The Lived Reality of Koms (Komrem) in Manipur: An Emerging Political Perspective

This paper attempts to situate the socio political context of Manipur state asviewed from the experience of Koms (Komrem) in Manipur. Northeast region in generaland Manipur state in particular is described by cultural diversity. It is duly classified inthe emerging literature as multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-tribe. The ethnic socialstructure and polity is intrinsically shaped by the ecological context of the region fallingwithin a larger part of the South East Asia. The state building processes in such contexthas had a unique impact on the embedded social reality often not seen in other parts ofthe country. Among other things, ethnic identity politics usually defined within thetheoretical constructs of self determination has emerged as a prominent state generatedsocio political process producing shared and contested boundaries of social interaction.In such a context, historiography, theorization and political ideology, in particular, findconvergence largely within the domain of colonial constructs and western concept ofstate politics fanned by dominant ethnic groups; Meitei, Nagas and Kukis. This paperpositions a political perspective of co-existence and mutual respect based on theexperience of Koms (Komrem); a case for a lived perspective.