Abstract
The Brahmaputra is one of the longest transboundary rivers in the world that flows through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in Northeast India. At several stretches, this sand-bed braided river is more than 15 km wide, and it meanders through the valley in Assam as it exit the hilly terrains in Arunachal Pradesh. This sudden change in the morphology and other inter-related factors significantly influences the fluvial regime as it flows through the plains in Assam. Recurrent floods and accompanying erosion add precarity to this situation in multiple ways. It also affects the population groups who inhabit these floodplains. In other words, the flow pattern of the Brahmaputra, which is influenced by the physical factors in turn, affects the social behaviour of the communities that reside in its riparian zone. The chapter understand such a phenomenon of intertwined physicality and sociality associated with the flow of Brahmaputra and the communities that prosper and perish in its flow path. Focusing on the district with the highest vulnerability, i.e., Morigaon in the valley, the chapter traces the river’s shifting course over the last 50 years and its impact on land, livelihood and life of the communities that inhabit this riparian zone. The chapter also throws light on how the process of group identity formation accompanies such a process that ultimately influences the nationality question in Assam. In other words, the chapter showcases how the physicality associated with the river influences the social formation in its plains, which further adds to the political contestations in the entire Brahmaputra valley.
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Momin, H., Chakraborty, G. (2024). Missing Fluvio-Social Dynamics of a Braided River: A Study on a Select Stretch of the Brahmaputra in Assam. In: Chakrabarti, A., Chakraborty, G., Chakraborty, A.S. (eds) Indigeneity, Development and Sustainability. Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development, vol 18. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-1436-0_12
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