.

Highest among 36 journals in the category, Economics, Econometrics and Finance in the
Asia region, and 36th among 835 journals globally.

Highest among 23 journals in the category, Sociology and Political Science in the Asia
region, and 15th among 928 journals globally.

Between 2008 and 2014, EPWs citations in three categories (Economics, Econometrics,
and Finance; Political Science and International Relations; and Sociology and Political
Science) were always in the second quartile of all citations recorded globally in the
Scopus database.

For a summary of statistics on EPW on Scopus, including of the other journal rank indicators,
please see http://tinyurl.com/qe949dj
EPW consults referees from a database of 200+ academicians in different fields of the social
sciences on papers that are published in the Special Article and Notes sections.

vol l no 52

29

REVIEW ARTICLE

Verrier Elwins intervention, backed by

Nehru, was an exception. But even this
intervention looked forward to eventual
assimilation with the Indian People.
Later, the Peoples of India project under
the leadership of K S Singh tried a conscious departure from that paradigm
there was an explicit commitment to
a mature acceptance of diversity in
place of a straitjacket of homogeneity
and uniformity. But even that has been
criticised for implicitly accepting the
given federal state structure of India,
disregarding the fact that communities
studied overflowed state boundaries
(pp 64, 69 ff).
In recent years the Northeast has been
viewed through the lenses of economic viability and the strategic role of the region can
play in Indias desire to further its influence
in Southeast Asia (p 230).

This might give a further spin to anthropological research. However, the interests and aspirations of the peoples of
this region are seen as merely accessory to
such aims of the state. Thus the knowledge of the North East (and its people)

has been the product of a kind of study

where the interests of the Indian state
are deeply inscribed.
It may seem that instead of dealing
with the books narrative, I am making
too much of the national identity emerging
in changing circumstances. But it seems
to me that as a scholar from the North
East pursuing a career in a prominent
academic institution of the mainland,
the author cannot but experience the
mainland Indians tendency to marginalise
the Northeasterner. This note of caution
is unexceptionable, but this reviewer is
not convinced that the study of any
community can entirely escape the grid
of a sociopolitical perspective. A certain
kind of reflexiveness is all one can exercise
in negotiating this trap.
How far and how much of the anxieties and aspirations of the Mizos, then,
can be met by opportunities available
to them in the current political dispensation? The authors approach to the
problem appears in her foregrounding
of the people themselves in the discourse of identity and ethnicity (p 228).

In this connection, she makes a striking

observation:
My aim (in chapter 2) was to show that it
is the state that creates ethnicities as minorities, given its need to create the idea of a
nation (pp 22930).

But we must also be thankful for small

mercies like not planning an elimination
of minorities in the name of national
unity. The colonial strategy of categorising
subjects and playing on differences among
them remains unchanged in the agenda
of independent India. People too have
continued to respond from within the
given limits. There has not been much
serious effort to look beyond such limits
to ensure justice and deepen and widen
the content of democracy.
A New Collective
The author gives a detailed account
of the origin and development of the
Mizo identity from a somewhat fluid and
amorphous conglomeration of tribes ever
on the move for virgin land for jhum
cultivationand competing with one
anotherto a more or less homogeneous

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DECEMBER 26, 2015

vol l no 52

EPW

Economic & Political Weekly

REVIEW ARTICLE

and conscious ethno-nationality. She

shows that though this took place within
clearly demarcated boundaries of colonial rule, the development of the ethnonational identity was a clear break with
the past. The Mizo historical narrative of
their identity, though, did not recognise
it as such.
The Mizos had earlier come together
under the chieftaincy of the sailos who
had originally been a different tribe.
The Thado and the Mara who did not
speak Mizo were incorporated into the
new identity (pp 11518). The Christian
missionaries played a major part they not
just made the Izos give up their worship
of the tribe-specific spirit, but also
reorganised community life and culture,
giving a Christian form to life-cycle events
and introducing and spreading literacy.
Such changes eventually inspired a collective endeavour towards ethno-national
identity (pp 10610). Such an identity
not only looked back to a constructed
past but also towards a future marked by
greater progress towards modernity.
The forming of the Young Mizo Association and the Mizo Commoners Union
were landmark events in this journey.
The former continues to play a vital role
in society and ethno-national politics.
But the trajectory has also brought them
face to face with several dilemmas and
quandaries.
As mentioned before, the conditions for
emergence into modernity were definitively set by the colonial agencies, but
the Mizos played no mean role in indigenising the elements received from
outside. For example, the practice of dancing in the church after a service (p 115),
and the experience of revival of the
spirit with involuntary psychophysical
expressions (pp 148ff) are uniquely
Mizo contributions to the practice of
Christianity in Mizoram. It is significant
that periods of mass revival of the spirit
spread from rural areas not under the
direct control of the church authorities
(pp 148ff). In this reviewers opinion,
such psychophysical symptoms may be
a throwback to old shamanistic practices,
though there are records of similar
manifestations in the 17th and 18th
centuries among certain Baptist sects
like the Shakers. The author points out
Economic & Political Weekly

