Effects of the Doctrine of Discovery: A Strive to Build Sustainable and Peaceful Communities in North East India

Abstract

The article analyzes the Doctrine of Discovery, which advocates racial superiority and colonization of indigenous lands. Indigenous people of North East India continually strive for sustainable and peaceful situation. A strong relational bond between the ethnic tribes and the environment is fundamental for self-determination, sustainability, and peace. Consequently, humans bond with land stirs a readiness to sacrifice their lives for their motherland juxtaposed in the precarious context of international boundaries and past colonial annexations. The colonial-influenced literature has molded their ethnic identity. This further leads to an upsurge of emic historical and anthropological perspective writings, framing their history, interaction with the environment, the rise of ethnic consciousness and identity politics. There is a continuous struggle to free themselves from the colonial enslavement of the Doctrine of Discovery that has ultimately encroached on their land and culture.