Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the impact of nation-making policies on human-animal and human-human relations in a frontier Indian state. In particular, I discuss how the nationalist agenda is undermining the conservation impact of traditional relations between an indigenous group and the endangered tiger.

Paper long abstract:

The Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is located at the contentious modern border between India, China (Tibet) and Burma. This peripheral mountainous region, composed of several ethnic homelands, has long been administered through a policy of minimal state intervention with a mandate on governance through local customs. My previous research on the Idu Mishmi people of Arunachal showed that when their local practices - underpinned by a cosmology that intertwines human, natural and spirit worlds into a singular commune - were given state protection, high-value natural resources, including the endangered tiger, were remarkably conserved. However, posturing from an increasingly aggressive China, that claims territorial rights over Arunachal, has led to swift expansion of the Indian administrative state into local lives. Currently, Idu homeland is witnessing rapid military deployment coupled with neo-liberal policies of large-scale infrastructural development and creation of protected reserves. This paper is based on twenty-two months of fieldwork conducted in 2013-15 using interdisciplinary approaches from natural and social sciences. I explore how the process of nation-making impacts human-nature and human-human relations. In particular, I discuss how the ever-expanding state bureaucracy mired in corruption has created a new class of political and economic elite. These elites are driving the process of cultural change with ramifications for tiger conservation. I also highlight that while the Indian government’s nation-building activities seek to fortify the border; the ‘cosmo-political worlds’ of the people on different sides of it intersect, interlink and collide constantly.