Reimaging of the Angami collective cultural identity: kenyü and customary law in the select Angami folktales

ABSTRACT

Although various studies have focused on the formation of ethnicity in Nagaland, little is known about specific aspects of collective cultural identity derived from the folktales of the Angami tribe. There is a lack of research in understanding the cultural analysis of the forms of kenyü (an Angami expression representing a ‘proscription of behaviour’¹) and its role in the wider social process, owing to the folktales as narratives in the representation of the ethnic identity of the Angami. Selecting four folktales from the Angami tribe provides a useful way of conceptualising the relationality of kenyü and the collective cultural identity. This paper undertakes a textual analysis of the selected folktales and applies Stuart Hall’s concept of ‘cultural identity’ and Anthony Smith’s idea of ‘ethno-symbolism’ to foreground the identification of the concept of kenyü in understanding the folktales to reimagine collective cultural identity as a key aspect of ethnic identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Angami naga
• collective cultural identity
• kenyü
• customary law
• folktales

Acknowledgments

We thank the editors and the three anonymous reviewers of Asian Ethnicity for their insightful suggestions and valuable comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Allan and Burridge, Forbidden Words, 11.

2. Dingemanse, “Advances in the Cross-Linguistic,” 654.

3. Nienu, Naga Cultural Milieu, 115.

4. Khieya, “Socio-Cultural Traditions,” 153.

5. Hall, Questions of Cultural Identity, 4.

6. Smith, Ethno-Symbolism and Nationalism, 16.

7. Tzaneva, Ethnosymbolism, 92.

8. Aier, Studies on Naga Oral Tradition.

9. Syiem, “Negotiating the Loss,” 85.

10. Wettstein, “How Ethnic Identity Becomes Real,” 388.

11. Blackburn, “Oral Stories,” 421.

12. Bentley, “A New Model of Taboo,” 4–5.

13. Ao, The Ao-Naga Oral Tradition, xii.

14. Brett and Monforte, “Stories, New Materialism,” 7.

15. Marshall, “Temptation, Tradition, and Taboo,” 86.

16. Schoemaker and Tetlock, “Taboo Scenarios,” 8.

17. Hall, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” 223.

18. V. Kire, “The Angami-Naga,” 6.

19. Murphy and Medin, “The Role of Theories,” 290.

20. Anttonen, Tradition Through Modernity, 66.

21. See note 16 above., 22.

22. See note 8 above., 9.

23. Kim, “Ideology, Identity,” 238.

24. Erikson, Childhood, and society.

25. Holland, et al., “Identity in Practice,” 271.

26. See note 5 above.

27. See note 17 above., 225.

28. Abádi-Nagy, “Theorizing Collective Identity,” 176.

29. Polletta and Jasper, “Social Movements,” 285.

30. Melucci, “The Process of Collective Identity,” 43–4.

31. Taylor and Whittier, “Collective identity,” 105.

32. Ferdman, “Literacy and Cultural Identity,” 192.

33. See note 28 above., 175.

34. See note 7 above., 72.

35. Smith, The Ethnic Origins of Nations, 32.

36. See note 7 above., 73.

37. Ibid., 74.

38. See note 6 above., 23.

39. Holland, Fox, and Daro, “Social Movements and Collective Identity,” 97.

40. Pandey, “Politics of Belonging Identity,” 101.

41. See note 35 above., 183.

42. Baruah, Durable Disorder, 330.

43. Vandenhelsken and Karlsson, “Fluid Attachments in Northeast India,” 334.

44. Lotha, “Naga Identity: Enduring Heritage,” 47.

45. Wettstein, “How Ethnic Identity Becomes Real,” 385.

46. Ngaihte and Hanghal, “Question of India’s North-East,” 42.

47. Wettstein, “Origins and Migrations,” 213.

48. Subba and Wouters, “Northeast India,” 194.

49. Kelio, “Customary Laws,” 79.

50. Pereira, “Customary Laws and State Formation,” 248.

51. See note 13 above., 40.

52. Pou, Literary Cultures, 110.

