Eating Pig Testicles: Masculinity among the Rongmei Naga in Northeast India

This paper explores the entanglement of food practices and masculinity among the Rongmei Naga community of Northeast India, focusing on the practice of gakdei semmei (pig castration) and the consumption of pig testicles. Using autoethnography and a phenomenological approach to life-worlds, this study examines how food-related practices embody, sustain and adapt masculine norms in the context of urbanisation, economic change and religious transformation. Through detailed accounts of pig rearing, rice distribution and ritual consumption, the paper illustrates how masculinity in Rongmei society is a dynamic, collective expression embedded in kinship, spirituality and cultural tradition. Despite rapid social change, food practices continue to serve as powerful sites of gender negotiation, highlighting the adaptability and persistence of indigenous masculinities in the lower Himalayas.