 A very good morning to you all. Respected principal, the two heavens are king, our guest speaker, the two Canada chopi, our special guest, Ms. Kalisana from Eastern Christian College and her team, my colleagues, and our dear students. The best form of education, as educators are well aware, is to influence and all-round development in an individual. In Nagaland, texts of college or institution has long been a forerunner and putting this into practice. Aligned with our college's motto to strive for excellence, our mission to empower people towards lifelong excellence and our vision to create a positive impact in the world, our institution emphasizes on learning beyond the syllabi and hence provides opportunities and support, engaging in learning activities beyond classroom teaching learning experience. Our today's program, while organized by our department, that is Department of Sociology, is a manifestation of the ideas and values that attacks the community in general, share and aspires for commonly. The Nordic region is a region of national and international significance because of its strategic geographical location. It is a region with a complex history and socio-cultural life. It is for these reasons that the region has long attracted many researchers to engage in its studies. However, experts have recently started voicing out the need to revise and introduce new methods of understanding the region. And we are so privileged that today we're able to organize this discussion in rethinking social research in Nordic India with Dr. Kanatochopi as a guest speaker. Dr. Kanatochopi, in my personal opinion, needs no introduction. He is what we may call an international celebrity in the academia. Despite his young age and his young looks, he is already a well-recognized and well-respected scholar and writer in the international community. He is currently engaged as an assistant professor at the Department of Anthropology, DeBrogar University. He was a recipient of the prestigious Young India Fellowship 2017. And his most recent book, Christianity and Politics in Tribal India, was co-published by State University of New York. This book was positively received by the academia with many organizing discussions on it. And according to him, till last night, NIT invited him to particularly have a discussion on this particular book. So it is going on so well. And it has received lots of reviews from leading newspaper in the country, including the Hindustan Times. So we are definitely privileged and honestly excited to have you with us today. We also have in our midst, Dr. Havasah King, our inspiring, supporting, and amazingly efficient principal. We have Ms. Calles and Neonalio, HOD Department of Sociology, Eastern Christian College, and our students. Besides our own honor students, we have students from various other departments joining us today. To begin with, I would like to now give the time to Dr. Havasah King, principal of this college to give the welcome address. Good morning, everyone, students, faculty. It gives me immense pleasure to be addressing all of you this morning to welcome you all to this seminar for which we have our resource person, Dr. G. Kanato-Chofi. It is really, I think we have students from other departments also joining us today. So it's such a pleasure to see the sociology department organizing a talk like this on the topic of rethinking social research in Northeast. We need to be hearing topics and talks like this when it comes to research as already highlighted by our moderator. I think the importance of rethinking, looking at new approaches of study and what it actually means to be doing research and to be looking at research methodology. So I would like to take this time to welcome each one of you to open up your minds and keep an open mind about this topic and this theme because in the field of research, things are always changing. New strategies, new approaches and there are always new findings and I think our resource person here is the perfect Dr. G. Kanato, is the perfect person to be addressing the students and the faculty on this new age research and what it means to be doing research in these times post the pandemic as well. So I've had the privilege of hearing Dr. G. Kanato on two occasions. One was at a principal's conference on the new education policy and another one was at Jaffa College and that was on the migration history of the Nagas and there is no doubt that he is a individual, an expert in his field. And so we have, it is a great opportunity for Jatso College to be having his presence here so that we can learn from him and also share ideas and have a discussion which I think these sessions are all meant for. Okay, to question and to develop deeper thinking into areas unexplored. So I'd like to encourage all of the students to not hesitate to ask questions or to give comments or suggestions and I'd like to also welcome the Eastern Christian College students and the faculty member, HOD, for coming and being a part of this session. It's great to have students from other institutes coming and interacting here at Jatso College. Our doors are always open for engagements of this kind. So please make use of this opportunity everyone, okay? While you have the chance, grab on to the moment that you have with our resource person also with our faculty and also engagement with one another. While I'm up here, I just wanted to share a story about translation and outlook towards research. There was a friend of mine who had asked this translator, what was the first act of translation in the history of mankind? And the translator said, it must have been something out of or translated from Egyptian. Since Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations and from what we've learned in history. And so my friend thought for a while and said, no, that can't be it. The first instance of translation was when a mother first heard her baby crying or babbling and had to interpret what it meant. That's just an anecdote on an instance of different perspectives and approaches of studies or looking at situations. So to analyze that story, to analyze that story, we have probably two perspectives come out from this story. One is an approach of looking at things from a theoretical perspective and one maybe we could say from a pragmatic perspective. And as the concept note mentions, sociology is looking at the new realities in our society. And so I think Dr. G. Kanato will be able to highlight upon this more as we look at this new age research and research methodology. But with this story and instance, I'd just like you guys to keep, like I mentioned before, an open mind and an open perspective about things and how to apply our research and studies to the practical realities, to solving the problems in our society, the ground realities. And as researchers I invite you all or first timers who are looking into the world of research and what it means, I invite you all to look at it from that perspective of being able to create change in our society by finding solutions to the issues and challenges that our society faces. Okay, so with that I'd just like to conclude my welcome note and I wish you all of the best for this session. Please engage yourselves and gain as much learning as you can from this. Thank you. I would like to share a story too. My sister made our principal in one of the academic sessions where she gave a talk and she came home and then she told me that your principal, I could listen to her talking the entire day. I think that sums up how effective her oratory skills and how meaningful and impactful her speech is usually is. And as usual today also, we are so thankful that you could be with us. And so, succinctly put into words the entire perspective of our session. Thank you so much, ma'am. Now I would like to give time to Miss Yongkang Nukla, assistant professor, sociology for the presentation. Good morning, everyone. So the department of sociology has prepared a small token of appreciation for our guest speaker and the delegates from ACC College today. So in order to hand out the token, I kindly request Principal Ma'am to come up. For our guest speaker, Dr. Kanatu Tophie, we have a small token which I'd like the principal to hand over to also. Thank you, ma'am. And I also request Miss Kelesino Nalio. She is the HOD of the Department of Sociology, ACC Eastern Christian College. Thank you for coming and we have a small token. