Living on the Sino-Indian border: the story of the Mishmis in Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India

Abstract

In northeast India, there are several indigenous peoples who reside along theSino-Indian border about whom there is very little academic research. Somecommunities are present on either side of the border, making research verydi cult. The Mishmi is one such indigenous group living in the northeastregion of India bordering southern Tibet. Out of four Mishmi clans, threereside on the Indian side and one on the Chinese side of the internationalborder. After the Sino-Indian War, movement of Mishmi people acrossthe border was restricted, impacting social ties and trade-related activities. Wediscuss relations between the Mishmi and the British, followed by their interactionswith the Indian administration. We document how people used theborders before the war and how development on the border has impactedMishmi lives. This research is a first attempt to document information aboutthe Mishmis in India and China. In this article, we present our preliminaryobservations based on anthropological fieldwork in Arunachal Pradesh, India.Secondary information was gathered from websites, archives, and reports.