Our Naga society is a collective Individual. The individual; well he is the brother, father, uncle, grandfather in the family. The individual is the clan, the khel, the village identity, the tribe identity, then the ‘Naga’ identity. Our Individual is indeed that. Perhaps a perturbation for the western eye- its upside down understanding of the Individual which glorifies the person-individual, rather than the community, the collective.
Yet, I do not think I would say that the individual is lost in the ‘Naga’ mentality. Because the individual is the tribe within ‘Naga’ identity, the village from where he comes from, the khel/morung he belongs to, the clan that embraces him within its fold, the family within the clan, the position he takes as an Individual in the family and thereby the responsibilities he takes upon himself. That is our idea of individuality- eschewed from the conventional understanding; but I would argue nonetheless the Individual. That ‘Individual’ has been honed, defined to take in the different steps of his community to be both an individual and taking into mind his community.
The Community
Communities like ours are layered, as I always tell people who do not know. It is a complex structure of back-and-forth courtesies. One defined within; interpreted outside. There is a certain time in the year when it is considered taboo, or unlucky to welcome guests into your homes. So when sojourners come visiting we would talk to a rock, or animal, instead explaining that we are tabooed to entertain today, he may come another day to receive some rice beer in your house. This is done so in order not to displease the guest but rather that he would understand one is tabooed and therefore abstained from entertaining that day. I set an example here but it nevertheless speaks of deep roots of ‘societal norms’ arrayed inside the understandings of cultural sphere. It speaks of the complex structure of affiliation that a close-knit society such as the Nagas practice. Never offending, never stepping a toe out of line, never interfering in someone else’s life that is undue.
Indirect Confrontation
I wouldn’t need to say too much before we understand each other. There are the many ‘newspaper rejoinders’ in our daily papers, the simmering prejudice half hidden, the ‘indirect’ jab, the impudent remark half provoking or half-confronting. You see all these preludes are well masked in our society’s construct, I wouldn’t rule out our head-hunting culture either. Maybe more strongly on our head-hunting than society’s graces. Humor is an internal part of the Naga. But humor also masks many things, absorbs and interprets in the communities such as ours. It is a way of confrontation without offending the other.
Our guiltless Individual
This is where the construct bits us in the end. The Individual- as its western understanding, the ‘Individual’ well hidden in our communities is protected, unreproached and still confident. It is our shortcoming that we believe the Individual in our Naga societies do not exist. And in our present day of mass media, mass development, mass urbanization, mass modernization and mass change it is one of those thorns on our side that pricks. That makes us believe the Individual does not exist.
Cynic is a pen name of a young Naga researcher with deep concerns for the people
