Paper short abstract:

This paper examines various trajectories among state and non-state actors engaged in clientele relationships. By focusing on ethnopolitical configurations, we intend to explore territorial projections, economical ties, fragmentary perceptions, and categorizations

Paper long abstract:

In Northeast India protective discrimination measures have strengthened certain perceptions inherited from colonial categorizations by accentuating the dichotomy between peoples and topographical configurations (hills and plains), and by consolidating ethnic spaces.

Certain images have shaped the political rhetoric and the social reality of the Garo Hills region of Meghalaya, in which social actors have developed ideologies of ethnonationalism that include territorial claims. Negotiations of tribal boundaries and contested belongings led to interethnic political tensions.

Regional political parties and several armed outfits emerged with ethnopolitical claims for self-determination, self governance, and the control over natural ressources; with the creation of a distinct administrative unit designed for Garos as a main project in their political agendas.

This paper examines various trajectories among state and non-state actors engaged in clientele relationships. By focusing on ethnopolitical configurations, we intend to explore territorial projections, economical ties, fragmentary perceptions, and categorizations.

Based on recent field research we will discuss historical, economical, ecological and political (dis)connectivities among social actors that maintain cooperative or competitive relationships.