Abstract

The term ‘identity’ designates a sense of self that develops in the course of a man’s life that relates him to and sets him apart from his social milieu. It is generally through language, culture, customs, region and religion that one’s identity gets formed. But when there is an interference with these determinants, it affects the very identity of the group. British colonization and British rule for around 200 years in India interfered with the identity of various tribal groups. Current paper talks about the impact of British colonization on the identity of the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh - one of the states in North East India and will try to say that these tribes face a two-fold identity crisis. One crisis is a result of different policies adopted by the British during their rule to keep these tribes secluded and isolated. It has created a gap between them and the mainstream India and has adversely affected the process of national integration and formation of ‘national identity’ of these tribes even after India’s independence. With the advent of British, even the Christian missionaries came to this region. They wanted to ‘civilize’ these tribes by giving them modern education, health care and most importantly their religion. The increasing number of conversions has given rise to another crisis namely that these tribes losing their tribal identity and consequently becoming alien to their own culture. The current paper will try to throw light on both these issues which have resulted into tribal alienation and will also suggest that a developmental model focusing on their total integration can resolve their identity crisis.