Takolong Kichu
Affiliation: Department of Sociology, Mizoram University, India
Email: [email protected]
Abstract: There has been no dearth of studies on tribes or gender as such. Studies on tribe, gender, and rights to inheritance trijunctions are indeed limited. The complex relationships that govern property inheritance among tribal women in Northeast India, in general, and among Ao Naga women in particular, around the interaction between gender norms, customary laws, and socio-cultural factors raise several questions to be interrogated. This study offers a preliminary examination into the trijunction of tribe, gender and property inheritance, situating Ao Naga women around global, national and local contexts. Accordingly, after a brief introduction, the paper divides itself into five parts. The first section deals with tribe and gender at their conceptual level. The second section analyses the trijunction of tribe, gender, and property inheritance. The next three sections take stock of the global overview, the Indian scenario, and Northeast Indian practices. Finally, the paper sums up by concluding the need to study the inheritance rights of Ao Naga women. To that end, reliance is placed on available literature. The ambition of the paper is descriptive in nature.
Keywords: Ao Naga; Tribe; Gender; Patriarchy; Property; Inheritance.