The idea of "territoriality" (with clearly marked out political boundary often controlled by a standing army) and that of the "sovereign" are creations of modern nation states in Europe. In contemporary times, these two traits seem to have been perceived as the sine qua non of nationhood among aspirant nations whose teeming presence mark conflict zones escalating across continents. India's Northeast, too, reflects the same traits or, rather, an obsession with them.

Consequently, there has been a visible shift among many of these nationalities in understanding their relationships with "land." Whereas the traditional relationship between people and land is based on identification of land as an extended part of the community's organic self, the modern take on land as a resource to be exploited, both economically and politically, has made the relationship quite complex, and often confusing. The current issue of the Eastern Quarterly (Vol. 4, Issue II), "LAND AND TERRITORIALITY," proposes to examine the concerns of the people in India's Northeast relating to land and claims for exclusive territory.

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