International webinar on Naga culture and languages held in Manipur

Dimapur, May 15 (EMN): As part of Makhel lecture series 2021, Asufü Christian Institute Research Cell (ACIRC), Mao-Manipur organised a two-day International webinar on “Naga culture and languages (to understand the history of the Nagas)” on May 12 and 14.

An update informed that specialists of Trans-Himalayan studies from diverse disciplines were invited to discuss their findings with special references to the Nagas. Prof. George van Dreim, who is the chairperson of Historical Linguistics at the University of Berne and directs the Linguistic Institute, was the speaker on May 12. He spoke on ‘Ancestral Home of Naga peoples based on language and Genes’ based on his research findings. He said, “The evidence of language and genes indicates a Tibeto-Burman homeland in the Eastern Himalayan region.

The Naga ancestors already lived in the Indo-Burmese hill tracts”. Dr. Jelle J P Wouters, a social anthropologist, who teaches in the department of Social Sciences at Royal Thimphu College, Bhutan spoke on the topic, ‘Thinking through Naga origin and migration stories’ on May 14. He noted that Naga history is “sufficiently wide, long and deep to accommodate a multitude of origin and migration stories”. Dr. Wouters subsequently discussed various approaches on the topic, “e
mphasising the crucial importance of oral history in the study of Naga history”.

It stated that the webinar imparted thorough insights and interesting facts while participants comprising young scholars, professors and other professions raised queries. Dr. Sahünü, assistant professor department of English, Asufü Christian Institute chaired the webinar.

It informed that ACIRC’s initiative of Makhel series is named after ‘Makhel’ based on folklores as many Naga tribes accept ‘Makhel’ to be their final settlement, before they moved to their present villages. The location ‘Makhel’ as part of the series is at Makhel village, Senapati Manipur. The main aim of the lecture series is to understand the history of the Nagas and to create an avenue particularly for students and young scholars to initiate discourse on the history of Nagas on different perspectives. This lecture series will be continued in the coming days, it added.