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Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands
This chapter is in the book Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands
1FieldA signboard at the Bhalukpong check point at the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh inter-state border reads ‘Arunachal Pradesh: The Unexplored Pa rad i se’.12 Located in Northeast India, Arunachal Pradesh comprises sixteen districts, of which Tawang and West Kameng districts form the western f lank.13 Often described as terraincognita or no-man’s-land, Arunachal Pradesh has a relatively low population density of 17 per sq. km., compared to the countrywide average of 382 per sq. km. (Batt 2011). However, the region has always been home to populations described in various literatures as ‘hill tribes’ (Barpujari 1970) or ‘highlanders’ (Furer-Haimendorf 1982). Rather than being a description of actual places, therefore, the term ‘unexplored paradise’ is a projection or, like the fabled Orient (Said 1978), a discursive construction that has the magical quality of expunging past histories and networks through a romantic, uniform, and static vision of space.What is often forgotten in the use of such terms is that they are rarely indigenously deployed but are instead designations bestowed by external forces. The epitaph of ‘unexplored paradise’ given to Arunachal Pradesh, while invoked for its tourist appeal, encodes the asymmetrical power rela-tions in which Arunachalis f ind themselves vis-a-vis the contemporary Indian nation. Its use highlights both the marginal status of this state in the national imagination and its contrast to developed, metropolitan, industrial centers such as Mumbai, often described in popular parlance as a ‘teeming metropolis’. This image of a remote frontier attaches to all parts of Arunachal Pradesh, including Monyul, relegating to the background the latter’s peculiar history that has returned to inf luence its present politics.Monyul and North East IndiaIn pre-colonial times, the areas now comprising Arunachal Pradesh, except for Tibetan-ruled Tawang and West Kameng, were never formally part of any 12The term ‘unexplored paradise’, indicating pristine territory waiting to be discovered, is often used in relation to all of Northeast India in tourist brochures, particularly Arunachal Pradesh.13From west to east, the sixteen districts of Arunachal Pradesh are Tawang, West Kameng, East Kameng, Papumpare, Kurungkumey, Upper Subansiri, Lower Subansiri, West Siang, East Siang, Upper Siang, Dibang Valley, Lower Dibang Valley, Anjaw, Lohit, Changlang, and Tirap.
© 2020 Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam

1FieldA signboard at the Bhalukpong check point at the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh inter-state border reads ‘Arunachal Pradesh: The Unexplored Pa rad i se’.12 Located in Northeast India, Arunachal Pradesh comprises sixteen districts, of which Tawang and West Kameng districts form the western f lank.13 Often described as terraincognita or no-man’s-land, Arunachal Pradesh has a relatively low population density of 17 per sq. km., compared to the countrywide average of 382 per sq. km. (Batt 2011). However, the region has always been home to populations described in various literatures as ‘hill tribes’ (Barpujari 1970) or ‘highlanders’ (Furer-Haimendorf 1982). Rather than being a description of actual places, therefore, the term ‘unexplored paradise’ is a projection or, like the fabled Orient (Said 1978), a discursive construction that has the magical quality of expunging past histories and networks through a romantic, uniform, and static vision of space.What is often forgotten in the use of such terms is that they are rarely indigenously deployed but are instead designations bestowed by external forces. The epitaph of ‘unexplored paradise’ given to Arunachal Pradesh, while invoked for its tourist appeal, encodes the asymmetrical power rela-tions in which Arunachalis f ind themselves vis-a-vis the contemporary Indian nation. Its use highlights both the marginal status of this state in the national imagination and its contrast to developed, metropolitan, industrial centers such as Mumbai, often described in popular parlance as a ‘teeming metropolis’. This image of a remote frontier attaches to all parts of Arunachal Pradesh, including Monyul, relegating to the background the latter’s peculiar history that has returned to inf luence its present politics.Monyul and North East IndiaIn pre-colonial times, the areas now comprising Arunachal Pradesh, except for Tibetan-ruled Tawang and West Kameng, were never formally part of any 12The term ‘unexplored paradise’, indicating pristine territory waiting to be discovered, is often used in relation to all of Northeast India in tourist brochures, particularly Arunachal Pradesh.13From west to east, the sixteen districts of Arunachal Pradesh are Tawang, West Kameng, East Kameng, Papumpare, Kurungkumey, Upper Subansiri, Lower Subansiri, West Siang, East Siang, Upper Siang, Dibang Valley, Lower Dibang Valley, Anjaw, Lohit, Changlang, and Tirap.
© 2020 Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter 1
  2. Table of Contents 5
  3. List of Figures 6
  4. Acknowledgements 9
  5. Introduction: Imagined Places 13
  6. 1 Field 45
  7. 2 Locality 67
  8. 3 Connections 107
  9. 4 Periphery 137
  10. 5 Region 167
  11. Conclusion: Corridors, Networks, and Nodes 201
  12. Bibliography 221
  13. Index 243
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048541881-004

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter 1
  2. Table of Contents 5
  3. List of Figures 6
  4. Acknowledgements 9
  5. Introduction: Imagined Places 13
  6. 1 Field 45
  7. 2 Locality 67
  8. 3 Connections 107
  9. 4 Periphery 137
  10. 5 Region 167
  11. Conclusion: Corridors, Networks, and Nodes 201
  12. Bibliography 221
  13. Index 243
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