Sociocultural Integration of Smaller Tribal Communities in a Multi-Ethnic Society: The Case of Hrangkhawls in Tripura

While the process of integration allows diversity, forced assimilation encourages homogenisation as the inherent distinctiveness gets subsumed under the dominant cultural system. Despite various constitutional policies, provisions, developmental approaches and strategies adopted to protect, preserve and promote the culture and ethnic identity of the tribes in North-East India, there have been instances of forced assimilation. It is the larger group that strongly influences the numerically smaller tribal communities which subsequently leads to the process of ethnocide. Drawing insights from the literature on ethnocide, the article examines the cultural marginalisation, forced assimilation and cultural homogenising process that has taken place among the Hrangkhawls of Tripura. The article argues that the modern development approaches, heterogenous cultural blindness and forced assimilation have compelled the numerically smaller tribal communities like Hrangkhawls towards cultural marginalisation and ethnic identity distortion in the multi-ethnic state of Tripura.