Fragmented Memories ：Struggling to be Tai-Ahom in India ( 1 )

Publication subTitle ：Struggling to be Tai-Ahom in India

Publication series ：1

Author： Yasmin Saikia  

Publisher： Duke University Press‎

Publication year： 2004

E-ISBN: 9780822386162

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780822333739

P-ISBN(Hardback):  9780822334255

Subject： K3 Asian History

Keyword： Ahoms (Indic people) -- Ethnic identity., Assam (India) -- Ethnic relations.

Language： ENG

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Description

Fragmented Memories is a beautifully rendered exploration of how, during the 1990s, socially and economically marginalized people in the northeastern Indian state of Assam sought to produce a past on which to base a distinctive contemporary identity recognized within late-twentieth-century India. Yasmin Saikia describes how groups of Assamese identified themselves as Tai-Ahom—a people with a glorious past stretching back to the invasion of what is now Assam by Ahom warriors in the thirteenth century. In her account of the 1990s Tai-Ahom identity movement, Saikia considers the problem of competing identities in India, the significance of place and culture, and the outcome of the memory-building project of the Tai-Ahom.

Assamese herself, Saikia lived in several different Tai-Ahom villages between 1994 and 1996. She spoke with political activists, intellectuals, militant leaders, shamans, and students and observed and participated in Tai-Ahom religious, social, and political events. She read Tai-Ahom sacred texts and did archival research—looking at colonial documents and government reports—in Calcutta, New Delhi, and London. In Fragmented Memories, Saikia reveals the different narratives relating to the Tai-Ahom as told by the postcolonial Indian government, British colonists, and various texts reaching back to the thirteenth century. She shows how Tai-Ahom identity is practiced in Assam and also in Thailand. Revealing how the “d

Chapter

Contents

Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

Preface

Preface

Preface

Introduction: Locating Tai-Ahom in Assam: The Place and People

Introduction: Locating Tai-Ahom in Assam: The Place and People

Introduction: Locating Tai-Ahom in Assam: The Place and People

Part One: Historical and Comparative Perspectives on Identity: Indian, Assamese, and Tai-Ahom

Part One: Historical and Comparative Perspectives on Identity: Indian, Assamese, and Tai-Ahom

Part One: Historical and Comparative Perspectives on Identity: Indian, Assamese, and Tai-Ahom

1. Identification in India

1. Identification in India

1. Identification in India

2. Colonial Origins of Ahom

2. Colonial Origins of Ahom

2. Colonial Origins of Ahom

3. The Memory of the Local: The Stories the Buranjis Tell

3. The Memory of the Local: The Stories the Buranjis Tell

3. The Memory of the Local: The Stories the Buranjis Tell

Part Two: Tai-Ahom: A Language and Culture of Emotion

Part Two: Tai-Ahom: A Language and Culture of Emotion

Part Two: Tai-Ahom: A Language and Culture of Emotion

4. Rationalizing a History

4. Rationalizing a History

4. Rationalizing a History

5. Performance and Politics of Tai-Ahom

5. Performance and Politics of Tai-Ahom

5. Performance and Politics of Tai-Ahom

6. There Was No Plot in the People's Struggle

6. There Was No Plot in the People's Struggle

6. There Was No Plot in the People's Struggle

Conclusion: The Past and Present: Connecting Memory, History, and Identity

Conclusion: The Past and Present: Connecting Memory, History, and Identity

Conclusion: The Past and Present: Connecting Memory, History, and Identity

Epilogue

Epilogue

Epilogue

Notes

Notes

Notes

References

References

References

Index

Index

Index

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