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³ Albaugh, Dana, Between Two Centuries: A Study of Four Baptist Missions Fields: Assam, South India, Bengal-Orissa and South China (Philadelphia: The Judson Press, 1935), p. 49Google Scholar. With reference to this particular event, Albaugh wrote, ‘. . .Major Jenkins, British Commissioner of the then wild and uncivilized country of Assam, came to feel that some of his barbarous subjects might be in need of a spiritual reformation’.

⁴ West, Andrew, The Most Dangerous Legacy: The Development of Identity, Power and Marginality in the British Transfer to India and the Nagas (Hull: Centre for South-East Asian Studies, 1999)Google Scholar.

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⁶ The political fragmentation of Naga homeland makes it difficult to ascertain their population. For example, the restrictive and politically risky situation in Myanmar prevents anyone from knowing the approximate number of Nagas in that country, let alone an official documentation. So, the total Naga population can only be at best a ‘guess-estimate’.

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¹⁵ Some Naga writers consider this to be the ‘dark period’ in Naga history. See Shikhu, Inato Yekhoto, A Rediscovery and Rebuilding of Naga Cultural Values: An Analytical Approach with Special Reference to Maori as a Colonized and Minority Group of People in New Zealand (New Delhi: Daya Books, 2007), p. 46Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized (Boston: Beacon Press, 1967), p. 79Google Scholar.

¹⁷ Ibid.

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²² Bengal Judicial Proceedings 18(123). This refers to correspondence between two British military officers, Mr Vincent and Mr Butler, dated September 10 1852. Both led military attacks against the Nagas.

²³ Balfour, ‘Presidential Address’, p. 13.

²⁴ Ibid., p. 21.

²⁵ Ibid., p. 17.

²⁶ Tinker, George E., Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993)Google Scholar. Also see, Dharmaraj, J., Colonialism and Christian Mission: Postcolonial Reflections (Delhi: ISPCK, 1999)Google Scholar.

²⁷ Clark, A Corner in India (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1907), p. 15Google Scholar.

²⁸ Ibid., p. 32.

²⁹ Ibid., p. 135.

³⁰ Ibid., p. 45.

³¹ Clark, ‘Gospel Destitution About Assam’, in The Assam Mission of the American Baptist Missionary Union. Papers and Discussions of the Jubilee Conference Held in Nowgong, December 18–29, 1886 (Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1887), pp. 224, 226Google Scholar.

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³³ Alva Curtis Bowers, Under Head-Hunters’ Eyes (Philadelphia: The Judson press, 1929), p. 194Google Scholar. Bowers’ chapter on the Naga Hills, chapter IX, is called ‘A Head-Hunter's Paradise’. Similarly, in Mary Clark's A Corner in India, the third chapter is entitled ‘A Plunge into Barbarism’, which describes the beginning of American Baptist Missions in the Naga Hills in 1872.

³⁴ Clark's letter, ‘Assam’, Baptist Missionary Magazine, (1897), 77: 191Google Scholar.

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³⁷ The concept of modernization did not exist amongst traditional Nagas. It started only when they encountered the West. As such, I use westernization, modernization and progress interchangeably.

³⁸ Bronson (21 December, 1840) in Barpujari, American Missionaries and North-East India, p. 238.

³⁹ Sema, P., British Policy and Administration in Nagaland 1881–1947 (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 1992), p. 67Google Scholar. Because of the fact that the missionary promoted education, we can discuss the inception of education only in tandem with Christianity. The two form an inseparable couplet.

⁴⁰ West, The Most Dangerous Legacy, p. 17.

⁴¹ A. K. Ray, ‘Change: The Law of Life’, in Venuh, Naga Society, p. 13.

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⁴³ Witter, W. E., ‘Wokha’, Baptist Missionary Magazine, (1887), 67: 266Google Scholar. Witter reported that ‘most of the boys [enrolled in mission schools] were employed as servants [by American missionaries]’.

⁴⁴ Ray, ‘Change’, in Venuh, Naga Society, p. 17.

