Understanding Northeast India Through a ‘Spatial’ Lens

Applying ‘spatial’ lens to Northeast India (NEI) is merely not for hermeneutic purposes but for a nuanced understanding of the flux accompanying the region. Spatial analysis helps us to move beyond the ‘territorial trap’ imposed on NEI through various cartographic exercises. The implications of applying the territoriality principle during the colonial and post-colonial periods are quite evident in NEI today. Now with the advent of globalization, as capital seeks to reinforce its spatiality, new imaginaries are being created both by the Indian state as well as the ‘people’ in the region, which have both overlapping and contradictory connotations. Spatial analysis helps us to understand these overlappings and contradictions between the economic imperatives of the state and the socio-cultural imperatives of the communities, all linked to their respective imaginaries associated with the region. Under such a scenario, what are its ramifications? Will it change the somatic proximity of the communities with their land? Is the region entering into a new era of transforming itself into a ‘pawn’ and a ‘pathway’ on behalf of the state and global capital? Or, the birth of newer batches of insurgents is becoming ominous under the present conditions? The paper analyses related issues about Northeast India in terms of its emerging history.