Jackfruit seeds from Jharkhand

Abstract

This article examines how adivasis in Assam assert their sense of belonging to the land. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted along the foothills bordering Assam and Nagaland, I present the everyday lives of adivasi villagers in a militarised landscape and examine how adivasi belonging and identity are constructed in a political milieu where ideas of indigeneity and territoriality are deeply internalised. I look into how adivasi accounts highlight the weaving together of the histories of the tea plantations and social alliances with neighbours in the villages. I argue that these narratives are used to assert rights and claim an identity of belonging. Specifically focusing on adivasi accounts situated outside the tea plantations in Assam, this article seeks to contribute towards scholarship about everyday practices of belonging, memory and social relations in Northeast India and beyond.