North East India : The Horizon of Anthropology/K.C. Mahanta. New Delhi, Kalpaz, 2008, 328 p., tables, ISBN 81-7835-656-2.

    Contents: Preface. 1. Anthropology and the community : an overview. 2. The classical concept of family in India. 3. The problem of tribal tradition and identity in Assam. 4. Hill tribes of North East India. 5. Cultural interaction between Assam and the rest of India. 6. A town of Assam and its impact on the hinterland. 7. Socio-economic changes in an Immigrant Sema village in Assam. 8. A study of dependability and support in Old age in the Assamese society. 9. Barter system in a fishing community of Assam. 10. The Mithun : socio-economic significance among the Nishis Arunachal Pradesh. 11. Features of Kaibartta Kinship system. 12. Gift-giving, reciprocity and the institution of Bhal-Manuh in a Scheduled Caste Community of Assam. 13. Socio-economic status of the aged : a case study. 14. Industrial organisations and the universities in North-East India. 15. The concept of soul, sin and religious merit among the Kaibarttas of Monpur : a fishing community of Assam. 16. The folk concept of illness and traditional medical practices. 17. Vaishnavism in Assam and its impact on the Noctes of Arunachal Pradesh. 18. Vaishnavism among the Noctes : an ethnographic study. 19. A study of ethno-medicines in Assam: a general perspective. 20. Shamanistic dance and treatment of disease in Assam. 21. Causality to environment : sequel to unsustainable development. 22. Over-exploitation of North sub-Himalayan vegetal resources : its impact on the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam. Index.

    "This collection contains an assortment of life-patterns of the multi-ethnic tribal and non-tribal communities of North East India. The work reflects the life-ways of the people since around the onset of the closing three decades of the last century. That was the period of heavy impact of western as well as pan-Indian socio-cultural norms on the people of this region. The work highlights the people's ways of absorption and assimilation of the neo-west-oriented as well as pan-Indian socio-cultural elements in their emergent life-patterns.

    As the North Eastern People's traditional life-ways are fast disappearing under the impact of multiple forces and factors, the work in this collection should serve the purpose of bench-marking the trend and quantum of change in the foreseeable future." (jacket)

Return to Anthropology and Sociology Catalogue