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Yongkang and Dr. Principal. And now, for the most awaited moment, I would like to give all of our time to Dr. J. Kanatu Tophie. Thank you, Dr. Lawina, for that warm introduction. Thank you. It's very rare for a person like me who travels all over the country, but very rare that I get this kind of present. So I think it's so thankful. I think it talks a lot about our Naga hospitality. I think this tradition should be kept alive. Yeah, I'm so much privileged and happy to be here. I've known Dr. Hewasso for quite some time through your writings and your engagement with the society. I think I'm very sorry to hear about your father's loss. I think we have lost a great personality, not just for the Rima Naga's, but for the Naga Society as well. But I believe that the college, the institution is in the safe hand. And I wish you all the best as you take up the... Perhaps it's a big shoe to feel, but I'm sure you'll do a great job at that. Yeah, so thank you, Sociology Department, for inviting me. Like I'm a teacher myself, and one of our weaknesses is like we are jargon driven. You know, we use a lot of jargons, especially in our writings, especially whenever you write academic journals. Clarity seems to be missing. Like it's something, it's so painful. After having writing, reading, and researching for the past 15 years, I recently sent a paper to one journal, and then one of the, it's a peer-reviewed blind review. So one of the commentators said that I sound like a moral science teacher. You know, that kind of thing. So that's how academic community functions. And sometimes it's so painful, you know? But I'm so happy that we are discussing such a topic, like these two things before I go into my talk. One advice, because like just I was talking to your principal, I'm having a hard time teaching my master's students. How many COVID babies here? To those who went to the college during COVID. I'm sure most of you, you know? Yeah, and I'm having a hard time because I don't know what kind of learning they were doing online, and then even they could not really grasp the basic concepts of the social science research or the discipline per se. Many of them are struggling to write even one sentence correctly. Okay, so I think more than other students, especially young people like yourself who went through this very once in a millennium kind of epidemic, pandemic, I think you should work extra hard. Try to catch up with the rest of the world because see at the end of the day you're going to be competing with people who are studying in IIT and this Mumbai and this Guwahati, you're getting what I'm saying. Okay, you're going to be competing with same job, same opportunity. So I think Naga students need to work a bit extra hard. Okay, so as a teacher, as a concerned Naga citizen and like an elder brother to all of you, I'm telling that. The second thing I want to tell each one of you is that see to me that see the problem with many Naga students is that three years bachelors. Now, what is three years bachelors? Well, you go for masters two years. Again after masters, what you do is you spend five, six legs, go to a coaching institute in Delhi and getting reeducated. Please don't do that, okay? You're getting what I'm saying. Your teachers are here. This is such a wonderful institution. Make best use of it, okay? Because this is something that I'm, I said it's such a huge loss for, especially for students from Northeast, you know, after finishing the masters coming to Kota and Hyderabad, Chennai, spending legs and legs of rupees and starting from basic, you know, learning about Indian society. And these are things I think it should be very clear while you're doing your bachelors and masters, okay? So this is one advice I'm giving to each one of you, okay? I'm not saying that don't go to coaching center. No, absolutely not, okay? But don't do like what others are doing, going back to the coaching centers and starting from basic. The second thing I want to tell you is that please don't mind, okay? I'm somebody who is very concerned about young people and lots of my researchers are also doing a bit on artificial intelligence and how its impact is going to be on our economy and society and our culture and stuff. See, bien apabis, huh? But to young people, don't get stuck with being small town celebrity, okay? Don't mind, I'm sure most of you must have 25,000, 30,000 social media followers, absolutely well and good, okay? But the world is much bigger, okay? I'm seeing so many young people going into depression because of your social media handle and your Instagram and this and that, you know? The world is much bigger. I think what I want to encourage students from Tetsuo College is look beyond, you know, just putting your some clip on YouTube and then that's the end of the world. Please don't do that, okay? Not only in Nagaland but even in Mizoram and all these places, you know? Our obsession with this, wanting to be a small town celebrity, actually this is really killing dreams, okay? So that is something that I think each one of us have to bear in mind. See, while we are so obsessed with little things, yeah, so while we are obsessed with little things, what is happening is people are coming from, you know, UP and Bengal and these things and they are going to overtake us. They're getting what I'm saying because they have big dreams, big vision of how our society should go, how India should go, okay? So I think this is one thing, please don't mind. I'm very personal thing I'm telling to the students here but I think these are few things that you have to bear in mind, okay? So an elderly brother advice to each one of you here. So let me just go to my talk here. So what I will be discussing this morning is rethinking, okay? Relooking at all social sciences research or the whole India of social science research and all this India. So a little bit about myself, okay? I just want to make it a little bit more personal and give illustrations for my own research and for my own life. See, my training was in ethnography, okay? How many of you are aware of what is ethnography? Ethnographer. I'm sure our social students learning ethnographic methods, right? Okay, so basically my training was in ethnography, okay, I learned ethnography under this one very famous Indian ethnographer. He was a man from Cambridge University, very old fieldwork tradition anthropologist. So ethnography basically, I was trained as an ethnographer. So please open your ears, okay? This, there must be some new terms that which you will be learning but these are important and I want you to learn this. So he was an interpretivist, okay? Something called interpretation, interpretivist, okay? So there are different schools of how we approach research or how we approach fieldwork or whole research tradition. So basically I was trained as an interpretivist, ethnographer, okay? So in ethnography, as an ethnographer, what we do is basically we deal with very minutiae details of society and culture, okay? So I still remember, okay? My supervisor, he used to tell me that you need to have a very thick description of people and the culture or society that you're talking about. Thick description, please write it up. I think, can I give them books, yeah? Thick description, okay? It's called thick description. So this whole idea of thick description was given by this very famous anthropologist called Clifford Geertz, okay? Which I'm sure even Dr. Hewa says he's aware from cultural studies. All of us use a lot of his methodology. So thick description, okay? So this is very interesting, okay? Listen carefully. Thick description in the sense Clifford Geertz borrowed his idea from this philosopher called Gilbert Reil, okay? G-I-L-B-E-R-T-R-Y-L-E, okay? I'm coming to the methodology part, okay? Just I'll be systematic here. So he borrowed this whole idea called this thick description from Gilbert Reil, okay? Continental philosopher. So Reil gives this idea, okay? This is so fascinating, something so fascinating about his research is this. He, Reil gives this idea about winking and blinking. You know what is winking and blinking, right? So if I do like this to your principal, I might be flirting with her, huh? You're married, no? Yes, okay, I think I, just joking. So yeah, I think it's safe. Like this is, see, winking. So this is loaded with cultural meaning. I might be flirting with her. I might say something that giving some very hidden subtle message. Bujubabai, na? So this is called winking. Okay, blinking might be, we blink normally. You're getting my point. I blink, maybe something dust went into my eyes or because normally that I blink. You're getting my point. So see, what Gilbert Reil says is that even in a simple reflexive action like such as just this, it carries a lot of cultural meaning. You're getting my point. See, this is so fascinating. See, this and this, let me just, see. Biologically speaking, if you are a monkey or a chimpanzee, this doesn't have any meaning. But as human beings, when we do this, this has lots of cultural meaning, no? So what Geertz goes on to say is that he says that any social reality, any cultural reality has layers of meaning. Bujubabai, see, see just this. So that means like culture is multilayered. Any cultural process, any social process, okay? Listen very carefully, I'll be very slow here. Any cultural process, any social process. Very, very much multilayered, okay? So I'll just give you an example of, as an anthropologist, I study a lot about family and kinship. That is where we do a lot of theorization. Looking at your principal's family, how many children you have, Tote Wosa? Three, no? See, just by looking at the family, okay, husband, wife, three children, but within that once you start, actually start living with them and then start researching her family, lots of meanings emerge, her identity, how she and