NSA panel examines customary law, church authority, kinship, folklore and women’s lived realities in Naga contexts
Patriarchy in Naga society must be understood not merely as a women’s issue but as a wider question of democracy, justice, representation, citizenship and dignity, speakers asserted during a major panel discussion organised by the Naga Scholars’ Association (NSA) on Saturday.
Held on the theme “Gender, Power, and Resistance: Confronting Patriarchy in Naga Contexts,” the discussion brought together scholars from across academic disciplines to critically examine how power structures are embedded within customary law, religion, kinship, folklore and everyday social arrangements.
The program was coordinated by Dr Pangertoshi Walling, with NSA President Dr Kharingpam Ahum Chahong delivering the welcome address. Moderating the discussion, Dr Visakhono Hibo of Japfü Christian College described the subject as both sensitive and necessary, while stressing the need for deeper research and objective academic engagement.
Delivering the keynote address, Prof. Ajaliu Niumai of the University of Hyderabad stated that although Naga society may appear to have fewer visible restrictions on women, visibility should not automatically be equated with equality.
She argued that beneath visible participation lie deeper gendered structures of power embedded within customary law, clan systems, inheritance patterns and political institutions.
Drawing from feminist scholarship, including Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s work on subalternity, Niumai examined how women in indigenous contexts often face layered marginalization both within state systems and indigenous patriarchal structures.
Her keynote focused on three broad areas — customary law and gendered citizenship, Christianity and church authority, and women’s resistance and intervention.
Niumai noted that while Christianity remains central to Naga society and churches often function as moral, social and educational institutions, the emergence of women theologians, women-led prayer movements and gender justice discussions suggests that religious spaces are increasingly being questioned from within.
She further highlighted that Naga women have consistently resisted exclusion through women’s organisations, student bodies, tribal institutions and civil society, while also reinterpreting customary practices as dynamic rather than fixed.
She encouraged greater writing, documentation and publication by Naga scholars, particularly women, and concluded that confronting patriarchy in Naga contexts requires not the rejection of culture, but its transformation toward greater equality, dignity and justice.
Kinriwiliu Ringkangmai of Johns Hopkins University, in a presentation titled “Rethinking Naga Kinship,” examined how colonial and anthropological frameworks have historically shaped dominant understandings of Naga kinship, patriliny and egalitarianism.
Ringkangmai questioned whether such inherited frameworks have obscured more complex gender realities within Naga society and explored how myths continue to shape social consciousness and gender relations.
Drawing attention to the Ao Naga origin narrative of Longkongla in the Ozukumer clan, Ringkangmai argued that alternative genealogies foregrounding women’s roles have often been marginalized in dominant historical frameworks centered on male lineage.
The presentation also raised broader questions about whether contemporary Naga scholarship has fully transcended colonial theoretical apparatuses in writing about itself.
Schulu Duo of Ashoka University explored the lived experiences of Naga women through folk songs, ethnographic reflections and cultural theory.
Using folk traditions from Chakhesang, Mao, Poumai and Maram communities, Duo examined how women’s songs reveal grief, emotional displacement, unstable belonging and resistance, particularly in relation to marriage, clan exogamy and relocation from natal homes.
The presentation argued that dominant narratives of Naga identity have often centered masculine histories of sovereignty, warriorhood and headhunting, while women’s voices remain preserved in oral traditions that express the emotional and social consequences of patriarchal structures.
Duo also drew comparative insights from wider Indian kinship systems to situate Naga women’s experiences within broader discussions of gender, belonging and social contracts.
Artist and researcher Dr Stuti Mamen presented on gendered spatial arrangements in Nocte and Wancho societies of Arunachal Pradesh, examining how domestic structures, labour divisions and social mobility shape gendered roles.
Her presentation explored how patriarchal systems are reinforced not only through authority, but also through spatial arrangements, visibility and the valuation of labour, where men often occupy public spaces of decision-making while women’s work, though essential, remains comparatively less visible.
Drawing from her work on gendered time during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mamen also examined how women’s mobility, monetized labour and access to education can create avenues for resistance, while cautioning against reproducing older hierarchies in newer forms.
Across the discussion, a recurring theme emerged that patriarchy often operates not solely through coercion, but also through symbolic structures, theology, inherited narratives and social institutions.
The program concluded with an interactive discussion session, followed by a vote of thanks by Akishe L Jakha.
