Yengkhom Jilangamba's research interest area has been primarily the question of territorialities and identities. He engages with the period from the early nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. The geographical focus of his research has been on what is today called the North-East of India. While he takes this as a geographical unit in the contemporary period that has become a meaningful category, he is also interested in its histories. Therefore, he begins from a period when there was no such territorial unit. In that sense, the area he is looking at moves beyond the post-colonial national boundaries of India, Bangladesh, Burma. Such an approach allows for interrogating what is commonly taken to be hardened/ given categories such as nation, border, sovereignty, nationality, capitalism, colonialism, legacies of colonial anthropological knowledge, collective identity formation, self-determination, indigeneity, etc.

In exploring these issues, he looks at how each of these categories is mediated by violence. Much of his recent focus has been on understanding and exploring the meanings and experiences of violence. In this regard, his focus has been on developing pedagogical methods that work towards collective forms of building justice and peace.

Currently, he is working on two book projects. One is on the intersection between territory and violence, focusing on the North-East of India during the nineteenth century. The second project looks at ecology, indigeneity, self-determination in the light of economic and political developments in post-colonial India.

Research articles and book chapters:

‘Frontier Regime and Colonial Rule’, in Neeladri Bhattacharya and Joy Pachuau (eds), Landscape, Culture and Belonging: Writing the History of Northeast India (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2019)

‘In the name of a flyover: Development, Resistance, Politics’, in Bhagat Oinam and Dhiren A. Sadokpam (eds), Northeast India: A Reader (London: Routledge India, 2018)

‘Sharmila and the Forgotten Genealogy of Violence in Manipur’ Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 51, No. 36 (September 2016)

‘Beyond the Ethno-Territorial Binary: Evidencing the Hill and Valley Peoples in Manipur’ South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Vol. 38, No. 2 (2015)

“Beyond ethnicity and territoriality,” Himal Southasian, Vol. 23, No. 7, July 2010

‘Colonialism, Anthropology and History Writing in the Northeast India’, in Chandan Kumar Sarma (ed), Souvenir: North East India History Association (Department of History, Dibrugarh University, 2008)

“A people without history: Colonialism and the historical legacy of ethnic classifications,” Biblio: A Review of Books, Vol. XIII, Nos. 5 & 6, May – June 2008.

“The ‘Priestly’ State: Flyover Development, Politico-aesthetics and Protests in Manipur,” Eastern Quarterly, Vol. 3, Issue II, 2005.

Book reviews:

‘The machinations of empire’, review of Founding an Empire on India’s North-Eastern Frontiers 1790-1840: Climate, Commerce, Polity, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014; On the Edge of Empire: Four British Plans for North East India, 1941-1947 by David R. Syiemlieh, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2014, in Biblio: A Review of Books, Vol. XIX, Nos. 9 & 10, September-October 2014

‘The idea of the Northeast’, review of Looking Back into the Future: Identity & Insurgency in Northeast India by M.S. Prabhakara, New Delhi: Routledge, 2011, in Biblio: A Review of Books, Vol. XVII, Nos. 7 & 8, July-August 2012

“A Flicker in the Darkness,” a book review of Deepti Priya Mehrotra’s, Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur, New Delhi: Penguin, 2009, Tehelka, Vol. 6, Issue 38, September 26, 2009.

“Recurrent Famine and Re-producing Knowledge,” a book review of Sajal Nag’s, Pied Pipers in North-East India: Bamboo-flowers, Rat-famine and the Politics of Philanthropy (1881-2007), New Delhi: Manohar, 2008, Eastern Quarterly, Vol. 5, Issue I, April-June 2008.

Will be updated soon...

Odd semester:

PaCS 02: Understanding Violence [3 credits]

PaCS 15: Case Study of Conflicts from the Global South [4 credits]

Even semester:

PaCS 09: Territory, Border, and Conflict [3 credits]

PaCS 23: Multiculturalism and Minority Rights [2 credits]

BASS Human Rights: Perspectives and Significance (Self-study) [2 credits]

Some of the courses that I have taught in the past include the following: 

BASS History: Nature and Purpose [4 credits]

BASS Insights from Indian History: From 1500 to 1947 AD [4 credits]

BASS The State and the People [4 credits]

M Phil Violence and the Everyday [2 credits]