This article by Dr. Aditya Kiran Kakati, highlighting the Naga self-determination movement, shifts the emphasis of borderland studies from international borders to internally contested boundaries. The Naga approach, demanding a sovereign state since the mid-1940s decolonisation era, privileges the Westphalian territorial sovereignty template. However, various Naga lobbies have explored other models that transcend borders – territorial, Indigenous, divine and food sovereignty.
Aditya revisits these and presents the Zeme Naga case. Divided by state, district and economic barriers, this ethnic group has recently pioneered a de-territorialised, cross-border and grassroots solidarity experiment – the Zeme Olympics—demonstrating how local communities use relational politics to assert agency, rethink sovereignty, and challenge borders.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21622671.2026.2642940#d1e865