FNR- RRaD’s ‘September Dialogue’ on Naga repatriation, decolonisation and healing concludes

September 8, 2024 5 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 8

The second and final day of the September Dialogue on ‘Naga repatriation, decolonisation and healing,’ initiated the Forum for Naga Reconciliation-Recover Restore and Decolonise (FNR-RRaD), concluded here today at the Light House Church, Dimapur.

Centered on idea of re-examining the impact colonisation has had on the Naga people, the dialogue strives to engage with scholars, community-church leaders, elders and most crucially, the younger generation. The main process which first began from the repatriation of Naga human remains from the Pitt Rivers Museum has opened up conversations about the need to de-colonize and ultimately bring about transformative healing across society.

Day-two’s first session titled, ‘Naga Voices on Memories, Healing and Decolonisation’ included speakers, Dr Henshet Phom, Dr Manwang Konyak, Küvethilü Thülüo and Thejalhoukho Casavi.

The first speaker, Dr Phom who currently holds the Vice Principal post at Yingli Government College, Longleng remarked that in the past Nagas had a self-sustaining system built around the needs of the village.

Therefore, “had they been given chance to develop in their own ways, the Naga culture would have been highly developed and the Naga civilisation would have occupied its own distinctive place,” he said.

Looking back at the past, he observed that there were two types of white people came to the Naga homeland. First, the British government to rule over us and then the American missionaries to bring spiritual liberation, he noted.

While it is true that the missionaries had brought several positive changes such as the introduction of education, it inadvertently also destroyed many of the positive values practiced by our ancestors, Dr Phom mentioned. Thus, the way forward must be to re-integrate, recognize and appreciate traditional practices into our everyday life, he said.

Dr Manway in his presentation centered on the Konyak Nagas, explained the changes that had been brought with the coming of Christian missionaries and the impact it has had on the people who had prior been ruled by the Angh monarchical system.

Consequently, the discarding of the old and adoption of new ways of living greatly affected the very fabrics of society and the people’s psyche, he said.

Besides many others it included the exploitation of natural resources, addiction to opium, dilution of customs and tradition and changes to governance introduced through the Gaonbura system. “It may be noted that the Konyaks who we identify as modern today are the first generation only, most of the people in the villages are yet to change, decide and prepare for the future,” he remarked.

Thülüo, meanwhile, shared passages from her reflective essay titled, ‘Dividing hearth and heart, the Longwa experience,’ during a trip to the village. Besides the division of Longwa between two countries, India and Myanmar, it also reveals the devastating impact colonization has had on a people unfamiliar with Western concepts of borders, she stated.

Taking a different approach to the conversation, Casavi put forward the proposition that in the attempt to decolonise, it is wrong to assume that the Naga way of living prior to it was pristine and pure. Strictly, in the Naga context he noted the changes brought by colonial administrators, JH Hutton and JP Mills through the unique institution of inner-line permit in 1928 and later the excluded areas act of 1935.

“The true colonial effect in the case of the Nagas is not de-culturalisation but it is the idea of subjugation, the idea that the colonized are not capable of self-determination,” he noted. For which decolonization is not about restoring the pristine past but about building a future the Nagas desire.

A session on ‘A Journey of Naga repatriation: RRaD’s lessons learned, challenges and opportunities,’ was presented by the members. Dr Asangba Tzudir gave the critical reflection

During the concluding period, a group work ‘Brainstorming on how to take the Naga repatriation process forward,’ was conducted with the participants.

Several suggestions were proposed to the FNR-RRaD team including the need to engage more with the community at the grassroots, facilitating representatives to colleges and questions on how the process of repatriation will take place among many others.