National Life: Religious narrative and Imagination in Nagaland, India

This research was primarily ethnographic in nature, conducted during my sabbatical (July 2014-January 2015). Its focus was to understand how Christian ideas are expressed in relation to national narratives. I interviewed prophets, nationalist leaders, visionaries, and dream interpreters about their understanding of how local knowledge shapes the representation of nationhood. This project builds on fieldwork conducted in 2013 and contributes to a major monograph planned for completion in 2019 entitled The Poetry of National Life: Prophecy, Christianity, and nation in Northeast India.