Racism against North East Indian Women

People of different races in India experience racism in various forms but there has been a lack of academic discourse on this issue. In the past decades, many scholars admit that racism and racial ideology in India were not recognised by the government or academic fraternity, although people from North East India experience racism in their everyday lives in metropolitan cities. In the context of “othering” the minority North East Indian women, mainstream society stereotypes them (including men) as “easy-going,” “fun-loving,” and socially, culturally, and religiously “polluted.” Mary (name changed) from Nagaland attests to this, saying that “my male colleague invited me to attend a party. When I politely declined and told him that I do not even drink beer, he was baffled and retorted that every woman from the North East does so, then how am I different? I felt insulted by such stereotyping of North East Indian women.”

During the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020, Kim (name changed) from Mizoram encountered aversive racism in her gated community in Hyderabad. Kim shared that her neighbour, a female Telugu dentist who was cordial with her before COVID-19, told her that she has travelled widely around the world and enjoyed meeting people of different cultures. During the fi rst wave of COVID-19, she posted disturbing videos of COVID-19 positive people in Wuhan, China in their community WhatsApp group. She also posted videos of Thai women relishing cooked ants, frogs, and grasshoppers. She commented in the WhatsApp group that “these” people are responsible for the spread of the COVID-19 virus across the globe. Whenever Kim went out with a mask on in their neighbourhood, she would ceases to wish or look at this woman so as to not invite any further prejudice .