her husband are trying to, both being educated, how you're trying to navigate that whole status and the question of gender. You get what I'm saying? So these are, lots of meanings are involved when we start introspecting, okay? So this is basically what an ethnographer does. We try to unravel layers of cultural and social meanings. Are you getting what I'm saying? Okay, so just see for an example, as a sociologist, that you're trying to understand corruption in Nagaland, okay? Corruption in Nagaland would have multiple layers. It's not just that the Angamisa or the Semas are corrupted, no, no, no. But there are lots of, beyond, see, because one of the reason that the problem of Naga society, especially with the whole idea of corruption is that it has just boiled down to ethnic level, this tribe or that tribe, you're getting my point. But even within corruption, there are layers of meaning, there are religious meaning, there are definitely ethnic identity meaning. There's even question of gender is involved. You're getting my point. So there are layers of meaning in such even a topic. Let's say when you pick up corruption, there are layers of meaning, okay? So this is what exactly an ethnographer tries to do. So basically as an ethnographer, I was taught to interpret things, okay? So my training as an ethnographer was, I was trained more in the literary endeavor. As more, my writing, I was taught to be more literary. You're getting my point. So this question of my supervisor told me that, that social process, social life, cultural life is very, very complex. We cannot study human beings like in a, in a chemical lab or in a zoology and botany lab. So I'm gonna, okay, my Hindi. You're getting what I'm saying, right? As human beings, we are different people because like I said, even as an individual, as society, as cultures, very, very complex, okay? So that is where ethnography becomes very, very significant. So as an ethnographer, what I was taught is to do participant observation, okay? So whenever we are talking about ethnographic methods, ethnographic method is basically, it is a complex of methods and techniques, okay? Ethnographic method. See, people tend to misunderstand ethnographic method as just fieldwork, but fieldwork is just one component, definitely the most important component, but that's one of the component of ethnographic method. So there are different methods that is involved in ethnographic method. So, but basically as an ethnographer, what I was told to do is to observe things. You're getting my point. And my supervisor would tell me that, just go to, when you go to the field, sit in people's kitchen, ask for a glass of black tea and see how the husband and wife are behaving. So maybe, you know, this is quite interesting, okay? See, this a lot talks about how we do research. So my supervisor used to tell me that, see how the husband is behaving with his wife. Seema Motahangi, especially the Angami Sen, Seema. Eh, pania nibi, eh. Hey, give me my point. Eh, eh, no, Javi. And that's how we talk to our wife, isn't it? See, but in some society, especially when you are newly married, when you are newly married, darling, eh. Honey, I'm a pania, look, I'm the, but I'm a haddulab. You're getting my point. See, so what my supervisor told me is that, as an ethnographer, when you start even introspecting on, just something very simple as how a husband behaves with his wife in the kitchen setting, he says a lot of meaning can emerge from there. And he told me that, perhaps if the husband is being more polite to his wife, probably it's that they are newly married. See, that is the inference we do. Or if the husband is a little bit being rough to his wife and speaking harshly, probably he said that it might be a very patriarchal society or probably that husband and wife might have been married for 20 to 25 years and they are tired of each other. They're getting my point. See, that is how participant observation works, okay? So, see, that is how, as an ethnographer that I was taught to see, very subtleties of social and cultural process, okay? We call this, as an ethnographer, we say something called reading between the lines, okay? Every aspect of social and cultural life cannot be understood objectively, okay? Please, please remember that. I think one of the mistakes, okay, let me just, I'm talking about my discipline bias, biasness here is that especially sociology in the West is that you depend a lot on quantitative methods. Quantitative methods, okay? I'm sure your teachers might be talking to you about qualitative and quantitative methods. So, remember this, remember this. There are several aspects of social and cultural life which cannot be quantified. Beliefs cannot be quantified. You cannot quantify how much I believe in Jesus Christ or I cannot quantify how much Dr. Hewasa or Dr. Lawina believes in Jesus Christ. Would you believe in that? So, these are, yes, beliefs, these things cannot be quantified. So, what we do is, as an ethnographer, we listen, we talk and we describe. What we do is, we interpret, okay? So, that is my training in ethnography. That's how I was trained. But interestingly, my whole idea of looking at notice India changed when I started learning prehistoric archeology from my teacher called D. K. Bhattacharya, okay? So, what my teacher, Professor Vinay Srivastav, he was the former anthropology survey of India director, just passed away recently, huge loss for me, is that he actually taught me that to understand, please listen carefully, guys, to understand social, cultural processes, to understand any topic, okay? To understand any issue. He said, do micro study. Would you go by now? So, if I want to talk about how colleges are functioning in Nagaland, there are so many colleges, right? But for micro study, I will spend at least one year in Tetsuo College, study Tetsuo College intensively and make broader generalization. You're getting my point. So, whatever data I generate from Tetsuo College, I will use that and then I will say, okay, even in Dima probably, this is how colleges must be functioning. So, this is known as micro study approach, okay? As an anthropologist, as an ethnographer, that's how I was trained. But just coming back to archeology, my whole perspective of looking at North East India or for that matter, the whole perspective of looking at India changed, okay? So, this is what Dike Bhattacharya, my late archeology professor told me. He said, this is very interesting. He said, Kanato, you have to look a little bit beyond your ethnographic methods. And he said, he gave me one very good example. He said, let's test the hypothesis. All of you are aware of what hypothesis is, right? It is a logical assumption, okay? So, he said, he talked to me what very interesting concept given by Irawati Karve, okay? Irawati Karve, I'm sure sociologists might know about when you study about Indian family and kinship, very famous Indian sociologists, anthropologists. Irawati Karve said that, if you divide India diagonally, okay? Diagonally, like this, no? Okay? Diagonally, no? Listen carefully, this is so fascinating. He said, let's look into the idea given by Irawati Karve. If you divide India diagonally, he said, the upper half is wheat eating, roti khai. The lower half is rice eating. See, that means he's trying to make me see in a broader picture, not just studying family and studying seman aga or angami naga, but he said, see from a bigger broader perspective. Very interesting. And he said that, if you divide India diagonally, all this Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, see, all this comes under wheat eating. They all eat roti, okay? But he said, if you see the lower half, Northeast India, Kerala, Orissa, Bengal, what do we eat? We eat rice. So he was making me see the whole research from a bigger perspective. And he said that cultural similarity extends, okay? So if you see the wheat, the upper half, it goes up to fertile crescent. Fertile crescent, money, all this Iran up to this area, okay, this is called fertile crescent. And he said, if you see the lower half rice eating bell, it extends up to Southeast Asia, cultural similarity. See, we have teres cultivation, see? Our food habits are same. Most of these lower half eat dog meat. Somebody you're laughing, but we eat cow. Most of us eat cow. This is very interesting. So he said, look from that perspective, he said. And he said, there's lots of cultural similarities that extend up to Southeast Asia. So he was actually challenging me and making me see the whole research approach from a very different light. And this is one hypothesis he gave me. He said, and this is, I think, I wish somebody from Texas College can prove that. He said that if you actually look into the beliefs and the religious dynamics, he said that the wheat eating, in the wheat eating zone, male deities dominate. So to me, gods are mostly male. And he said, if you come to the rice eating, what dominates female deities? You have concept of your Durga and Kali and this and that goddess, you know? So this was a very interesting, fascinating dimension that I started learning when I began to pick up archeology, okay? So