Issue 60.1 of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies is now available via Penn Press. This issue features several articles on interreligious and ecumenical themes and multiple book reviews.
For each issue, the Diablogue features one author and makes a full-text PDF version of their article available on Project Muse. In this issue, we feature Zulunungsang Lemtur’s "Ao (Naga) Tribal People’s Practice of Aksü as Friendship: Relevance for Peace and Interreligious Friendship" which can be accessed HERE.
Author Zulunungsang Lemtur
Zulunungsang Lemtur belongs to the Ao (Naga) tribe from Nagaland, India, and he currently teaches at Oikos University, Oakland. He received his PhD from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, and he is the author of Climate Refugees: Towards a Tribal Theology of Restoration and Tribal Cultural Imagination and Theological Conversation. Zulu participated in a Dialogue Institute interfaith leadership training conducted with the Graduate Theological Union in 2021.
In your article, you assert that the Ao concept of friendship could inspire the creation of interreligious dialogical models. What specific actions from the practice of aksü could lend themselves to religious dialogue aside from the general concept of Ao friendship?
For generations, aksü has helped Ao tribal society maintain peaceful relationships, and till today, aksü continues to be a means of peacebuilding and conflict management model for the Aos. Hence, community and mutual flourishing become vital for the Ao people’s approach to peace and friendship. The practice of aksü among the Ao tribe offers several specific actions that could be beneficial for religious dialogue beyond the general concept of Ao friendship. The practice of aksü emphasizes mutual respect and cooperation in their interactions. This approach can be applied to religious dialogue by encouraging participants to approach discussions with a genuine respect for each other's beliefs and a willingness to cooperate in finding common ground and mutual flourishing. Aksü fosters inter-tribal friendships that transcend mere power dynamics. This practice can inspire religious dialogue by promoting relationships that go beyond doctrinal differences and focus on establishing sincere relations based on shared values and mutual understanding. Also, aksü prioritizes harmony and social cohesion over individual or state dominance. In religious dialogue, this could mean prioritizing the community's well-being and fostering a sense of unity and harmony among different religious groups. I believe these actions from the practice of aksü can serve as valuable principles for creating meaningful and productive religious dialogues.
Though political realism is concerned mainly with the activity of states, it asserts that political bodies act for the growth of power and that the international sphere is a self-help system. How does the Ao tribe, in its concept of friendship and using aksü, challenge these notions?
I guess the Ao tribal people’s understanding of friendship and their practice of aksü might present a unique challenge to the notions of political realism. Unlike the self-help and power-centric approaches of political realism enacted through the state agency that gives primacy to power and self-interest, the Ao tribal people accentuate mutual respect, cooperation, and relationships. Through aksü, the Ao people foster friendships that transcend mere power dynamics by encouraging a communal ethos that gives importance to mutual flourishing and well-being of the community over individualism or state dominance. This practice through aksü showcases an alternative model where relational harmony and social cohesion take precedence over political power and self-interest. For the Aos, to have friendship is to make peace with the community, and this is the crux of aksü. This serves as the moral principle and virtue that connects people to a path of friendship and wellbeing that is just, inclusive, and one that respects the rights and dignity of fellow beings. This idea of friendship moves beyond political compromise and seeks the good of common well-being, even when it warrants personal sacrifice.
What specific innovations do tribal cultures bring to peacebuilding, and how might new models of interfaith dialogue emerge from this practice?
In my PhD research, using the Naga tribal practice of peacebuilding (aksü and prukeila), I developed a model for interreligious dialogue called “Peaceable Dialogue,” This model addresses three forms of dialogue: restorative justice praxis that focuses on the restoration of communities, cultural-spiritual dialogue that promotes cultural competencies and spiritualities, and social justice forums that seek to analyze issues pertaining to the society. The “Peaceable Dialogue” model emphasizes the personal, relational, and structural transformation of the community through the nonviolent process and envisages a society based on the shared social vision of all communities, irrespective of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or social affiliation. Such concepts are essential for peacebuilding and interreligious dialogue because they offer windows into the working of process structure, which is vital for sustaining peace and community. My proposed model recognizes that promoting justice and positive peace requires personal and social transformation. Such transformation happens through developing strong community relations. This is why the model draws from the tribal philosophy of friendship, and cultivating and exercising virtue as a community of friends is an essential element in peacebuilding and dialogue.
How did you get interested in the topic?
Too often, the missing element in peacebuilding and interfaith dialogue is the tribal people's voices. My work seeks to correct this weakness by offering a model and rationale for fuller engagement with all people in this context. Moreover, I feel that it is vital that tribal voices are heard so that their approach to peace and friendship can contribute to the ongoing climate of interreligious dialogue.
What is your next project?
I am currently completing an essay on “Beyond Colonial Shadows: Decolonizing Indigenous Narratives.” I am also working towards publishing my PhD dissertation, “Reclaiming Community-Reclaiming Democracy: Tribal Explorations in Indian Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding.” This will be followed by something close to my heart, “Ecology and the Future of Interreligious Dialogue.”
