Paper short abstract:

The paper attempts to explore the habitation of ‘the limit’ through the experiences of a displaced littoral community in Loktak Lake of Manipur, India. The idea of ‘the limit’ can help to explore how the littoral community dwells in-between, in water-land.

Paper long abstract:

Water-land: Exploring ‘the limit’ through a displaced littoral community in Loktak Lake of Manipur, India.How do ‘the limits’ of life change when a littoral community is displaced from its floating-huts? The paper attempts to explore the habitation of ‘the limit’ through the experiences of a displaced littoral community in Loktak Lake of Manipur, India. They had previously lived on floating mats of biomass where they adapted to the movement of water and wind as they moved their homes, boats, and the fish they caught for food. This movement restricted and directed them while dwelling in Loktak. This paper discusses how ‘the limit’ is experienced by the littorals on the Lake and how their knowledge of the world grows from these experiences of a floating-life on the water. In 2011, they were forcefully evicted by the state, which argued that the lake was polluted by the community while ignoring the direct impacts on its waters of various state-sponsored projects. Littorals attempted to continue their relationship with the lake while coming to terms with the unfamiliar environment of dry-land. The process of displacement and adjustment to land-based life has brought new problems and new experiences of ‘the limit’. How is ‘the limit’ experienced differently in the everyday life of the littoral community on land? Does this realm, in-between water, and land, create its own knowledge and its own ‘limits’? The idea of ‘the limit’ can help to explore how the littoral community dwells in-between, in water-land.