Tribal Philosophy And Culture: Mao Naga of North-East

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Emerging globalized world is partly responsible for undervaluing the philosophy and traditions of the traditional community. This process led them to undergo cultural crisis and philosophical stigma. The outcome is the polarisation of human society and civilization into culture and uncultured, democratic and undemocratic, civilized and uncivilized, and so forth. It functions within the calculate strategy of the dominant ideologies so as to perpetuate hegemonic domination. The edited volume Tribal Philosophy and Culture: Mao Naga of North-East seeks to emphasize on relook the vitality of cultural practices and traditions to face the onslaught of this phenomenon. The study of oppositional yet phenomenal relationship of philosophy and culture will not only define the identity of a community but also may suggest alternative means when the world community at large is undergoing huge "value crisis."

While keeping this interacted liaison in mind, the edited volume, with articles from scholars across disciplines attempted to address certain topical issues from the insider perspective. The articles ranges from dwelling philosophical world of myths and narratives, social and political issues, media and education, women's issues and their role in peace building, stretching to ecology and environmental issues. Overall, the book reflects the dynamic aspects of understanding and interpreting the cultural practices of the Mao community.

ATHIKHO KAISII (b. 1975) hailed from Charanghomei (Shajouba) has completed his doctorial degree in 2005 in the Centre for Study of Social systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. To his credit, he has published few articles in journals and in an edited volume. In the fast meditated age, issues concerning with justice, governance and youth are some of the areas of his interest. Presently, he is teaching as an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

HENI FRANCIS ARIINA (b. 1978) hailed from Fürodzümei (Punanamei) is a research scholar pursuing his doctorate from the Centre for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Currently, he is teaching as an Assistant Professor in Miranda House, University of Delhi.

Publication of the volume Tribal Philosophy and Culture Mao Naga of North-East brings both sense of comfort and satisfaction. It epitomises the scale and vastness of the aroma of the "Celebration of 50 years; mao Nagas in Delhi (1961- 2011)" held on 15 October 2011 at Sir Shankar Lal Hall, University, of Delhi. As part of this momentous event, articles contributed by scholars from across disciplines of Mao community will not only leave deep imprints but it will also reflect scholarships of the contributors in their respective area of academic interest and proficiency.

The Mao tribe, though originally from Senapati District, Manipur, are now settled in Nagaland - Kohima, Dimapur and other cities of India such as Imphal, Guwahati, Shillong and Delhi. Bringing out this volume is important as it gives platform to diverse views from within and outside India as well and drives the point of the need to root oneself to the society as member of the community when philosophical ideas and cultural values are reeling under serious crisis. The articles are befitting for further analysis as they are of different nature that capture vital issues concerning the Maos in particular and the North East India in general.

For months, Athikho Kaisii and Heni Francis Ariina, the editors of this volume have been worked hard to make the publication to see the light of the day. Without their dedication, this project could not have been possible. I wish the editors the very best and every success in their future endeavour.

Needless to mention every contributor to the volume deserves special appreciation. Certainly, their contributions to the volume will enhance the process of making the Mao as part of the knowledge society and definitely enlighten the readers.

It is an honour and privilege to write a foreword for the book that Athikho Kaisii and Heni Francis Ariina have been bringing out as an edited volume.

The volume has emerged as a part of the celebration to mark the fifty years of the Mao Nagas' history in Delhi. In these fifty years, the Mao Nagas have grown from being handful to over thousand by 2011. A large size of them comprise of students studying in different universities in Delhi. The history of the Mao Nagas in Delhi is traced to their coming to the national capital as students. However, with the completion of their studies, process of taking up employment and joining profession in Delhi began. The Mao community in Delhi today comprises not only of students but also employees working in government and non-government sectors and their families. The fifty years of the Mao Nagas in Delhi have given rise to number of organizations among them with a view to knit the members of the community together as well as to look after the interest and welfare of the community. The earliest organization to come up was the Mao students', Delhi in 1991 followed by the Mao Students' Union, Delhi in 2003 after the Naga Students' Union, Delhi adopted a semi/federal structure. The last to come up was the Mao Welfare Association, Delhi in 1998, which is the broad based organization of Mao Nagas in Delhi.

Much of the writings on tribes in India in general and North-East India in particular have been done by the colonial administrators and the foreign Christian Missionaries to begin with. They have been joined later by anthropologists, both foreign and Indian. Other social scientists like historians and political scientists of the region too have shown interest in the study of tribes. However, in the very recent years there has been spurt in the growth of social scientists from the tribal communities. This is most evident in North-East India. Most of these scholars belong to the discipline such as sociology, anthropology, history and political science beside of course humanities like philosophy, English and tribal languages.

The volume Tribal Philosophy and Culture: Mao Naga of North-East seeks to address the phenomenal relationship as well as opposition between philosophy and culture. In a nutshell, philosophy and culture constitute fundamental elements of human life. Philosophy guides the path of life to truth, goodness and beauty. Culture nourishes and defines the philosophy of a society. Philosophy questioned the unquestioning and attempts to explain and answer the fundamental problems of life Such question in a way pacifies doubts and confusions that exist in the discourse of human life. The nature of philosophy as such are already a philosophical question, and are intimately related with what culture stands for In a way, culture provides and explains what the philosophy is questioning for. The study of philosophy and culture, therefore, envelopes every aspect of human beings - the dimension is wide, deep and the quests rarely end. What culture offers are the things that philosophy takes into account in its analytical framework. Beyond doubt, the links of philosophy and culture is well knitted.

In the aftermath of distressing consequence of industrial revolution and colonialism, globalization that cut across nations, cultures and societies has hit the human civilisation like never before that led to the emerging of a "global village. Often this trend led to undervalue tradition and view it as backward and barrier to growth. Yet tradition is closely linked with identity, culture and worldview of the people Philosophy of a society becomes the tradition of the people Tradition manifests and defines social, economic, political and religious life of a society, which explained what a culture is. Amidst this development and charge asserting of indigenous and local concerned that may be interpreted as resistance to globalization is also becoming more prominent.