A Feminist Reading of Tribal Identity Movements in Assam, India

Assam, a state in the Northeast part of India, is characterised by the substantial presence of diverse tribal communities who are not only different from each other but also distinctively different from similar communities from the rest of India. Historically, most of these tribal communities are engaged in ethnic identity movements to fulfil their political aspirations. Tribal Identity Movements in Assam, led by various tribal communities with diverse objectives, have limited emphasis on women's questions. While most of these movements aim to acquire relative power for these communities, these movements have failed to accommodate the internal fragmentation within the community. A feminist reading of these movements does not merely talk about the absence of women's issues and women leaders in these movements, but also how these movements visibly fail to provide democratic space to the women within these communities.

Based on a critical examination of ideology, objectives and leadership in the tribal identity movements in Assam, India, this article argues that tribal identity movements are exclusionary and non-representative of women at multiple levels. Women are present in these movements merely as participants without a substantive presence in the leadership and ideology of the movements and, hence, without substantial agency in these movements. As such, tribal identity movements aim to question the existing inequality at the ethnic level and fail to accommodate the structural inequality within the community. In the name of questioning the marginalisation existing at the ethnic level, these movements and the nature of mobilisation continue to reproduce another margination of women.