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This study aims at understanding the reasons causing the decline in the practice of traditional, regional architectural methods of creating house forms in the Khasia Punji at Jaflong, Sylhet area.

Two main types of traditional and modern house forms were identified and studied in order to document and analyze the aspects of changes in the construction method and material uses, while the interviews together with observational, qualitative and descriptive study formed an insight into the changing socio-cultural dynamics and evolving lifestyle of the tribe. Apart from physical surveys, the primary data on settlement patterns over twenty years' time were reviewed through satellite imaging while the characteristics of local house forms were also collected from tourist photographs through time recorded in Google database.

The findings of this research have pointed out that in the case of the Khasi tribe, the shift in temporal context, accompanied by a shift in technological, socio-cultural and economic aspects, is fueling the transformation in the formal expression, material and methods of the house building.

Limitations were posed in setting up more constructive and informative interview sessions with the Khasi people due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation which limited the survey outcomes in general.

The scope of this study is to understand the changes and advances in socio-cultural, technological aspects of a society and their impact on the intricate patterns of life and customs that are evidently reflected in the transformation of built environments.

This research attempts to understand the causes behind the transformation of vernacular house forms, taking place in the Khasi village of Jaflong, Sylhet.

This paper aims to derive insights from Kongthong village, popularly known as the “whistling village,” a low-key rural tourism destination that has often gone under the radar. As an upcoming rural tourism destination, mothers create a unique tune for their children, ensuring that their identity remains unique. This is because the residents of Kongthong have two names: an official name and another in the form of a whistled tune. The primary objective of this study is to better understand the rural tourism activities at Kongthong and to explore the symbiotic relationship between indigenous cultural practices and holistic development through tourism.

The study uses an ethnographic approach wherein the researchers conducted in-depth interviews and group discussions. The study respondents are the village elders, youth, men and women across different age groups. The various governing bodies act as secondary data sources concerning tourism and development.

The study observes that rural tourism activities in Kongthong go hand in hand with understanding indigenous knowledge. The governing bodies and the local community are on the right path to achieving potential growth and preserving the village as a holistic rural tourist destination.

Rural tourism in Kongthong highlights the traditional practices of the Khasi community. Owing to this, Kongthong was nominated for the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) best tourism village by the Government of India as it showcases local culture through social, economic and political elements at the destination that add value to a tourism product.

The present study analyses Khasi Food as an ethnic food to be promoted as a tourism product encouraging tourists to visit Meghalaya, India. The food tourists are primarily motivated to eat Khasi Food to provide authentic ethnic food experiences. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to explore the willingness of tourists to eat ethnic foods and the consequent ethnic Khasi Food Experience (KFE).

This paper adopts a convergent triangulation approach. Statistical data analysis and thematic analysis were incorporated, and the combined results were compared to see if they converged to achieve the same objective or purpose, which is willingness to eat ethnic foods that influences KFE in the study area (selected villages in East Khasi Hills District and West Jaiñtia Hills District).

The converged findings from statistical analysis and thematic analysis indicate that tourists who visited the study area were willing to eat ethnic foods, which is Khasi Food and their willingness to do so has a positive influence on KFE.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is original and the first of its kind because this study has not been conducted yet in the state of Meghalaya, India. This paper has an authentic value of projecting Khasi Food globally as a cultural and ethnic tourism product giving meaningful experiences to tourists and locals alike.

Among the Khasi, a matrilineal society in N. E. India, women have direct control over resources and help from matrilineal kin. Given this context, we question what effects husbands might have on women’s reproductive success. Multivariate analyses of husband contributions on number of live-born children, child survival, and growth of children find positive effects. These effects pertain particularly if the husband is reported to be head of household, otherwise husband effects can be negative. The analysis is framed in terms of facultative reproductive strategies as husbands’ contributions are viewed as responses to variation in women’s resources and condition.

This paper aims to examine the work-life balance (WLB) experiences of tribal working women belonging to the matrilineal Khasi and Jaintia communities of Meghalaya, India, using an identity-based approach.

Semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 tribal women working in the formal sector helped generate descriptions of the subjective subliminal tensions they experienced in their efforts to balance work and home life.

Six key themes emerged: webs of role-based responsibilities; reframing family around work; revising self-identity through work; challenges and coping tactics; traditional community influences on management of work and home life; and enacting womanhood as problem-solving.

This study contributes to the literature on women and WLB in that it expands the theoretical understanding of the impact of identity work on women’s WLB.

A healthy WLB is crucial for enhanced intrinsic motivation and consequently women’s psychological empowerment and career satisfaction. This has important social and practical implications for enriching tribal women’s quality of life in India and facilitating their contribution towards the betterment of their communities and the economy at large. To this end, policymakers should launch awareness campaigns pertaining to tribal women’s WLB, to aid organizations in rolling-out contextually relevant work-life management programmes for these women.

This study extends an identity-based approach as a general theory of the self to examine matrilineal tribal women's WLB construction as a distinct form of “doing” and “being”.

Although much lip service is paid to brotherhood in this country by preachers, teachers and politicians, the concept remains poorly understood. For the purposes of this article, the brotherhood ideal is defined broadly as behaviour among adult male human beings of the same generation, belonging to the same extended family, and living in a community, that ensures maximum well being and survivability of the entire family or community. In other words, it is behaviour that maximises the social welfare function of the entire family or community. A sisterhood ideal can be defined analogously, and group‐enhancing behaviour by family members of both sexes might be termed the brotherhood‐sisterhood ideal. Since this behaviour is learned gradually as the individual matures, it can be described as voluntary in the sense that it is not imposed by a legal authority external to the family.

This paper examines the importance of property rights in women’s empowerment in rural India. Arguments justifying the need for granting property rights to women are presented and the distinction is made between legal (formal) and customary (informal) rights. The ineffectiveness of legal right in absence of customary rights has been discussed. Customary rights also become ineffective due to other institutional impediments. These impediments have been discussed. The results of extensive field work in rural West Bengal and Orissa have been presented to illustrate the pattern of development process that poor rural women want and in which the property right is only one component, not the only component.