State Formation in Mizo Society by Vanlalringa Bawitlung

The state formation that emerged from indigenous tribal bases in pre-colonial Indiaperhaps is an area less explored by social scientists in general and Mizoram in particular and they mostly cover the states that emerged from egalitarian tribal bases.This book therefore has made an attempt to study the processes of state formation in Mizo society. It also attempts to present the framework for studying state formation in the context of Mizo society. The book also studies the developments of chieftainships and assessed the role played by them in the processes of state formations. In most early societies that due to various forces of developments within those societies, there have been gradual emergence of chiefdoms from early chieftainship. Chiefdom is a development of the segmentary tribal system to a higher level of integration. The book also deals with the role played by colonial rule vis-à-vis state formations. Methodologically, it is a work of content analysis and interpretation of data and other sources. To collaborate data collected, interviews in the tradition of oral history have also been conducted.

Vanlalringa Bawitlung (b.1966) obtained M.A, M.Phil and Ph.D from NEHU: Shillong. He is a professor in History at Govt. Aizawl College. He has published a number of research papers in various journals and books.