The current socio-environmental crisis entails severe losses of biological and cultural diversity. Hence, it represents not only an ecological crisis but also a profound cultural and ethical crisis. To solve it, individuals and societies need to assume an ethical responsibility toward nature, local communities, and their cultures. I address this ethical imperative by analyzing a case study in my home region and by examining conceptual frameworks for valuing and respecting biological and cultural diversity in ways that contribute to biocultural conservation based on just and sustainable ways of co-inhabiting. First, regarding the case study, I explain place-based practices of my Lamkaang Naga Indigenous community in the state of Manipur in northeastern India. I focus on our Lamkaang Naga Indigenous Traditional Healing Systems and Loh Kchet, a type of Collective Interdependence (CI), as rooted in the Lamkaang Ksen Paam (land) where I was born and raised. This healing system utilizes Chukpaa and Kuulriing leaves, and Lamkaang people maintain a kinship relationship with the plants used for traditional medicine. Seeking permission before harvesting is a vital practice that reflects respect for the agency of plants, and within the Lamkaang community, Loh Kchet, a system of collective interdependence, ensures that no one is left behind. I interpret and analyze these practices through both (1) my own lived experiences and (2) ethnographic studies I have conducted in recent years. Second, regarding the conceptual frameworks, I focus on the works by Native American philosopher Brian Burkhart and Chilean environmental philosopher and ecologist Ricardo Rozzi. Burkhart’s decolonizing framework emphasizes cultural resurgence and resistance to colonialism, particularly through his concepts of locality, being-from-the-land, and knowing-from-the-land. I use his term “locality“to highlight how being, meaning, and knowledge are deeply rooted in the land. Rozzi’s biocultural ethics relies on his “3Hs” model, which examines the interconnected life Habits of human and other-than-human co-in-Habitants within a shared Habitat. I use his biocultural ethic framework to emphasize the inseparable links between humans and the ecosystems they co-inhabit. Rozzi’s “3Hs” model and Burkhart’s concept of locality are consistent with place-based practices of Lamkaang Naga Indigenous people. The comparative ecological and ethical approach used in this case study could be applicable in other communities to identify sustainable and just forms of inter-cultural and inter-species co-inhabitation.

Indigenous Lamkaang Naga Loh Kchet: Collective Interdependence in Northeastern India

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发表日期：

2026年

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Sumshot Khular

摘要

The current socio-environmental crisis entails severe losses of biological and cultural diversity. Hence, it represents not only an ecological crisis but also a profound cultural and ethical crisis. To solve it, individuals and societies need to assume an ethical responsibility toward nature, local communities, and their cultures. I address this ethical imperative by analyzing a case study in my home region and by examining conceptual frameworks for valuing and respecting biological and cultural diversity in ways that contribute to biocultural conservation based on just and sustainable ways of co-inhabiting. First, regarding the case study, I explain place-based practices of my Lamkaang Naga Indigenous community in the state of Manipur in northeastern India. I focus on our Lamkaang Naga Indigenous Traditional Healing Systems and Loh Kchet, a type of Collective Interdependence (CI), as rooted in the Lamkaang Ksen Paam (land) where I was born and raised. This healing system utilizes Chukpaa and Kuulriing leaves, and Lamkaang people maintain a kinship relationship with the plants used for traditional medicine. Seeking permission before harvesting is a vital practice that reflects respect for the agency of plants, and within the Lamkaang community, Loh Kchet, a system of collective interdependence, ensures that no one is left behind. I interpret and analyze these practices through both (1) my own lived experiences and (2) ethnographic studies I have conducted in recent years. Second, regarding the conceptual frameworks, I focus on the works by Native American philosopher Brian Burkhart and Chilean environmental philosopher and ecologist Ricardo Rozzi. Burkhart’s decolonizing framework emphasizes cultural resurgence and resistance to colonialism, particularly through his concepts of locality, being-from-the-land, and knowing-from-the-land. I use his term “locality“to highlight how being, meaning, and knowledge are deeply rooted in the land. Rozzi’s biocultural ethics relies on his “3Hs” model, which examines the interconnected life Habits of human and other-than-human co-in-Habitants within a shared Habitat. I use his biocultural ethic framework to emphasize the inseparable links between humans and the ecosystems they co-inhabit. Rozzi’s “3Hs” model and Burkhart’s concept of locality are consistent with place-based practices of Lamkaang Naga Indigenous people. The comparative ecological and ethical approach used in this case study could be applicable in other communities to identify sustainable and just forms of inter-cultural and inter-species co-inhabitation.