The Peripheral Centre: Voices from India's Northeast

Northeast India, connected to the rest of the country by only a narrow strip of land, has long been a site of tension between people native to the region—many of whom demand more political independence—and representatives of the mainland and the Indian state. In 2004, one of the region’s notorious paramilitary groups famously arrested and killed a young woman named Thangjam Manorama. This collection takes its inspiration from the mass demonstrations that arose after her death and the unprecedented protests against the violence that has wracked the area.

In a diverse series of reflections on the state of the Northeast in the wake of these events, the contributors address such topics nationhood, identity, and the complex factors that alienate the region from the rest of India. Their intensely personal responses and informed political assessments illuminate the changes, asymmetries and fault lines that continue to cause potentially violent rifts. Some of these writers, academics, and activists grew up in the Northeast, while others are outsiders—but all share a passion for the area and an intense desire for peace.