The study explores the phenomenon of politeness vis-à-vis collective identity in two indigenous languages of Arunachal Pradesh, India: Miju and Digaru. Through the differential use of discourse markers in various language settings, this paper examines politeness strategies used by the speakers of both languages to form inferences on the speakers’ worldview and social knowledge of their respective communities in different contexts. The intrinsic structure of the language of a community and its lucid usage construes politeness together with a society's socio-cultural principles. The socio-cultural characteristics fabricate the speakers' cognitive structure that formulates the phenomenon of politeness falling in with the language principles and boundaries. The current paper examines the production, projection and perception of politeness through discursive approach including inclusiveness/ exclusiveness strategies to understand natives’ perspective on collective identity as speakers of endangered languages themselves. Further, the study takes linguistic politeness as a meta-pragmatic entity and tries to explore this phenomenon in the Miju and Digaru languages from the native’s socio-cognitive understanding. In doing so, the paper appropriates Koller (2012), which, in introducing critical analytical parameters for analysing collective identity in discourse, talks about three levels of discourse – Macro-level, Meso-level, and Micro-level.

This paper traces the inception, emergence and relevance of the celebration of a historical figure of Assam – Joymoti – as the Joymoti Utsav (Joymoti Festival). With the first attested public celebration of the festival in Upper Assam in 1914, Joymoti Utsav was a landmark public celebration on multiple counts. Firstly, it created a feminist and nationalist consciousness in the region through its celebration of Joymoti – an Ahom princess; secondly, it marked public support to celebration of an ideal female figure whose qualities and character women were encouraged to aspire to; thirdly, it followed and also spearheaded a socio-cultural movement that found expression in literature and arts including the first Assamese movie Joymoti in 1934; fourthly, it brought together people and organizations in the making of a legacy that gave direction to the feminist movement in Assam thereby establishing it as a major socio-cultural feminist festival of Assam. This paper traces the emergence of this iconic festival in Upper Assam, its role in establishing feminist ideals, carving out a distinct regional history and nurturing national sentiment, its depiction in various literary genres of the 20th century and the current relevance of the festival in Assam. In doing so, the paper locates Joymoti Utsav in a socio-historical perspective in the context of Assam while crediting it with creating a feminist consciousness in the public discourse of early twentieth century Assam.

If Indian intellectual history focussed on the nature of the colonial and post-colonial state, its interaction with everyday politics, its emerging society and operation of its economy, then how much did/ does North-East appear in this process of doing intellectual history? North-East history in general and its intellectual history in particular is an unpeopled place. In Indian social science literature, North-East history for the last seventy years has mostly revolved around separatist movements, insurgencies, borderland issue and trans-national migration. However, it seldom focussed on the intellectuals who have articulated the voice of this place and constructed an intellectual history of this region. This paper attempts to explore the intellectual history of Assam through understanding the life history of three key socio-political figures – Gopinath Bordoloi, Bishnu Prasad Rabha and Chandraprabha Saikiani. Their engagement at the turn of the twentieth century with ideas for the future North-East region in general and Assam in partcular is parallel to the formation of the Indian nation state. Research on the writings and works of these socio-political figures is analysed to address what North-east history can contribute to the intellectual history of India and how essential is it in the field of indigenous studies?

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