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This book critically examines the complex processes of border-making in South Asia, with a focus on India s Eastern and Northeastern borderlands. Rooted in the historical legacies of colonialism and their post-colonial implications, it explores how borders in this region embody rupture and hybridity, challenging simplistic notions of territoriality. Through diverse perspectives, the book delves into the nuanced interplay between state-making, political mobilization, and the lived experiences of borderland communities. The chapters investigate a range of borders open, closed, land, and river alongside the communities who navigate these spaces. By analyzing the social, legal, and political dimensions of these borderlands, the volume highlights the transcendence between legible and illegible, and legal and illegal, categories. It sheds light on the cartographic anxieties of states and the demographic anxieties of communities, emphasizing the tensions between imposed boundaries and lived realities.This interdisciplinary volume moves beyond viewing borderlands as mere physical divides, instead framing them as dynamic spaces shaped by histories, identities, and cross-border interactions. With contributions from scholars of varying expertise and positionalities, it offers a multifaceted understanding of border-making and its implications, challenging monolithic narratives and fostering a deeper appreciation of South Asia s intricate borderland dynamics.
List of contents
Chapter 1.- Introduction.-Chapter 2.-Zones of Interest.-Chapter 3.-The Paradox of the Border.-Chapter 4.-Byasdeb Dasgupta.- -Chapter 5.-Reading Border/land in Select Narratives from the Northeast.-Chapter 6.-(Dis)Connections, Residues and Tibetan Buddhism in the Eastern Himalayan Borderlands.-Chapter 7.-Sharchokpas and Tshanglas in the India-Bhutan Borderlands.-Chapter 8.- Drawing Out Lives from Lines that Divide .-Chapter 9.-Colonizers Conveniences, Locals Curse.-The Zo Peoples Unending Negotiation with the Indo-Myanmar Border.-Chapter 10.-Bridging the Border.-
About the author
Dr. Gorky Chakraborty is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK), Kolkata. He has been associated with research and teaching for the last 30 years and specialises on development related issues in Northeast India.
Dr. Pum Khan Pau is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Manipur. He has also been teaching for over two decades and has published books and articles on the India-Myanmar Borderlands.
