Christianity and the Transformation of Political Landscape among the Wancho Tribe: A Study of Longding District, Arunachal Pradesh

The advent of Christianity among the Wancho tribe of Longding District, Arunachal Pradesh, has brought significant socio-cultural and political transformations. Traditionally governed through customary institutions rooted in clan authority and ritual legitimacy, Wancho society has experienced a gradual reconfiguration of political leadership, community mobilisation, and governance practices following large-scale religious conversion. This paper critically examines how Christianity has influenced local political structures, electoral behaviour, leadership patterns, and identity politics in the Wancho area. Relying on secondary sources such as academic literature, census data, government reports, and missionary accounts, the study adopts a qualitative and analytical approach. The findings suggest that Christianity has functioned as both a catalyst for political modernisation and a disruptive force to indigenous political institutions, resulting in a hybrid political order characterised by negotiation between tradition and modernity.