Ethnicity and Nationalism on the Northeastern Frontier

Abstract

The Seven Sisters states are a region in the Northeastern India frontier comprising the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. After the 1962 Sino-Indian war, China raised territorial claims on this wild region, rich in resources and featured by a strategic position. If China considers those areas be part of the national territory, due to an ethno-linguistic continuity of some people who live there, nevertheless the backbone of the region consists of an environment dense of historical and cultural elements that belong to India and, indeed, that go beyond its boundaries.