The History of the Intellectual Tradition of the Karbis in Assam: Understanding Semsonsing Ingti’s Idea of Modern “Karbi Land”
Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to understand the trajectory of the intellectual tradition of various socio-cultural and political organizations of the Karbis of Assam in India. However, such an intellectual tradition has been shaped by Semsonsing Ingti’s ideology, who could be canonized as the “father of the intellectual tradition of the “Karbi Land”. The influence of the Karbis intellectual tradition on the contemporary political discourse in Assam is critically examined in this study. This study is a qualitative study in nature, and therefore, several techniques of data collection have been used, including personal interviews, observation, and focus group discussion. This study applied a historical approach to interpreting collected data and also used narrative techniques, which were important for this study. The political ideals or intellectual tradition of Semsonsing Ingti have had a significant influence on contemporary political discourse, leading to the demand for statehood or an autonomous state movement in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam. This study also found that the contemporary concept of modern “Karbi Land” was built on the notions of Semsonsing Ingti. The historiography of ideas or traditions that bear a remarkable resemblance to the beliefs of leaders or scholars, which are typically characterized in terms of philosophical ideals of the past, is referred to as intellectual history. As a result, this research is important for both the existing area of intellectual history, which is a sub-discipline of history, and developing research in the field of social sciences. The Karbis are one of the important hill tribes of Assam, India, but they have not been well researched in terms of assessing the impact of their intellectual tradition and political ideas. This study benefits the research community by revealing the trends in the intellectual tradition of tribes in contemporary society and to what extent the intellectual tradition has been important in the formation of tribal identities.
Keywords: colonial modernity, historiography, intellectual tradition, Karbi, Semsonsing Ingti.
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