are you getting what I'm saying? This is the whole way of looking at research, right? That is how we conceptualize. So interestingly, what I learned is that from, as an ethnographer, I learned something called inductive approach. Please write it down. Inductive approach, it is also known as inductive method. Inductive money, inductive means I'm starting small and then slowly I'm proceeding, adding to that, you know? That is something called inductive method. So in order to build theories, in order to come to a particular understanding of any social or cultural phenomenon, it can be any topic, okay? Our HOD is, your topic is on women entrepreneurs of Nagaland, yeah. So for an inductive method, what she can do, she can study perhaps, you're taking Dimapur? She can take case of Dimapur and slowly she can go to Dwayngsang, Ziniboto, Kohima and go to Assam, that is how inductive method works, okay? So as an ethnographer, that is how, you know, I was taught inductive method. But looking at Indian society from, largely from, as an archeologist, what I learned from my supervisor, my other professor is that I learned something called deductive approach. Please understand that. Deductive. I already have a model and from there I'm coming down to some conclusion. You're getting my point, okay? So that is how, you know like, this is very interesting. How as researchers we look at this board, inductive and deductive method, okay? And mind you, what notice India lacks, what Nagaland University, Nehu or for that matter, even my university, Debrugger, what we all lack is, we lack deductive approach. Deductive. Because most of us, and this is a huge concern, okay? See, you are free to challenge me, you are free to ask questions and you are free to say that, you know, openly give your comments and observations, but what notice India lacks is deductive approach, okay? Because all of us are so focused about I'm particularly, I'm studying Semanagas or somebody is studying Angami Nagas, somebody is studying about Aonagas. Small, small communities or this and that. What notice India lacks is this whole deductive approach. Okay, this seems to be like for a researcher, for somebody who's trying to understand notice India, this deductive approach seems to be missing, okay? And I'm just coming to why it is important is this. Why deductive approach, okay? Why deductive approach seems to be missing is because I think what notice India lacks is new, it is a new conceptualization, new way of, please write, new way of conceptualizing the region. Conceptualizations are very, very important. How many of you are aware of this book called The Art of Not Being Governed? Please write down. When has the author, The Art of Not Being Governed? 10 rupees, if you can tell. James Scott, okay? Why James Scott concept of Zomia is so famous because he tries to locate the whole Southeast Asia, Northeast, and even going up to this Northwestern Bombay is one bigger cultural zone, that is a deductive approach. See, so that means he talks about Zomia. I mean like how Nagas and Kachins and we are all stateless society. You're getting my point. So this is a very, very new way of looking at society and culture. James Scott, please, I highly recommend this book. Very controversial, okay? Lots of debates are being generated that tell your teachers to ask your principal to get some copies for you. I'm sure there is, but The Art of Not Being Governed, it's an excellent book, okay? To conceptualize, notice India or to conceptualize the whole Indo-Myanmar border. Very, very good literature, okay? That everybody should read. So that is the whole approach. So see, what is happening, and I'm telling again and again is that why conceptualizations are important because if you cannot conceptualize a region or a topic properly, your methods won't work properly. Conceptualizing a topic, research topic is very, very important. Please bear that in mind, okay? So it's very unfortunate because this is something, even in my university, what happens to students is they just conceptualize their PhD thesis in one, two weeks. And I think that should not happen. Conceptualizing research topic or conceptualizing concepts, I think it's minimum, I said it, minimum take at least three to four months. Think, rethink, you know? Because it is your conceptualization that is going to lead you further into what kind of methods you are going to employ, okay? Am I being a little bit, are you following me, what I'm saying? Okay, it is going to decide what kind of methods you are going to use, okay? It is going to decide, it is going to decide what kind of outcomes you are going to have. So conceptualizing a topic, or let's say if you want to study, notice India or Nagaland, think of new ways and conceptualize Nagaland. How do we conceptualize Nagaland? Same old thing. 16 tribes, our Angami Semasi, that's it. Always, we say, our Angami, that's it. But can we conceptualize new way of looking at Nagaland? Guys, are you following me? Bujipaba, you know? Bujias, you know? See, for instance, Semas, we tell, okay? Semas, Semakan, you go ahead. Semakan, go ahead, this is a very old saying among the Semas. Our neighbors know more about ourselves than we do about ourselves. See, very interesting. Our neighbors know about me more than I know about myself. You're getting my point. And similarly, you see, one of the American machineries by the name Ola Hansen, the first, one of the first machinery who went to the Kachins, he said, okay, he said, that was sometime in the first part of the 20th century somewhere between 1908 and 1909. He said, this is, he said, there seems to be a lot of similarity between the Kachins, the Nagas, see, the Shans, the Chins, the Cookies. You're getting my point. There seems to be a lot of similarities between these. And then, say, even today, I think we are not really introspecting on that. You're getting what I'm saying. So what has to be done is, in order to understand ourselves, conceptualizing Nagas from a new perspective, we have to know how the Chins understands us. Are you getting what I'm saying? Because as people who are trying to understand Nagalin, we are particularly focused on Nagalin. But we have to go a little bit beyond the border and see, because Kachins have a lot of interesting stories about us. Yesterday, I was meeting one Meite student in NIT, and he told me, he said that, all my parents used to tell me that Meite's and Nagas and Cookies are brothers. And he goes on to say that, lots of interesting stories about that. Are you getting my point? So I think that is how, what I'm actually trying to tell you is that we have to conceptualize Nagalin from a little bit broader perspective. Go beyond that. Little bit go beyond that. See how other communities, and in order to do that, I think that is where this whole question of interdisciplinary approach becomes very, very significant. Are you following what I'm saying? I'm a little bit worried that I'm boring you guys, but this, let's see, please try to understand this. Treaty of Yandabo, 1826, right? I mean, all of us know about, the whole question of North East India, history of one of the important landmarks about North East India starts from 1826, okay? Treaty of Yandabo. How British defeated the Burmese kingdom, and how they annexed Assam, okay? So even today, I mean like, I mean, just look at this. I've come across so many writings on this whole Assam-Burma relations, okay? Or this whole Anglo-Burmese relations. But something that I've observed time and again and again from the scholars of North East India is that we always go with the British records. We always go with the Indian records. But there's a very interesting record from the Burmese court called Wesa-Lisa. How many of you are aware of that? Wesa-Lisa. There's something called, please write it down. Check it out, okay? If you don't have a copy, I'll try to send it. Maybe it's a very rare book. W-E-E-I, those of you are interested in noticing that you should know this book, okay? Wesa-Lisa. W-E-I-S-Wesa-S-A-L-L-I-S-A, Wesa-Lisa, okay? So what, Wesa-Lisa, and see for me as a scholar trying to understand North East India, when I started reading, because for 20, 30 years I've been reading the Indian records. I've been reading British records, going as far as UK and the US and then digging up the archives. But when I actually went to Burma, I came across this document, Wesa-Lisa. And just as we, as people from Assam and India and British are talking about how this whole and global Burmese war happened, even the Burmese behave their own record, okay? And when I started seeing North East India, the Burmese invasion of North East India from a very different perspective, actually it actually opened a lot of new questions about the whole Burmese-Assamese relation. You're getting my point. I mean one of the interesting things that I came across is that in Dr. Hazarika, one of the interesting records that I came across is that if you talk to any Assamese scholar, they would say that it was basically the Burmese came and then they completely destroyed and ravaged Upper Assam. But actually the Burmese account says that it is actually the Assamese