Performing Anthropological Identity. J.P. Mills and the Chittagong Hill Tracts

Wolfgang Mey, Hamburg

J.P. Mills, the “Naga-Mills”, worked 1926/27 in the CHT. He was to inquire into the history and status of the three local chiefs. He wrote two detailed reports, made 100 photographs and collected ethnographic objects. I look into this corpus from a theoretical point of view: How did his experiences in the hills of NE India influence his and at times the British government’s perception of the “tribes” and on which theoretical basis and how did J.P. Mills shape the British policy in NE India.


The revised paper can be downloaded here.



Mru man from the front and the back. J.P. Mills always tried to put everything into the right order and perspective.