Research Team
ARKOTONG LONGKUMER
Principal Investigator
Arkotong Longkumer is Professor of Anthropology and Modern Asia at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. His work focuses on the intersection between religion, politics and ecology in the Indian state of Nagaland and more broadly in highland Asia, between India, China and Myanmar. He is the author of The Greater India Experiment (Stanford 2020, Indian edition, Navayana 2022). He was also a part of a multi-authored volume, Indigenous Religion(s): Local Grounds, Global Networks (Routledge 2020), an edited volume Gurus and Media: Sound, Image, Machine, Text and the Digital (UCL Press 2023) and along with the illustrator, Meren Imchen, A Path Home: A Graphic Novel on Naga Repatriation (Open Access 2023).
CLARE HARRIS
Co-Investigator
Clare Harris is Professor of Visual Anthropology at the University of Oxford. She is also Curator for Asian Collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum, a Fellow of Magdalen College, and a Fellow of the British Academy. She has published widely on art, museums, photography, and the politics of representation, primarily in relation to Tibet, the Himalayas and the Tibetan diaspora. Her award-winning books include The Museum on the Roof of the World: Art, Politics and the Representation of Tibet (2012) and Photography and Tibet (2016). Clare has a strong track-record of working on co-curated exhibitions, art installations, digital projects, artist’s residencies and other kinds of collaborative activities.
As Co-Investigator for DiMuse, she has joint oversight of the research for this project with Dr. Longkumer. She also leads on the digitisation of the material in the Gaidinliu collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum and the material and archival histories of it. She will curate an exhibition at the Pitt Rivers at the end of the project that will bring much of the material it has generated together and display it alongside the original objects associated with Gaidinliu.
GAURAV RAJKHOWA
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Gaurav Rajkhowa is a postdoctoral research associate at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, working on the project, “Decolonising the Museum: Digital Repatriation of the Gaidinliu Collection from the UK to India”. As a cultural studies researcher, his doctoral work was on popular music and Assamese nationalist identity in post-colonial India. His areas of research include contemporary digital and popular culture, and ethnic identity assertions in Northeast India.
TARUN BAHRTIYA (1970-2025)
Filmmaker
Tarun Bhartiya was a documentarian, Hindi poet and political activist based in Shillong, Meghalaya. His imagemaking was an adjunct to his political preoccupations on themes of everyday life of resistance movements, borders and belonging, destruction of indigenous modes of production and these days, authoritarian remaking of the Indian state and society. Part of his long term photo project ‘Niam/Faith/Hynniewtrep : Unaddressed Picture Postcards from Khasi-Jaintia Hills, India’ was exhibited at Kochi Biennale 2023, Diffusion, Welsh International Festival of Photography and Chennai Photo Biennial. Bhartiya’s films include Brief Life of Insects (2015, Mumbai International Film Festival, Best Sound Award), and The Last Train in Nepal (2014, BBC4, Royal Television Society award for Best Director, Factual). As an editor he has worked with filmmakers like Vasudha Joshi (Cancer Katha, Special Jury Award, National Awards 2012), Red Ant Dream (Editor and Co-Writer, Sanjay Kak, 2014), and In Camera (Ranjan Palit, 2010, National Award for Best Editing). He was a founder member of North East India Audio Visual Archive at St. Anthony’s College Shillong. He was a member of Thma U Rangli Juki (TUR), a progressive people’s group in Meghalaya.
MITEUBUING NGAME
Research Associate
Miteubuing was born in Kipeilo and brought up in Tungje Pungo, Dima Hasao, Assam. He completed his MA in Hindi from Gauhati University. Following his passion for teaching, he has been a schoolteacher for three years. Miteubuing is an active social worker and has held leadership roles in a number of civil society organisations, including President of the Zeme Students’ Union Assam (2016-2021), Joint Secretary of the Zeliangrong Heraka Association (2018-present), General Secretary of the Zeme Literature Board, North East India (2022-present), and General Secretary of the Zeme Council Assam (October 2025- present).
GOLMEI LANCHAMEI MONICA
Research Associate
Golmei Lanchamei Monica was born and raised in Kakhulong, Paona Bazar in Imphal, Manipur. She holds an MA in Mass Communication from the International Institute of Mass Media, Delhi, and a BA (Hons) in English from Delhi University. Currently, she is an Assistant Language Officer in the Manipur Legislative Assembly and is pursuing her PhD at Manipur University. As a media professional she has worked in various roles—beginning as a reporter with Imphal Free Press, she went on to become a news anchor at Information Service Television Network (ISTV), Imphal, and sub-editor at The Morning Bell, Imphal. She also interned at Doordarshan Kendra Imphal and News Nation, Delhi. Her passion for teaching led her to work as a lecturer at Sangai Higher Secondary School and as a guest lecturer at the State Institute of Journalism, Government of Manipur.
THOIZAI NEWMAI
Research Associate
Thoizai Newmai was born and raised in Tening Village, Peren district of Nagaland, India. She holds a master’s degree in philosophy and is currently pursuing her master’s in social work (MSW). Her interests lie at the intersection of art, culture, and heritage, and she is committed to reconnecting with her roots and preserving the rich traditions of the Zeliangrong people through research, creative expression, and community work. My journey has been one of seeking — through knowledge, culture, and personal identity. As a research associate on the DiMuse project, she has deepened her engagement with indigenous history and explored narratives often left unspoken.