people themselves did that. So that is a very new way of seeing this whole, how history is being contested. So are you guys, are you getting what I'm saying? I mean like how we see topics from different angle and how this interdisciplinary approach becomes very, very significant and dominant here, okay? That is just, I'm giving one example of that, yeah. So just, please rise up. I think some of you are sleepy. Come, okay, I'm almost done, okay? Take it very informally. Come, come, just rise up a little bit. Come, come, it's okay. Okay, the students came, yeah, yeah. Thank you, yeah, you may be seated. The other dimension that I want to talk about, okay, that is why I don't want this to be up on the YouTube. I want you to learn. I'm here to help you to learn, not, you know. See, guys, please answer. The other dimension that as sociologists, as teachers, we have to understand is this. Please remember this, especially I want to tell this to the teachers. The kind of research methods, the kind of research techniques we are teaching to the students, many at times do not become vocabulary in the field. I'm sure, yeah, learn about it, okay? Because this is, I really want to talk about the exigency of how complex social and cultural research are, the kind of your questionnaire method, your interview method, huh? You're learning about case study. I'm sure you're learning about historical methods. You're learning about genealogy, about schedule, lots of research. You can be really good at that. Memorize it and then write in the exam and get 100 out of 100. But to actually grapple with the complex social and cultural, it actually doesn't work that way. And I'll tell you one example. Before going to the field, me being from Delhi University, we were trained very well in different methods and techniques, okay? If you meet people, how to apply interview method, okay? How to apply focus group discussion, you know? I mean, there's so many techniques and methods we learn. But the field reality is very, very different, okay? Please, as researchers, as students, write it down. Adapt to the field situation. Please write it down, okay? Adapt to the field situation. Because we need to reinvent our methods and techniques when we go to the field. And I'm gonna give you a very good example here. We need to rethink, reinvent, okay? I'm a tribe, hmm, I'm a tribe. For many years, I've been so fascinated by Jagannath Temple. I mean, one of the most famous temple in Puri. I'm a researcher. My friend is also a researcher. She's a Brahmin. She's Acharya. I'm tribal. So according to the caste system, I'm an outcast. You're getting my point. No matter who you are as a researcher, I think your identity, it will get called embodiment, okay? Please remember that this is very important, okay? That this is called embodiment. Because see, we cannot detach ourselves from the whole research endeavor, okay? Next time you invite me, we will talk more about subjectivity and objectivity. I'm not going to that, but remember this. This whole question of embodiment becomes very, very important, okay? So what I'm saying is that your gender, okay? Your religion, your economic background, all these influences the research outcome. It influences what kind of data you're going to get. Have you ever thought about that? Dr. Helwasa must be so, so happy here. She's the boss principle. Enjoying so much, pardon me. If she goes to, you're from which village? Pension, you know? If she goes to her custom records, she might not be allowed even to see them. I'm being very honest. Her status, all her PhD might not work in a custom record setting. Because her gender very much influences that. Are you getting what I'm saying? I'm giving my example of how my identity, me being from a tribal community has influenced the outcome, okay? So one thing you have to understand is that your economic background, your social background, your position, okay? I'll tell you. I've interviewed so many famous Naga personalities, okay? So if I'm going and talking to a, to a villager, hey, hi be, hi be, sit. I can say, nam kia, say, kila bosti. Say, believe me, because by the virtue of me being educated and maybe being more economically sound, I can do that. But what will happen if I go and interview Dr. Sijamir? Yes, sir. I give my point. Oh, he's a high, he's a person. I'm a researcher, see? You're giving my point. So what I'm saying is that that is how position status, okay? Power, these things are very, very much gendered. These are very, very important aspect of any research process, okay? And see, one thing that most researchers notice, I think the mistake that we make is that we think that whatever data pertaining to notice India can be very objective. I think that that is a little bit far-fetched idea. So my argument so far, wherever I go, I've been telling that that we also have to give space that whenever we are studying notice India, especially in social science research, we cannot have a very objective view of society and culture because like I said, our identity, our who we are at very much outcome, plays an outcome. Who's any Angami here? Angami, no? I'm just, let me break. I'm writing a, my next work is on the biography of Ezad Pizzo. Me as a Sema, if I'm writing about Ezad Pizzo, I might not be a little bit, you know, by the virtue of me being Sema and I have my own historical reasons and my parents or my uncles were involved in the whole Naga nationalism. So I might not be very, very generous in my description of Ezad Pizzo. But you as an Angami, I mean, he's taken to be the father of the nation. I mean, it's so dangerous to say something wrong against me. You're getting my point. Angamis can summon you to the court and then chase you out from here and there. That kind of thing. You're getting my point. So even, see, I'm just giving an example of even writing biographies of famous people. Your ethnic affiliation, your gender or where you belong, I think that very much matters, okay? So one thing, see, why scholars from North East India have to be, I'm almost done, okay? Why scholars from North East India have to be very, very particular about how North East is being represented is because for so long, outsiders are representing us. Are you getting what I'm saying? Are you getting what I'm saying? What you are learning about North East India is, because I'm saying this, he might be from Harvard or Cambridge, but he's not just a Harvard or Cambridge product. He's a man, he belongs to certain castes. She belongs to a certain family. She belongs to a certain ethnic community. And that is really going to decide or influence the outcome of how North East is going to be represented. How many of you know that in the research, a recent book published on Nagaland, NCRT, do you know what is the language spoken in Nagaland? This, you imagine, NCRT textbook written by two people from North India, languages spoken in Nagaland are Hindi, Nepali, and Bengali. Are you getting what I'm saying? So what I'm saying is that this whole question of how we represent or who is representing us, who is writing about us plays a very, very important, very, very vital role. This is one thing that you have to understand. And similarly, vice versa. One of the reasons which a person like me, I call myself as an auto ethnographer. Auto ethnographer mane, auto ethnography mane, this is when a person goes back and study his own society, okay? You're getting my point. So you as a lotah or as a semah or an angami, when you go and start studying your own society, researching your own study community, this is not, you're an auto ethnographer, okay? New term, okay? We can have more talks maybe next time about the whole question of how to do auto ethnography. That is a different question altogether, okay? But one of the mistakes that auto ethnographer, especially when we are writing about North East India, whether it's Trikura, Assam or whoever, we think that whenever we are writing about North East India, what we are writing is the accurate one. I think that that comes with a huge amount of arrogance. See, I'm being very honest here. Please don't mind. As native researchers, as a Naga studying Naga society, listen carefully. There are certain perspectives I might have better, okay? I can have a better perspective. But me as an individual, with just three and a half pound brand, with lots of cultural, social interconnection, I cannot have an accurate description of my people or the region. You're getting what I'm saying, okay? Because I've realized in my research what I consider to be of no importance. I think, hey, this topic or this social process might not be very important. Let me just neglect it. Other finds that very interesting. And then they're coming up with very interesting finding because he's an outsider and he's seeing my society from a very different lens. You're getting my point, okay? So remember this. Please write this down. Everyone, as researchers, we have different vantage point. Okay, this is the original idea I'm giving you. Vantage point, V-A-N-T-A-G-E-P-O-I-N-T. Dr. Hewasa, as a researcher, you know, as a principal, as a Rehman Agar, as a mother, as a daughter, as a woman, will