⁴⁵ Kamei, Ganmumei, Ethnicity and Social Change: An Anthology of Essays (Imphal: Akanksha Publishing, 2002), p. 138Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ Deloria, Jr., ‘Knowing and Understanding: Traditional Eduaction in the Modern World’, in Deloria, Barbara, Foehner, Kristen and Scintia, Sam (eds), Spirit and Reason: The Vine Deloria, Jr., Reader, (Golden: Fulcrum Publications, 1999), p. 141Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York; London: Continuum, 2003), p. 72Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ Deloria, Foehner, and Scintia, Spirit and Reason, p. 138.

⁴⁹ Under the mandate known as the Assam Disturbed Area Act, 1955, the government of India effectively drove out the last remaining foreigners, including American missionaries, from the Naga Hills and restricted entry without the Restricted Area Permit (RAP). In 1958, the parliament of India also passed the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958. Both these acts were passed to meet the exigencies of the Naga freedom movement. Despite strong protests for revocation, both acts remain in force to this day.

⁵⁰ Chasie, ‘Nagaland in Transition’, in Sen, Where the Sun Rises, p. 259.

⁵¹ Jamir and Lanunungsang, Naga Society and Culture.

⁵² Smith, The Ao Naga Tribe of Assam, pp. 196–197.

⁵³ I use gerontocracy to refer to the tradition of respecting and valuing the experience, wisdom and instruction of the elders in society and not to any formal government or rule by elders.

⁵⁴ Mills, J. P., ‘The Effects on the Naga Tribes of Assam of Their Contact with Western Civilization’, in Bodley, John (ed.), Tribal Peoples and Development Issues: A Global Overview (Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1988)Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ For an extended study on the problem of unemployment among Nagas, see Kikhi, K., Educated Unemployment Youth in Nagaland: A Sociological Study (New Delhi: Akanksha Publishing, 2006)Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ Mills, A. J. M., Report on the Province of Assam (Calcutta, 1854; Reprint Guwahati, 1982), pp. 26–28Google Scholar.

⁵⁷ Smith, The Ao Naga Tribe of Assam, pp. 196–197.

⁵⁸ Ibid.

⁵⁹ Ibid., p. 197.

⁶⁰ Terhuja, K., ‘The Christian Church Among the Angami Nagas’, in Singh, K. Suresh (ed.), The Tribal Situation in India (Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1972), p. 298Google Scholar.

⁶¹ This figure of unemployment is provided by the Nagaland state registry of employment. The estimate could be much higher, because many have lost hope and simply do not care to register. ‘44,960 unemployed in Nagaland’, Nagaland Post (Dimapur), 17 March 2006.

⁶² West, The Most Dangerous Legacy, p. 17.

⁶³ See Mills, ‘The Effects on the Naga Tribes’, in Bodley, Tribal Peoples and Development Issues. British colonial officers such as Mills and others like him blamed American missionaries for much of the destruction of Naga culture.

⁶⁴ ‘Little Christian colony’ is used by Mary Clark to refer to a ‘Christian’ village that was established by her husband and herself. Clark, A Corner in India, p. 145. Even to this day, some Nagas continue to use the term ‘Mission Compound’ for their village.

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⁶⁶ Clark, A Corner in India.

⁶⁷ The Baptist Missionary Magazine (July 1884).

⁶⁸ Ray, ‘Change’, in Venuh, Naga Society.

⁶⁹ Witter, W. E., ‘The Naga Mission’, Baptist Missionary Magazine, (1887), 67: 23Google Scholar.

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⁷¹ Visier Sanyü, ‘Voice of the Voiceless: Trust building in a divided World’ http://www.caux.iofc.org/en/node/27050 [accessed 15 July 2011; a speech given on the World Indigenous Day, 9 August 2007].

⁷² Charles Chasie, ‘Administrative and Social Factors: The Change in Naga Society’, in Venuh, Naga Society, p. 132.

⁷³ Correspondingly, with regard to Traditional African Religion, John Mbiti made a similar observation: ‘. . .God is no stranger to African peoples, and in traditional life there are no atheists’. Mbiti, John, African Religions and Philosophy (Nairobi: Heinemann Publishers, 1985), p. 29Google Scholar.

⁷⁴ ‘Gnostic dualism’ refers to the Gnostic belief in the dualism of flesh and spirit, with the flesh being evil and the spirit being good.