53. See note 3 above.

54. See note 8 and 22 above.

55. Punyü, “Oral History,” 92; Zetsuvi, Traditional Culture, 52; and Nienu, Naga Cultural Milieu, 152.

56. Neinu, Naga Cultural Milieu, 151; and Kire, Walking the Roadless Road, 63.

57. Kire, Walking the Roadless Road, 62.

58. See note 18 above.

59. Punyü, “Oral History,” 90–93; and See note 49 above., 158.

60. See note 4 above., 137.

61. Heneise, Agency and Knowledge, 13.

62. Elizabeth and Tsuren, Insider Perspectives, 79.

63. Bandyopadhyay, “Resistant Hybridity,” 402.

64. See note 57 above., 63.

65. See note 3 above., 153.

66. Lohe, Naga Village, 56.

67. Lotha, “Articulating Naga Nationalism,” 257.

68. Hutton, The Angami Nagas, 253.

69. Govier, “Truth and Storytelling,” 168.

70. See note 13 above., 185.

71. Tenyidie is the official language of Tenyimia, a group of Naga tribes including Angami.

72. K. Kuolie, “Stylistic and Semiotic Study,” 63.

73. Belsey, “Textual Analysis as Research Method,” 160 and 166.

74. Mckee, Textual Analysis, 63.

75. Ibid., 13.

76. Kire, Easterine. (Writer) interviewed by the author, December 2021.

77. Kire, Naga Folktales Retold, 83.

78. Ibid., 83.

79. We-i is a distinct war cry by a warrior after slaying a victim. In the Naga mythologies, tigers and men are brothers.

80. See note 13 above., 80.

81. Kuolie, Tenyidie Literature, 85.

82. See note 77.

83. See note 52 above., 57.

84. Wouters, “From Sharing to Accumulation.”

85. See note 77 and 82 above.

86. Ibid., 85.

87. See note 76 above.

88. See note 77 above., 112.

89. See note 3 above., 178.

90. Ibid., 178.

91. See note 77 above., 112.

92. Ibid., 113.

93. Wouters, “Who is a Naga Village?” Nagas in the 21st Century, 25–6.

94. Kaisü, “Oral Literature and Cultural Memory,” 25.

95. See note 81 above., 87.

96. Ibid., 87.

97. Ibid., 88.

98. Ibid., 88.

99. Zetsuvi, Traditional Culture, 63.

100. See note 81 above., 89.

101. See note 62 above., 39.

102. Smith, “National Identity,” 58.

103. See note 68 above., 180.

104. See note 52 above., 103.

105. Chasie, The Naga Imbroglio, 12.

106. See note 8, 22 and 54 above.

107. See note 81 above., 106.

108. Ibid., 107.

109. Ibid., 108.

110. Ibid., 109.

111. Ibid., 85.

112. See note 3 above., 105.

113. Schoemaker and Tetlock, “Taboo Scenarios,” 8; and Haidt, “The Emotional Dog,” 187.

114. Fershtman et al., “Taboo and Identity,” 140.

115. See note 5 above., 2.

116. Peroff, “Indian Identity,” 486.

117. Oppitz, Kaiser, Stockhausen, and Wettstein, “The Nagas: An Introduction,” 23.

118. See note 32 above.

119. Durkheim, “From Mechanical,” 25–6.

120. Ibid., 25–6.

121. Blackburn, “Oral Stories,” 420.

122. See note 3 above., 152.

123. See note 119 above., 26.

124. Imsong, God, Land, People, 147.

125. See note 17 above., 222.

126. See note 94 above., 22.

127. Longchar and Kinny, “Identity of Ao-Naga,” 95.

128. See note 49 above., vi–vii.

129. Jamir and Ao, Naga Society and Culture, 16.

130. See note 67 above., 270.

131. M. Ao, “On the Dispensation of Justice,” 514.

132. Ibid., 514.

133. Smith, “Epilogue,” 327.

134. See note 1 above., 7.

135. Ibid., 182–3.

136. Krajewski, “Listening to the unsaid,” 187.

137. See note 8 above., 132.

138. See note 6 above., 21.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mhasileno Peseyie

Mhasileno Peseyie is a Research Scholar in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India. Her research interests include Naga folklore studies, Ethnic studies, and Indigenous studies.

Rashmi Gaur

Rashmi Gaur is a Professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India. Her research interests include Professional Communication, Culture and Gender theories, Modern Fiction, and Indian Writing.