CULTURAL HERITAGE OF MIZORAM

Mizoram’s evolving cultural landscape reveals how heritage shapes identity amid change and contact.

Cultural heritage encompasses the inherited traditions, values, customs, and expressions that have been transmitted across generations and continue to be upheld by a society as part of its collective identity. It covers both tangible elements such as artifacts, architecture, clothing, and cuisine and intangible aspects like language, rituals, beliefs, and values. However, culture is not static; it evolves continually in response to historical events, social change, and external influences. Understanding a society's culture is essential for comprehending its worldview, traditions, and social organization, making cultural knowledge a crucial tool for meaningful engagement and scholarly inquiry.

This volume, The Cultural Heritage of Mizoram, explores the diverse elements of the evolving cultural landscape of the Mizos. It begins with a theoretical framing of culture and identity, examining how colonialism, Christianity, capitalism, and political movements have reshaped tribal and regional cultures in Mizoram and the wider Northeast. Key themes such as moral values, naming practices, marriage customs, burial rituals, gender roles, hunting traditions, foodways, and festivals are examined to uncover layers of meaning within everyday cultural life.

Through these interdisciplinary and historically grounded studies, the volume presents a nuanced account of how Mizo culture has been shaped by movement, contact, change, and continuity. The collection invites readers to engage with the rich cultural mosaic of Mizoram both as a repository of heritage and as a living, dynamic process of identity formation in a rapidly transforming world.