⁷⁵ Martin-Baro defines ‘vertical religiosity’ as ‘believing in God as being in heaven and a salvation beyond this world’ and ‘horizontal religiosity’ as a ‘belief in God as a brother and salvation in this world’. Martin-Baro, Ignacio, Writings for a Liberation Psychology, ed. Aron, Adiran and Corne, Shawn (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), p. 147Google Scholar.

⁷⁶ When referring to the traditional Nagas, instead of government, I will use social ordering or a governing system.

⁷⁷ ‘Imported state’ comes from Bertrand Badie's book, The Imported State: The Westernization of the Political Order (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), where the author traces the rise of the modern state and its spread to colonial and postcolonial societies.

⁷⁸ J. Lonkumer, ‘The Ao Village Organization: Origin to Present Day’, in Venuh, Naga Society, p. 28.

⁷⁹ Mills, Report on Assam, p. cxlii.

⁸⁰ Perrine, S. A., ‘The Value of the Wild Men of India’, The Baptist Missionary Magazine (June 1901), 81 (6): 213Google Scholar.

⁸¹ van Creveld, Martin, The Rise and Decline of the State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸² Mills, The Rengma Nagas (London: MacMillan, 1967), p. 140Google Scholar. What Mills calls ‘chief’ is a mischaracterization, which should be termed ‘elder’.

⁸³ Singh, The Tribal Situation in India, p. xxi.

⁸⁴ N. Venuh, ‘Change of Political Institution of Naga Society’, in Venuh, Naga Society, p. 93.

⁸⁵ Ibid.

⁸⁶ Shimmi, Y. L. Roland, Comparative History of The Nagas: From Ancient Period Till 1826 (New Delhi: Inter-india Publication, 1988), p. 131Google Scholar.

⁸⁷ Wangsa, A. Peihwang, Christianity and Social Change: A Case Study of Konyak Nagas (Mon: KBBB Mission Centre, 2000)Google Scholar.

⁸⁸ This observation was made by Davis, A. W. in the Census of India 1891, 1: 241–245Google Scholar.

⁸⁹ Some African scholars have made a distinction between the traditional African ‘consensual democracy’ and the Western-imposed ‘adversarial democracy’. For further discussion, see Wiredu, K., ‘Democracy and Consensus in African Traditional Politics: A Plea for a Non-Party Polity’, in Coetzee, P. H. and Roux, A. P. J. (eds), The African Philosophy Reader (London: Routledge, 1998), pp. 374–382Google Scholar.

⁹⁰ Akang Ao, ‘Change and Continuity in Naga Customary Law’, in Venuh, Naga Society, pp. 37–48.

⁹¹ Stanley Diamond has rightly noted that ‘law is symptomatic of the emergence of the state’ and is an instrument of civilization, which is then sanctioned by organized force. See Diamond, In Search of the Primitive: A Critique of Civilization (New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1974)Google Scholar.

⁹² Butler, John, Travels and Adventures in the Province of Assam (London, 1855; Delhi: Vivek Publishing Co., 1978), p. 111Google Scholar.

⁹³ Clark, A Corner in India.

⁹⁴ In March 1879, in an effort to control the Nagas effectively the British moved its district headquarters from Samaguting (Chumukedima) to Kohima. It also established sub-divisional offices in Mokokchung and Wokha. The entire Naga Hills District was headed by the Deputy Commissioner, who reported to the Governor of Assam. For further discussion, see Frank, Marcus, War and Nationalism in South Asia: The Indian State and the Nagas (London; New York: Routledge, 2009)Google Scholar.

⁹⁵ Venuh, ‘Change of Political Institution of Naga Society’, in Venuh, Naga Society, p. 93.

⁹⁶ Balfour, ‘Presidential Address’, p. 17.

⁹⁷ Chasie, ‘Nagaland in Transition’, p. 256.

⁹⁸ Ibid., p. 257.

⁹⁹ Sztompka, ‘Civilizational Incompetence: The Trap of Post-Communist Societies’, Zeitschrift fur Sociologie, (1993), 2: 118Google Scholar.