| This existential ethnography focused on Mizo village women's stories. Their voices speak to the persistence of indigenous nations to survive and thrive through community devastation, and illuminate the powerful role women play in a bedrock nation's survival.; The study employed interpretive interactionism (Denzin, 1989, 2001) to examine the intersection of public actions and private troubles during the independence movement, counter-insurgency and forced village groupings in Mizo country. Independence movements in India's north-east have been characterized as insurgencies attributed to the isolation of unassimilated "tribals." Deconstruction challenged this notion in light of fourth world theory (Griggs, 1999; Nietschmann, 1985; Ryser, 1996, 1996/1997; Seton, 1999).; The women's deep experiential epiphanies evoked essences of what it means to be Mizo. Photovoice (Wang, 1999; Wang, Kun Yi, Wen Tao, & Carovano, 1998) combined with their narratives to illuminate the nature of their lives as Mizos today. The women show how the bedrock underneath everyday life persists through crises and turning point events. They also expose challenges for indigenous nations. Significant findings include: (1) Considered insiders, the freedom fighters acted as leaders of a country under siege. Considered outsiders, the Indians treated villagers as co-insurgents, violating traditions, values, and norms. Villagers suffered under both, with disrupted cultivation and no safe place from war. (2) The women relied on dispersed family/community relationships for survival. Strong relationships, even between villages in times of need, indicate Mizos utilize social capital to survive change. (3) Mizo women's strength and love for their families were evident. Often without men, on the edge of life and death, women kept their families alive. (4) Forced migration disrupted entire community systems, while voluntary shifting is part of a shifting cultivation lifestyle. (5) Fewer families today have cultivation sites and more work as daily laborers. While work is plentiful and life is easier, families are less united because family work is dispersed. Women say this contributes to increased youth idleness and drug use. (6) Mizo Christianity embodies Mizo love values. God guides them through difficulties, and makes meaning of their suffering. As a result, many could forgive their enemies, although they can never forget.; Keywords: Mizoram, Mizo, India, North-east India, war, insurgency, independence movement, terror, forced migration, forced relocation, resettlement, forced sedentarization, fourth world, self-determination, homeland, indigenous peoples, survival, subaltern, decolonization, postcolonial, political myth, nation, nation-state, nationalism, nationhood, assimilation, regionalism, tribals, tribal, villages, social-change, shifting cultivation, women, interpretive interactionism, deconstruction, epiphany, photovoice, translation, languaging, ethnography, reflexive, visual, photographs, culture, community, relational knowledge, social capital, reflective knowledge. |
