Making India ‘Hindu’ in the Northeast

This project was ethnographic in nature and I travelled to Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China, to understand the work of the Hindu-right and how they are using the concept of sanatan dharma (eternal religion and culture) to assimilate tribal groups in Northeast India into a Hindu nation. The Northeast is important for the Hindu-right in part because it has always been hostile to the ideology of Hindutva (Hinduness), but also because of its geographical significance. Research for this project enabled me to give the Public Lecture in Guwahati (December 2016), and will be part of my immediate book project on the work of the Hindu-right in Northeast of India, entitled Fractured Landscape: Hindutva, nation and identity. Stanford University Press, South Asia in Motion Series, have invited a full manuscript for external review.