The Politics of Language: Christianity, Language, and Identity Conflict in Nagaland

The politics of language is not an abstract academic endeavor. In India, it has been at the forefront of many linguistic-based movements such as the demand for statehood, autonomous council/district, tribal recognition, and scheduled tribe status. Ethnic identities are constructed and are never unified and stable. It is increasingly fragmented, although the powerful actors think of identity articulated using common origin/ancestry, culture, and language, as enduring through time. The politics of language has been at the forefront of many linguistic-based movements. It calls attention to analyze the way pan-tribal identity is articulated and the same is contested by the other who does not subscribe to it. This article examines how religion, particularly Christianity, became one of the instruments along with others in articulating pan-tribal identity and contestation in Nagaland.