have a different vantage point than me, Kanato, from Ziniboto, raised in a small town in Ziniboto in a very patriarchal setting. So I mean like, we are going to have a different vantage point. Are you getting my point? No, even if we are applying the same methods, same to same, reading the same book, being taught by the same teacher, vantage point differs, okay? And I think this is one very important point which researchers from North East India should acknowledge, okay? We cannot have complete authority because this melding of ideas, this fusing of ideas, okay? This exchange of ideas across disciplines has to happen, okay? So whatever sociologists are saying cannot be the complete truth. But this whole, I think as researchers, seeing from a rather very big broader perspective and then having this interdisciplinary approach, I think that is how we are going to have a better understanding of our subject and the topic that we are researching, okay? That is the thing. How many minutes have I taken? Can I take more? Yeah. I talk for living, okay? So I can talk all day, huh? As long as you give me a cup of coffee, I can take all day, okay? So, I think that's a very important point So these are things, okay? I'm sure there will be lots of questions. I'll take your questions, but the last thing I want to tell you is that in the beginning, I said we need to have new conceptualization. I mean, how to conceptualize, notice as a region. So can anybody tell me, just feel free, how do you, is there any new way to conceptualize notice India? How do we conceptualize? Dr. Hazareka, please help me here. How have we been understanding notice India so far? What is our, like just talk about the general description of notice India? How do we understand notice India? Some parameters, think, think, notice India. Let's say if I have to ask you, describe notice India as a sociologist, no? How do you describe it? Tell me, it's okay. Anybody here, I'll give 10 rupees, anybody? Anybody, student, anybody? See, it's okay, feel free. I'm not here to judge you or anything. Come, come, let's talk. Anybody, notice India, okay? As a student of sociology, as a social science student, all right, understanding notice India. How would you, how would you define notice India? Or how do you understand notice India? Come, come, feel parameters, give me, tell me about notice India. What do you understand about notice India? Hmm? It's okay, come, come, speak up. If you wish, I, don't do, you don't want to talk to me. Help me out. So far, when we look at notice India, what is state and what is people and different? Different, mainstream, okay. When we look at notice in that program, we always concentrate on the future, on the culture, on food and happiness. Could have been, okay. That's interesting. That's the same thing, we talk about seven sisters or eight, one brother, right? You're, see, that's what we do. Thank you, thank you for that. See, I think notice India has to be conceptualized. Rather, we need to bring new innovative conceptualization, theorization. I'm giving an example. So, just coming back to earlier what I said. See, what my teacher told me about the diagonally dividing India, no? What he was trying to tell me is that, is that notice India is not different from other parts of India. You're getting my point. So when we see notice with a new conceptualization, he's saying that, okay, you eat fish. He, as a Bengali, eat fish. Culture similarities. You eat rice, I eat rice. You're getting my point. See, so, I mean like, so when you begin to conceptualize notice from a different angle, new findings are emerging. You're getting my point. So that, that's how just, I'm just giving a very basic example of how conceptualization. See, one way that I am conceptualizing notice India is seeing notice India as a people between two rivers. Chinwin in Burma. You can steal my idea, okay? Most welcome. Chinwin in Burma and Brahmaputri in Assamdini. Lots of similarities. We have lots of, lots of cultural exchange. See, because, I mean like, it's very interesting. When we begin to conceptualize notice India, just let me give an example of Naga people. We always say that we were isolated, we were in the jungle, you know, and we were, we were different from others. But I mean like, when you begin to have new conceptualization, new findings are emerging. So for one instance, there are lots of historical evidence to show that, that the Ahom people and us, lots of cultural exchanges, lots of similarities. You're getting my point. When you begin to see notice India from a far, just give me an example of Nagaland from a different light. We say that there was no trade route. One very ancient trade route runs from Dhimapur. I'm giving an example. Here that you have that Kachari, that one, no? From here goes to Jaluke, from Jaluke goes up to all this Benru village and goes down to Infa. 500, 600 years of trade route. And where did I find that? I found that this for my native friends. You're getting my point. So I think that is how, no, we really tend to have new conceptual, and I'm just giving an example of how to conceptualize notice India. And this is one reason, one of the new conceptualization that I'm trying to actually bring in to understand notice India. Burma, between Chinwin and Ramputra River. Because if you actually look into the whole dispersal of Naga population, whether it is in Arunachal or Assam or Nagaland or Manipur, we all live between these two important rivers. And these two important rivers have shaped our cultural history. It has shaped our migration behavior. It has shaped our food habits. It has shaped how we adapt to the environment. Are you getting what I'm saying? Okay, so I think this is, say I'm just giving an example of how to actually conceptualize notice India from a different light. The last thing is that if when you go through my book, one of the new conceptual, one of the theoretical approaches that I brought was something called Baptist Highland. Dr. Lawina, have you gone through that Baptist Highland? So Baptist Highland in Baptist Highland in this new way of seeing notice India, in this new way of seeing the Indo-Myanmar border, what I have done is I've constructed a model called Baptist Highland. So if you see the whole India-Berma international border, it's about 1,600 kilometers, okay? So between India and Burma. And if you see Kachins and Nagas and Chins, okay? We occupy this Highland. And one thing that is common to all of us is that we are all practitioners of Baptist faith, okay? We were all evangelized by American Baptist Machinists, okay? And when we actually begin to see this whole region as one, one, all this historical geopolitical space, lots of similarities, as far as our understanding of, this nationalism is concerned, as far as our understanding of culture is concerned, like our understanding of our approaches to state is concerned. Lots of similarities, okay? Between Kachins and Nagas and Chins, right? So I think one thing that I want to tell each one of us here is that yes, good, definitely what I want to conclude is, please learn about methods, very, very important, okay? Part and parcel of any discipline, learn about it, get well adept at it. But what I want to challenge students, I'm very sure I'm talking to the best and the brightest mind in Nagaland, is that think of new ways, think of new conceptualization, think of broader conceptualization that you can bring to North East India, okay? Dr. Hazarika, I think it's time, Asami scholars stop looking at gengetic play, because all our conceptualization is that your caste system, your vegetarianism, everything comes from there, but remember this, that majority of North Eastern communities, we trace our migration to Mekong, Jinwin, Irawadi, and Sampok. We are all from that side. You as an Ahom, you are from Salwin. So I think instead of looking at the gengetic plane and having new cultural understanding, I think it's time we look the other side. You're kidding my point. So this is one way of actually looking at North East India, okay? So methods are good, interestingly, I like, we should learn about it, but having bigger models and bigger way of looking at North East India. I think this is going to answer a lot of questions and also bring maybe bring new light and infuse new light into the whole research and the ever in North East India, okay? So thank you so much for listening patiently. Yeah. Thank you. I have lots, second part, okay? First part is over. You invite me next time. Okay, continue with the second part, okay? Okay, one more? We can have a question, question now. He's a revolutionist in the academia. That's why he is also not so keen to share his talks. We can understand that. He's actually a very busy person and we were able to have him join us today only because of his genuine concern for our young Naga students. And we are so thankful that as he has been sharing, he is one of the few scholars who have been revolutionizing the way of researching and understanding Nordic and tribal communities in particular. And I'm very certain that the way that he presented to us today so lucidly and in a very covering all the aspects of methodological approaches, not just the students, but even the teachers, your sharing with us has really helped us look at different ways of understanding Nordic and doing research in particular. So we thank you so much for that. We will have the questions anyone can ask. Ask as many questions as possible. Even faculty are most welcome. It's okay. I'm sure you know most of the, if you have anything, something related to your research, you want to know and all, most welcome to do that. I rarely come to the map though, okay, so. Do you want to go to the research articles? Just in high-risk, I think you can share with us what are the challenges of doing a deep dive and how to find the skills and the strategy. All of you, you can just highlight some of the challenges. