From being characterized as a ‘primitive tribe’ by the colonialists to becoming overwhelming practitioners of the American Baptist faith, the Sumi Naga – formerly known as the Sema Naga – in the North-East Indian state of Nagaland have come a long way ever since this Naga tribe encountered the White man towards the latter half of the nineteenth century.

This book in a way chronicles the transition of Sumi society from the period of colonial contact up to the present-day. A critical understanding of Sumi society and culture is at the heart of the narrative, and the analysis of Sumi religion and world view remains the main thrust of this book. It is argued that the Sumis, who are overwhelmingly Baptists, are faced with new religious issues which has brought about not only schismatic divisions but is also rendering ebullience to their religious life, and that a new discourse has emerged in Sumi religion. The author positions himself as an ‘insider’, and in doing so has given a reflexive account of Sumi religious life, meanwhile substantiating the arguments and findings in the light of contemporary theoretical developments. The volume brings out compelling evidence that religion significantly shapes the daily life of the Sumi and offers a detailed ethnographic study of Sumi religion and world view, as the Sumi Naga has seldom been studied in-depth in the post-Independence period.