Objectives

This project is a transdisciplinary study focusing on the culture of the tribes that live in the hills and mountains around the India-Myanmar border. The target regions are to be the states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Mizoram on the Indian side, and Kachin State, Sagaing Region, and Chin State on the Myanmar side. Taking a perspective that transcends the academic framework of conventional South Asian and Southeast Asian studies, this project focuses on the culture of the Mongoloid (East-Eurasian) mountain tribes that live around the border, and in particular the Naga, Mizo, Chin and Kachin tribes. Although these ethnic groups are classified as having different linguistic systems, they also share various points in common. These include: the topography and climate of their natural environments, and associated lifestyles of slash-and-burn agriculture; their animism and traditional customs; the design and production techniques of their clothing, accessories, textiles, basketry, and architecture; and the influence of Christianity on their traditional cultures. The objective of this project, therefore, is to collaborate with local researchers and museums to conduct a thorough inspection of the artifacts in Minpaku's collection relating to the aforementioned ethnic groups, while advancing info-forum-style transdisciplinary research from a comparative perspective through the construction of a new database.

Description

The project is comprised of the following four activities:

1) Construct a database of materials from our collection related to the hill tribes around the India-Myanmar border
Minpaku has artifacts from the Naga, Mizo, Chin and Kachin peoples in its collection. Among these, the Naga has the most items listed in the artifact catalog database, with 258 items. However, the provenance and other details of the 127 items acquired in 1983 (H109146-H109338) are unknown. Therefore, in collaboration with the local Nagaland State Museum and researchers from Japan and abroad, we will thoroughly examine the dates of production, materials, designs, and uses of the materials, while also constructing a new database which facilitates a comparative perspective by including materials from the Naga people as well as those from neighboring ethnic groups.

2) Create a link with Naga photo database
Through the X-DiPLAS support project, Minpaku has digitized 3,989 positive film images mainly taken in 1979 by photographer Yuzo Morita (1940-) in various parts of Nagaland. These are currently being constructed into a database. The photographs were shot in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, which lies on the border with Myanmar, and where 84.3% of the state's population are Naga (Census of India, 2011). The area where they lived became a battlefield during the Battle of Imphal at the end of World War II, and as the struggle for independence intensified after the war, oppression by the Indian military caused suffering for the Naga community for more than half a century.
Photographer Morita took photos in Naga settlements on several occasions from 1978 with special permission from and the full support of the Nagaland state government. The pictures he took in rural areas in 1978 and 1979 are particularly valuable documents from the era of the struggle for independence. Since the ceasefire in the 2000s, there has been a rapid acceleration in the movement of people and flow of goods, and traditional Naga customs are disappearing or changing. In light of this, the database of photographs taken mainly in the 1970s is an academic resource that will facilitate the study of various aspects of the Naga, such as their annual rural events and customs, as well as their traditional houses. The content of the photographs will be examined in detail and linked to the artifact database (1).

3) Photo exhibition in collaboration with Nagaland State Museum
For this project, we will collaborate with Nagaland State Museum, which opened in 1970, and the state government's Department of Art and Culture, to hold a photo panel exhibition in the state, focusing on the photographs from 1979 mentioned in 2). This will be the first collaboration between Japan and a Naga museum and we plan to take the opportunity to widely publicize the database of artifacts from Minpaku’s collection described in 1).

4) Symposium on the hill tribes around the India-Myanmar border
Local researchers will be invited to participate in a public symposium hosted by Minpaku which focuses on the culture of the tribes living in the hills and mountains around the border areas. This will serve as a forum for discussions based on the artifact database (1), the photograph database (2), and collaboration with the source community (3), providing an opportunity to consider the transformation of the hill tribes’ cultures and the role of museums from a comparative perspective.

Expected results

The artifact database (1) will be structured to facilitate a deeper understanding of the Mongoloid (East-Eurasian) mountain tribes that live around the border, particularly the Naga, Mizo, Chin and Kachin tribes, from a comparative perspective that transcends the academic framework of conventional South Asian and Southeast Asian studies. Furthermore, this database will be linked to a photograph database (2), so that artifacts, such as clothing, accessories and everyday items can be cross-referenced with photos showing how they were actually worn or used. At the same time as constructing these new databases, we will collaborate with Nagaland State Museum (3) to promote inter-museum academic exchange and hold a photo panel exhibition. We will also contribute to the progress of info-forum-style transdisciplinary research into the culture of tribes from the hills and mountains around the border regions by hosting a public symposium at Minpaku (4).