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I think that what you're trying to ask is something which I'm sure your students are aware of. I'm so tired of this perspective of etiquette in me, you know? You're aware of that, etiquette perspective and etiquette perspective. Yeah, I think as researchers, I think the two-liner, this is a little bit very technical, which most of the students might be. Yeah, yeah, but yeah. Is that this, there's a very interesting book, I mean, which I feel is like the Bible for people like me, I'm an interpretiveist, my researches, my writings are more literary, I look at that way. Is that one of the books that I almost take it like a Bible for me is something called Writing Culture. Please write that book, that's a very fascinating book. And we saw, I think this is one book that actually really, really transformed sociology and social anthropology. But this question of objectivity and subjectivity was going on for such a long time. So it's called Writing Culture, Marcus and V. Fert, okay, Writing Culture. I have a copy, I think if you guys want to go, I think I'm most welcome to do that. So what Writing Culture, V, is going beyond this whole dichotomy of insider versus outsider writing culture, and there's another book which was published, it's called Anthropology as a Culture Critic, I think you can also look into that, very important for sociologists also. But see, what happened is that, in this particular book, why this whole change basically, even going beyond the attic and the dichotomy is that this book, with the publishing of this book, there was a crisis in social sciences, okay, 80s. We had to do it at the time, and slowly we were holding modern social science research, more objective, and then after that it became post-modern, okay, so many social scientists say that this whole 1980s, with the publishing of Writing Culture was a deciding factor of moving to this whole post-modern research or post-modern autobiography, for me as an anthropologist, is that this whole 1980s, there was something called Crisis of Representation. This writing of Crisis of Representation. Who is the research, Crisis of Representation, my name, who is the researcher trying to represent? Are you trying to represent yourself? Are you trying to represent your community, or are you trying to represent your gender, okay? And remember this, if you read works of people like Iwa Om, these are like very famous sociologists, social anthropologists, I mean even the question of, because see, if you look into the whole writing, so what is J.P. Mills, Au Nagas, J.Harten, Sema Nagas, J.P. Mills, Rayman Nagas, these are all male perspective representation. And so see what happens in the 1980s is that this whole question of who the researcher is trying to represent, I think that really changed the whole dynamic, so yes, coming to your question, insider and outsider is yes, very important, but I think post-modern research has gone beyond that, because we are not seeing researchers, not just as an insider, as an outsider, but we are saying that a researcher is invested with multiple identities. Please write them, researchers are invested with multiple identities. We are multiple identities, we occupy multiple roles, we occupy multiple social positions. Dr. Hewasa is a principal here, when she goes back to her house, she's a mother, she's going to, I'm sure she cooks for her husband. You do that, sometimes. Why? So as an aga, my interest must represent this. You're giving my point, so see different roles. So even for a researcher, the multiple roles and the multiple identities we occupy plays a very important role. Dr. Hazarika is agreeing with me, and a home, male, he belongs to a little bit dominant community. A homes are, you know, gundas. And asap, okay? Just joking. They are a very dominant community. So I think even you belong to that particular community, go to decide the outcome of the research. So yes, insider, outsider, very much. And I think till up to 1980s, this was the whole debate. If you read works of people like Robert Redfield, even for that matter, this whole question of verse 10, which Max Weber talks about, you know, that insider, subjective, perspective, it was all based on the dichotomy of insider versus outsider. But I think after the 1980s, we have started to look at research, especially the researcher, as invested with multiple identities. So that means it's not just only you are, whether you are a SEMA and as an outsider going and studying Angami society, that is not the case. But you as a low enough, you belong to a certain family. You have certain family history. You belong to a particular gender. You belong to a particular clan. No. So if researchers, listen to me very carefully, if researchers fail to understand that our researchers can go wrong. Because we cannot just look at researchers from this whole dichotomy of outsider and insider. Are you for so long? And even today, I think many researchers think that, that research is basically, I'm an outsider. I'm going and studying somebody or I'm an insider and studying. But I think we have to write or navigate our research work, our data collection or how we describe or how we are representing people based on this multiple identities. Please remember that, okay? So go view that, see you as a researcher invested with multiple identities. I think that is how to proceed the research. Very interesting question. You're just saying what I'm saying. Good. How are you? Exploit me, okay? I really can't get to the end of it. Can I? Please say something. I have two questions, but I'll just ask one for the sake of time. What is your thought? What is your take on the decolonial approach? The decolonial approach of research, especially in the context of its appropriation by certain ideological frameworks. Okay. For example, in Indian context, there's a decolonial approach, especially for indigenous communities. But there is also an appropriation which is happening by the supremacist ideology. What is your take on as a researcher, how do you address this? Yeah, so what Dr. Hazarika is talking about is basically coming from a perspective for post-colonial theory. This is a post-colonial theory. I think some of you should pick up a book by Lila Gandhi, very interesting. Or pick up a book by, I think you should pick up a book by Guy B. Spindak, which I'm going to speak. I think it really works. Very interesting question. Just come over there. So Dr. Hazarika, it's coming from this whole question of post-colonial theory. So what the question is asking is that how countries like India or Burma, or for that matter, even South African countries, I think Algeria is a very, very important example. France, Finland, and this really is work. It is a very interesting scholar for France, Finland, okay? I'm giving you also names of France, if they are NTSF, they are important, okay? We have to read Guy Spindak, Desma Bonshini, France, Finland, okay? So he's asking about this whole decolonization. So one very interesting book called The E-colonizing Methodology, I think we should take it from the R&D aspect. Yeah, yeah. So I think that came from New Zealand, okay? So as far as this whole decolonization is concerned, I think basically so far the post-colonial theories have been looking, let me really extract here, but looking from the perspective of power, power is not very important in the book. So actually they're trying to break down the power structure that West is better than us and how they see us and seeing us as savages. I mean, not of this representation. Interesting, you know, Semana does, if you read any Semal girl here, please read it, I'm going to give you a very good description of Semana. Here, if you read Judge Hatton's book now, don't laugh at them all. Judge Hatton says that among Semas, Aglimesis is the one. Semal women, Hatton says that all the Semal women are Aglimesis. I think that is a very imposition of how the West see you. I mean, if Semas, we talk about Aglimesis, how many of you know about Aglimesis? We say that Semas were so beautiful that even the heavenly beings used to come and marry us. That's not what you're doing. No, that's our story. But if you actually read the words of Judge Hatton, I think she says that all Semal women are Aglimesis. She says that, I know women are powerful, you know. Very interesting. I mean, interestingly, if you read Jeppe