By Dr Asangba Tzudir
The recent survey conducted by this paper asking how to effectively overcome tribalism in Naga society offers more than a set of responses. The survey, while it may be limited by the number of respondents, still reveals a takeaway, the need for a deep moral introspection within the community. With an overwhelming 80% emphasizing on education and inter-tribe exchange, 14% suggesting structural or institutional reforms, and a smaller yet significant 6% focusing on healing and forgiveness, the responses point toward both the roots of the problem and the contours of charting a possible way forward.
At its core, tribalism in Naga society is not simply a sociological phenomena but it can be described as an inherited consciousness shaped by history, identity, and survival. However, when identity finds hardened and centered on exclusion, it only fragments the very fabric it once protected. The survey rightly foregrounds education as the primary antidote, not just literacy, but transformative education that dismantles stereotypes and expands moral imagination. The call to “humanize the other” is crucial. When individuals are reduced to tribe, village, or clan labels, empathy disappears and gets replaced by categorization. Education must therefore help cultivate critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and a shared historical understanding.
Equally important is inter-tribe exchange. The idea that “no tribe is enemy to another” must move from rhetoric to lived reality. This calls for encouraging inter-tribe interactions through student exchanges, cultural programs, and even inter-tribe marriages which can gradually break and erode “narrow domestic walls”. The emphasis on family bonds as a basis for unity is insightful and which becomes a powerful force for integration.
While the 6% who stress healing and reconciliation may be less comparatively, it remind us that structural or educational solutions alone are insufficient. There are wounds which are historical, emotional, and psychological and cannot be legislated away. Bitterness between tribes, often unspoken or not loudly spoken continues to shape attitudes and of hatred. This is where the act of forgiveness needs to be understood in its right context, that, it is not weakness but indeed a moral courage. For Nagaland being a Christian majority state, reconciliation must be more than symbolic.
The Christian character needs to be grounded in narratives of truth-telling, apology, and restoration.
The survey also raises uncomfortable but necessary critiques of institutions, particularly the Church and the media. Tribal churches, while culturally rooted, may inadvertently reinforce divisions. The suggestion to move toward a more unified “Naga church” is not about erasing identity but about transcending narrow affiliations and building a shared spiritual community. Similarly, the media’s role in subtly reinforcing tribal identity through the various forms of ‘labeling’ needs reexamination and reconsideration. The ‘language’ of the media shapes perception and becomes normalized which is then internalized in minds.
A particularly sharp observation concerns governance. The creation of districts along tribal lines may offer administrative convenience but only risks deepening divisions. Policy decisions must be evaluated not only for efficiency but for their long-term social impact. Otherwise fragmentation will only get institutionalized.
While the survey converges on a simple yet demanding truth about the need to overcome tribalism, it requires ethical consistency. It is not enough to condemn biases only in principle in black and white while practicing it in daily life. Supporting wrongdoing because it is committed by one’s own tribe erodes the very idea of justice. Moral integrity demands that a ‘spade be called a spade’ regardless of who holds it.
The way forward, therefore calls upon educational reform, social integration, institutional introspection, and moral renewal. Tribal identity need not be erased but must be reoriented. From a boundary that divides, it can become a connecting thread in a larger tapestry of Naga unity.
On the whole, the survey reflects a deeper desire to move beyond tribalism and which already exists. It requires the coming together of the collective will to act on it.
(Dr. Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com).
