Nagas: The Knowledge Practitioners

Nagas addresses the nature‐embedded belief systems and subsistence strategies of the Naga people.

Knowledge systems that were once spread across the Naga communities but are now confined to specific villages and communities, are examined with respect and support for the sustainable futures of Indigenous peoples. Chapters cover various Naga crafts‐ancient sciences through representative case studies featuring Naga communities who still practice the same indigenous methods. Through exploring the adherence to these practices, the volume reflects on the Naga’s original worldview and is an indispensable guide to their origins. Such practices are vanishing rapidly, and this book helps preserve the knowledge for future generations.

Providing the invaluable perspectives of a scholar who has devoted his life to the study of the Nagas and an Indigenous researcher with unique experiences of growing up in Nagaland, this book is suitable for researchers in archaeology, anthropology and Indigenous Studies.

Dr Alok Kumar Kanungo, Associate Research Professor at IIT Gandhinagar and Adjunct Associate Professor at Flinders University, specialises in archaeological and ethnographic studies of indigenous practices and ancient technology. He has travelled, documented and analysed the rich heritage of the Nagas of north-east India and the ancient glass, ceramic and iron of India in fields, labs and museums across Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Keeping the intellectual rights of the indigenous people and craftspeople at the forefront, he has written or edited eighteen books, one journal and about a hundred research articles. He has received many awards, including Scientific Missionary, Humboldt, Fulbright, British Academy, Rakow, Homi Bhabha, SPARC, ICG, ICHR and Bead Societies’ Fellowships. He has lectured in many universities and research institutes in the USA, Oceania, Europe, Southeast Asia, and India.

Dr Alino Sumi, an indigenous Naga ethnographer from the Naga Hills, India, specialises in the intersection of Indigenous Communities, Heritage, and Wellbeing. With a PhD in ethnoscience and a postdoctoral fellowship in (im)material heritage from Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, her work emphasises the legitimacy and complementarity of Indigenous Science and Western Science. Her research is driven by a deep interest in the knowledge systems of the Nagas, exploring Indigenous ways of knowing and storytelling, ethnoscience, culture and environment, and Ancient Indian Knowledge Systems. In addition to her research, Sumi serves as an adjunct lecturer at Flinders University, South Australia, in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.