Moral entanglements and youth culture in India’s North East borderland town

Abstract

North East India has witnessed significant inflow of capital and outflow of labour in
contemporary times. As such, the region has undergone glaring transformations in terms of
changes in social structures, family forms, ideas of interpersonal relations and those that relate
to the individual and collective; it is a zone of transition. In short, borderlands are in more flux
than ever. This paper aims to understand the relationship between economic transformation
and social change through the subjectivities of church youth associations and young people
living in a violent or ‘sensitive’ borderland. At one level, it explores how young people
negotiate the vicissitudes of life by virtue of changing economic and social structures. At
another level, the paper also looks into the ways in which the church deal with such changes.
In this study, I focus on particular kinds of socialities and relationships which prevail among
the youths by positioning them within a specific site, namely, church. For example, how do the
church curate and mediate certain spaces for its youths? Also, in what ways do young people
forge relations within such social-spatial contexts? Through participant observation, the paper
discusses how the church address questions of morality, aspiration and consumerism. The
ethnographic materials used in this paper are set against the backdrop of conflict, militarisation
and violence.