“Framing the Tribal:-Ethnic Violence in North East India”

Abstract:- The topic assesses the framing of “ethnic conflict in NE India, Focusing on militant groups and insurgency in the hill areas of Assam and a form of political violence known locally as “ethnic clashes”. The topic argues that ethnic clashes have become an institutionalized form of armed violence in the region while “ethnic rivalry is a key diagnostic frame for conflict. As enactments and imaginaries of institutionalized violence “ethnic clashes” are a product of factors that hold stakes in representing armed political violence as a result of ethnic conflict between rivaling tribal communities. The topic looks at the representation of causes of conflicts as well as the framing of acts of violence as key sites of consternation and thus as integral aspects of the conflict. The raises questions about the feasibility of scholarly efforts to make sense of specific cases of conflict.