Slavery in Arunachal Pradesh

The book, Slavery in Arunachal Pradehs, by Dr. Amrendra Kumar Thakur, makes a radical departure from what exists in the historiography of the tribal societies of India. By analysing the emergence of private property and existence of social stratification among the tribes in Arunachal Pradesh the author questions the validity of the myths of ‘egalitarianism’ and ‘non-hierarchism’ among the tribes. Laying methodological stress on identifying and analysing in a historical perspective as well as in relation to its different socio-cultural, economic and geographical perspectives the book attempts to provide an alternative perspective of study of tribal societies of North-east India, Burma and Tibet. The empirical material which is examined in depth in this book relates to diverse themes ; origin of slavery, position of slaves and abolition of slavery. The introduction provides an overview of historiography as well as of the major perspectives of slavery, serfdom, bonded labour, etc.