Contextualizing Cultural Identity for Integration and Manipur Experience

Abstract

Some common terms which are in vogue in the definitions of 'culture' or 'cultural identities' are contextualized with the experiences of different communities of Manipur. The paper then discusses various historical and contemporary social, political, and religious experiences of the people and how these experiences affected contemporary societies in Manipur. The different cultural identities practiced by hill tribes and the plain caste which could be integrated to achieve both political and economic ends through embodiment of the experiences are also discussed. In the process of the discussion, the political system of the State that underplays common cultural formation is unavoidable, in the perspective of the paper, and is thus discussed.