There are a handful of histories of mission or missionary activity in Northeast India, however, the purpose of this project is to approach the subject form a sociological point of view, taking into account the wider economic, historical and political contexts that come to bear on the efforts carried out by various missionary units, and engaging more deeply with the issue of ‘cultural encounter’ and how this underpins the mission’s future developments. Beginning in 1832 with the introduction of the Browns, Cutters and Bronson families of the American Baptist Mission to Assam, and trace the development of their work among indigenous communites in and around Sadiya in Northeastern Assam to the subsequent establishment of mission centres in Guwahati, Nagaon and Sibsagar, and later shift the focus toward the surrounding hills, establishing four main regions of mission focus: Assam, the Garo Hills, Naga Hills and Manipur. The first phase of the project will end in the summer, 2014 with an abridged history which will be published and available during the bicentennial celebrations – or Mission Summit (American Baptist Foreign Mission Society) scheduled for October, 2014.
Anthropology of mission in North-East India
