The Naga Scholars’ Association organises a panel discussion to address gendered authority, customary law, and patriarchy within Naga contexts.
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DIMAPUR — The Naga Scholars’ Association (NSA) organised a panel discussion on the topic “Gender, power, resistance: Confronting patriarchy in Naga contexts” on May 9.
According to an update, the keynote was delivered by Dr. Ajaliu Niumai of the University of Hyderabad. She stated that the question of patriarchy in the Naga context is not only a women’s issue but also one of democracy, justice, representation, citizenship, and dignity.
Although Naga society may have fewer restrictive practices, she reminded that visibility should not be mistaken for equality and that beneath the appearance of inclusion lies a deeply gendered structure of power.
Dr. Niumai brought up three important issues. Firstly, customary law and gendered citizenship. Patriarchy is embedded within customary law, clan structures, inheritance systems, and political institutions.
Secondly, Christianity, church power, and gendered authority. Christianity occupies a central position in Naga lives, and the church acts as a moral regulator, community organiser, educational space, and even, in some contexts, a political actor. However, the emergence of women theologians, women-led prayer movements, and discussions on gender justice within church forums suggest that religious spaces are not monolithic anymore.
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Thirdly, resistance, agency, and women's intervention. Naga women have consistently resisted injustice and exclusion through organisations like the Naga Mothers' Association, various students' and tribal organisations, and other civil societies. Women have increasingly reinterpreted custom as dynamic and negotiable rather than fixed.
She reiterated that patriarchy operates not only through coercion but also through symbolic violence and theological narratives that normalise male authority.
Women are, however, no longer passive. Dr. Niumai encouraged the practice of the art of writing and documentation and publishing in good journals.
She noted that the future of gender justice lies in creating democratic spaces where customary practices, constitutional rights, and feminist or women ethics can engage critically because confronting patriarchy in the Naga context requires not the rejection of culture but its transformation towards greater equality, dignity, and justice. And that men have to be allies.
A presentation titled “Rethinking Naga kinship” by Kinriwiliu Ringkangmai of John Hopkins University critically examined how dominant understandings of Naga kinship and egalitarianism have been shaped through colonial and anthropological knowledge production and how these ideas continue to reinforce patriarchy in contemporary Naga society.
Schulu Duo of Ashoka University explored the lived experiences of Naga women through folk songs, ethnographic reflections, and theoretical perspectives from cultural studies and anthropology.
Schulu argued that women in Naga society often occupy a precarious position of citizenship and belonging, where their identities remain unstable and conditional, especially after marriage and relocation from their natal homes.
Dr. Stuti Mamen, an artist, presented on her topic titled "Gendered spatial arrangements: Some observations in the context of Nocte and Wancho societies in Arunachal Pradesh". The presentation explored the role spatial arrangements play in shaping gendered roles in Naga society.