Mille's book, I mean, to be honest, it's a great book. Jeppe Mille says that all the Aglimesis are lose characters. I mean, who is he to say that our beautiful, nice, our women are lose characters? Would you mind that? So I think it's something like that, in terms of how representation, how power, and how easy it is. That is one way of actually looking at this. The other thing about this whole about this whole decolonization of ethnic communities that are of late, of late, people are saying that many of the conceptual, theoretical developments that is being developed in the West do not apply to us. I mean, that is what where African and Asian feminists are saying that we don't want Western feminists speaking for us. That is what Arab women are saying. I mean, listen carefully, I'm talking a lot, but for an Arab woman, this West might say that wedding a hijab, okay? You might be, really, or not really. Wedding a hijab is a form of oppression. But if you talk to an Arab feminist, she says, and that's empowering. That talks about our purity and that. You're kidding my point. So, see, this question of how the West is representing us through literature and this and that. I think this has to be challenged. I think that's how, for me, researchers are saying that very interestingly, Edward Seidt, Orientalism, okay, please write his book called Edward Seidt, Orientalism. I think that, coming from literature, I think that really changed the whole way of how the Western people have been constructing Orientalism, okay, past and Indians and people in the East. So, it's a thick book, but I think if any students who are in literature, I think you guys should do that. It's a thick book. Orientalism, okay. But interestingly, I mean, there's a new development and see, because we cannot, every, listen to me carefully, because every theory or every methodology or every conceptualization has its inherent weakness. So, there's a group of scholars from the West and there's a whole movement called Occidentalism, okay. You know, Orientalism, okay, or CCI, they're there, so it's something called Occidentalism. So, even they are saying that, no, no, no, it is not only the West who is giving a wrong representation of the East, but these scholars are saying that even we in the East are giving wrong representation of the West. Very interestingly, okay. For instance, people especially from East we think that we are more in between the West, you know, that we are, we are, and we are, you know, more like family oriented, while the West are loose people, loose character, that kind of thing. So, I mean, even the West are saying that it is not only us, but they are seeing it in heaven with this, especially in the writings of people like Diabrists, you know. Well, very nice of you, since you're asked. One of the biggest critique of Diabrists' movement is this, especially the Western scholars are saying that Gaitis Pivak uses, especially in India. Okay, this India as a model or India as an example to theorize about the whole post-colonial movement. So, Western scholars are saying it's like, it's wrong, because India is so diverse, you know. So, you can just, especially, Pivak uses the Bengal case to talk about, theorize about all India or to theorize about all South Asia. So, India say that there is inherent weakness in the whole equalizing part of the whole chain of the colonization. A lot can be done by, you know, that's what that's going to do. So, three dimensions of significance. Great both sides, you know, how about how India is involved in this? You're unable to catch up. Yeah, please share. What is very important, I think, the question that they asked about, for example, also relates to what is the role of the art in the play in, you know, rethinking India when they end up by questioning and raving, we should change the narrative. Last one. It's okay. And we'll take a close-up. Approach on the methodology that you usually have in mind that it's not really about what is the society. Yeah. Okay. Oh, it depends. Like, see, initially, if you see both of my writings about Nagaland, you know, it's purely ethnographic. It's done a lot of ethnographic work, but in these past five, six years, I've been doing a lot of archiving. So, archiving science is very important, because in order to understand people and places, you need to put them within historical campaigns. I think one of the reasons why there was a Saji Bharuva's book, I mean, like, India Against Itself and Stuff, are very famous is because he's just like any other political scientist or sociologist, but he puts whole notice in India within historical perspective. He knows his history. I think that's one of the reason why that, so for me, it's a mix of, if you see my book, it's a mix of both archived science as well as ethnographic research. So it depends what kind of work you're doing. So if I, when I write about in the Myanmar border, especially with regards to our association with state, I do a lot of historical reports, but when I talk about the current issues about, about the army takeover in 2001, I think that's where ethnography comes in, talk to people, observe, and you know. So it all depends on what kind of topic. So my question is that you have to be at that in different authorities, not just sociology, so you're not sociology, but put a little bit into history. Even to my students here, at least have our, see, don't be just one discipline specialist. My last comment is that even if you're doing sociology, at least get to the basic thing of what is happening in literature. As students of literature, you should know what are the basic concepts of basic development that is happening in a political sense. See, until and unless you do that, none of us are going to survive. Okay, with the whole coming of NEP and jobs are getting scarce. You guys, please remember that I'm being very, but we all miss you. Until and unless I get new, innovative learning of techniques, and I have much broader perspective of going beyond all these parts, we will perish. Okay, so I think that's my advice to you. Thank you. I just want to point out that I think it's a cultural thing in Nagaland where students don't ask questions because we are so used to not speaking when our elders are around. So we are trying to break this trend, but we are still in the initial stage. And I don't think it's because they didn't catch up or they don't have questions, but I feel that it's because of this cultural, something that we have been so conditioned to that our students are struggling to break out of this. Anyway, I want to add that I first met, I mean, I first heard Dr. Kanato speak, sometimes back in 2009, 10, and his talk changed the way I looked at Naga history itself. And I'm sure that what he has shared with us today has influenced all of you to re-understand and re-value and whether it comes to valuing our culture, whether it comes to understanding our society or doing research, I'm sure that his talk has really had an impact on all of you. Now with this, I would now like to give the time to Siddhid Hazarika for the word of thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you all enjoyed this very informative lecture today. I'm Siddhid Hazarika and I'm an assistant professor at the sociology department. And it is my honor and privilege to propose a vote of thanks to all those who helped make this seminar very successful. So on behalf of the department of sociology and the entire fraternity of the Tech Show College, I first of all extend my most sincere gratitude to our invited speaker, Dr. G. Kanato Chofi. Dr. Chofi, thank you for gracing this seminar and for delivering the most illuminating lecture. We had an opportunity today to hear your thoughts on research and I'm sure this will help many present here, in their pursuit of knowledge, more particularly in social research, in terms of methodological practices and the need for new conceptual routes to approach noticed India. I thank our college principal, Dr. Havasah Elkhin for the welcome address and for her constant support for this program. I also thank our college director, Kulalorin, for his constant support and encouragement throughout the entire programming of this seminar. Any program like this would not be possible without the support of the technical and maintenance teams. So I take this opportunity to also thank the IT department and the maintenance department for all your support. But most importantly, I thank the participants of this seminar, students and faculty included. This seminar has been for your sake. For me, personally, there has been many important takeaways from this lecture and I hope you all feel the same. I also thank my department colleagues for the collaborative work in presenting this seminar. And I also have to mention that we have amongst us delegates from the Eastern Christian College. And I thank you all for your presence and participation today. Your presence adds to the success of this seminar. So I may have missed a few mentions, but please consider yourself included in my gratitude. I thank you everyone once again and have a good day. Thank you to Jeff for the wonderful lot of things. And with...