EPW

DECEMBER 26, 2015

that the church established a permanent, common graveyard for all Mizos of
a town or settlement, making them a
common lot. This was unlike in the past
when differences in status within the tribe
led to differences in rites (p 218). Thus,
the manner and context of conversion
of Christianity is imbricated with the
identity of the Mizos (p 151).
But it is also clear that the territorial
identification and ethno-national consolidation of the Mizos under colonial rule
were destined to render uncertain the
position of communities like the Hmar
and the Bru residing within Mizo borders.
There are examples such as this elsewhere in the North East. For example in
Assam, there are today many plains
tribes who are not too keen to identify
with the larger Assamese identity.
While the author refers to the stratification introduced in Mizo society by the
influence of colonial rule and the church
(pp 107ff, 14647), she does not examine
closely the economic (and therefore
social) disparities between the progressive/modern and the so-called backward sections of the community
except to call it a dual faceted identity
(p 107) based on the ruralurban divide.
But as in colonial societies elsewhere, a

native elite seems to have emerged from

the mass of the population playing a
subordinate role in colonial administration. This elite acquired better education,
more wealth and in the process gained
asocial status higher than villagers.
Some such elites may have even had
access to trade links with metropolitan
centres. Does not this urban elite claim a
bigger share of the pie today than their
rural compatriots? (In the meantime their
numbers and vocations may also have
increased.) This must be increasingly a
feature of being Mizo.
Ethno-national social organisations
like the Young Mizo Association play a
vital social rolefor example in disaster
relief, maintenance of civic amenities,
provision of care to the sick and the needy
and making arrangements for relieving
the pain and desolation of the bereaved.
But do they not also, as in other northeastern states, bolster a rigid sense of
ethno-national identity that not only
leaves the vai out of their humanitarian
concerns, but also leads to occasional
violence? There is also a possibility that
by emphasiaing ethno-national solidarity they underestimate the growing
inequalities in their society. There is
also a marked silence on the gender

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vol l no 52

31

REVIEW ARTICLE

questionsomething that may have put

the present order under searching scrutiny.
Lack of Opportunity
The author makes an observation that
would apply to most states in the
North East:
The continuing lack of development and
employment opportunities in the rest of the
state, despite the signing of the peace accord,
means that the capital city (here Aizawl)
continues to burgeon in population numbers
and density (p 188).

Assam too, from a remarkably low

density of population at the time of independence, has come to face, according to
the 2011 Census, high population density.
And as in other states of the North East,
the problem of massive influx of outsiders (and foreigners?), better equipped
than the natives to reap the opportunities
of development, provokes deep unease
and resentment in Mizoram. Such unease at times explodes into rampant violence. The better-off sections would
seem to play the subordinate role as

commissioned agents, local managers,

and low-paid employees of business
firms from outside.
The centre, obsessed with the prevailing pattern of development, can only
think of pumping generous funds into
the region as a solution to this intractable
problem. These funds are mostly gobbled
up by businessmen from outside, native
politicians, bureaucrats and petty officials
and local contractors. Building of roads,
bridges, embankments and other infrastructure is a perennial rip-off as these
are never meant to last. This leaves a
small pittance for welfare of the deprived
masses. In this situation identity politics,
whatever its merit, helps to divert attention from plunder and acts as safety
valve for the seething frustration of the
common people. One wonders whether
the scenario in Mizoram is an exception
to this rule.
Perhaps the complexities of the situation may not be unravelled by business
as usual or doing more of the same.
It requires a patient re-examination of

prevailing ideas of ethno-national identities as well as Indian nationhood from the

point of view of the masses. Setting of
new goalposts appear to be the need of
the hour.
The reviewer is grateful that Pachuaus
meticulously researched and searching
study has provoked this discussion on
the North East. Her book is likely to
be indispensable reading material for
anyone studying the region. There are
a number of typographical and factual
errors that ask for correction. For
instance, on page 46, Kuladhar Chaliha
is mentioned as Congress member (of the
Constituent Assembly) and later Chief
Minister of Assam. The Chief Minister,
actually, was a different person, Bimala
Prasad Chaliha, who held views more
sympathetic to tribal concerns. But these
are minor errors in an otherwise scholarly
and stimulating work.
Hiren Gohain (hiren.gohain@gmail.com)
is a distinguished Assamese literary and
social critic.

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DECEMBER 26, 2015

vol l no 52

EPW

Economic & Political Weekly