Expedition Naga
By Peter Van Ham

A vivid comparison of culture, living conditions and social circumstances in the Naga Hills in Northeast India in the 1920s-30s to 2002-06 through photographs, film and text; the first time this has ever been possibleIncludes a free documentary DVD; this is the first time that contemporary film material from the area has been seenExpedition Naga is a multisensory trip into one of the world's most remote and least accessible regions. Diaries written by British administrators/explorers during punitive expeditions in the 1920s and '30s against the Naga, a people once notorious for their headhunting activities, are compared with contemporary notes written during the last 5 years when the authors were given special permission to do fieldwork in the long-forbidden border areas between India and Myanmar (Burma).Four hundred contemporary and historic photographs, most of which are published here for the first time ever, along with film and sound material on the enclosed free DVD, allow the reader to explore both the present and the past of one of the least known, yet most interesting cultural realms as it has never been possible before.The book will appeal to travellers, anthropologists, people interested in exploration and photography. Furthermore, the subject is spectacular in that many rituals, such as headhunting and other rites associated with fertility, are still taking place, the area having been closed for such a long time. The culture of the Naga people is amazing to witness in the twenty-first century when such cultural traits rarely exist. Furthermore, they are not associated with Indian culture, but rather with African or Indonesian.