17
Jul

‘Korean wave’ in Nagaland

Posted by: admin in Open Space



By Renchano Humtsoe
Korean culture is flooding into Nagaland. New trade treaties between India and Korea facilitated the exchange of Korean goods and enabled them to enter Nagaland with greater ease. Additionally, Nagas have long felt neglected by the central Indian government. This is especially the case with Naga youth. Many believe this lack of identity with central India informs Nagas’ embrace of Korean culture.

The political distance between Nagaland and the central Indian government is growing. Many mainstream government schemes, such as ration cards, do not reach Nagas. Basic government services are not reliable. Consistent power shortages go unattended. This neglect of basic services and amenities has contributed to this feeling of alienation on behalf of the Nagas toward the central government.

Naga youth have now started to adapt Korean culture. Korean television channels, programs, movies, and clothes are popular among Naga youth. Korean companies are looking into investing in Nagaland. The Nagaland State Government has even taken steps to embrace Korean culture: it hosts an annual Indian-Korean cultural festival.

However, this wave of Korean culture threatens traditional Naga customs. Elder Nagas fear the gradual disappearance of Naga customs in the face of globalization. As young people turn toward foreign cultural products and entertainment produced in other languages, this threat becomes ever real.

Traditional Naga culture is unique. Nagaland is comprised of sixteen tribes. Each tribe uses a unique language and has its own rich cultural traditions of dance, song, festivals and other key features. Korean culture’s strong pull on young Nagas will make it more difficult to preserve Nagaland’s important tradition and identity.

Renchano belongs to the Lotha tribal community in the Wokha district of Nagaland. She recently completed her BA in English at NEHU-Shillong. Rancheno strives to expose the injustices tribal people face. Through IndiaUnheard, she hopes to give voice to these struggles.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 17th, 2010 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Open Space. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 comments so far

 1 

Hi to everyone in Nagaland especially to all common user and members for Naga Blog. Infact during my office hour i just came flash to my eyes about this little thing of ‘Korean wave’ in Nagaland. As I go through the page and the video I was quit impressive knowing Nagas adapting to new culture /civilization what we call the Korean.
As a matter of fact i would really like to take this opportunity to encourage to our Nagas to go for it coz if you look at the Asian countries next to American’s and European, Japaness and Korean are emerging with best life standard, even very much attracted to other parts of the world. And when it comes to bringing Korean investor to Nagaland, my point is very prospective that we can do. Infact korean goods and lifestyle can really change people in Nagaland bringing lifestyle with more standard, fashion, infrastructure and improving our civic sense leaving behind other indians. When the central government forgetting us, on other hand states in India and central government will come looking for Nagaland once nagaland is fully adapted with so call Korean culture and if we enhance our standard.
The higher benefits for Nagaland is bringing Korean investors which can totally change Nagaland to second Korea. But living behind this, we also have to think harder about fictions/underground as this is the major factors why even Indian investors are not coming to Nagaland too, when there are lots of Multinational companies in India.
Any way but not the least but thank you.

July 11th, 2011 at 9:38 am
k. s. angami
 2 

1. investors, invest in places where there is proper regulations and the economy is good for investment.
2. investors, look for able sincere and hardworking personal’s.
3. good roads and proper space for establishment is necessary.
this are some requirement for an investor to start investing in a region. and sadly we don’t have any of this. and i agree with the pastor like the american revolution, this korean revolution will only bring more problem. we need proper guidance

August 27th, 2011 at 10:04 am
mel
 3 

My guess is that there are lots of money rolling in from the centre……. but whether it is utilised for what it meant to be is really a big issue…. with all the officials and people at apropriate place getting all the benefit (siphoning off) and the common men believing that the centre does not care….. e.g. Demand for Eastern Nagaland state is the outcome….. many e.g. will come later…

September 29th, 2011 at 3:31 am
Karan Gurung
 4 

i think all cultures borrow from each other. there is nothing wrong about it. the important thing is to strike a unique balance between borrowing from others and developing our own .

January 1st, 2012 at 1:27 am

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