Prospecting futures: everyday politics of anticipation and prefiguration among young people in Bodoland, India

With ethnicity-based Student Unions dominating northeastern India’s mainstream politics, young people have been at the forefront of significant social and political changes in the region. Through empirical analysis of two social groups involved in ethnic cultural activities and environmental activism, this paper explores how young people in Bodoland, northeastern India, engage in prefigurative politics to shape their desired futures. The paper demonstrates how young people practice prefigurative politics in contrast to the anticipatory politics of Student Unions. It argues that while young people aim to build their futures independently of mainstream politics, their efforts often become entangled in the Student Unions’ hegemonic agendas and intergenerational enmity between different ethnic groups. These efforts reveal that youth-driven prefigurative actions have the potential to transform their habitus, but doing so is challenging without the freedom to fully control their choices.