Seno Tsuhah is a primary school teacher and Indigenous social activist from the

Chakhesang Naga The Chakhesangs are a major Naga ethnic group inhabiting the Northeast Indian state of Nagaland. Chakhesangs were previously known as the former Eastern Angami, now recognized as a separate ethnic group. The name "Chakhesang" was created as ...

community in

Chizami Chizami is a village in the Phek district of Nagaland in Northeast India. The village has witnessed a revolution in terms of environmental protection & socioeconomic reforms for almost a decade. At present, Chizami is today visited by young gener ...

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

. She is recognised in

Northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

for her work on gender justice and sustainable farming; she has been associated with the feminist organisation, North East Network (NEN), for over twenty years.

Early life

Seno Tsuhah is part of the

community in

. As part of Chizami Students' Union, she became involved in community activities. After her college studies, she returned to her native village, teaching at the primary school in a neighbouring village and joining the Chizami Women's Society (CWS). She met Monisha Behal in

Pfütsero Pfütsero is a town located in the Phek District of the Indian state of Nagaland. It is the highest-altitude town and the coldest inhabited place in Nagaland with temperatures occasionally dropping below 0 °C during winter nights. It is he ...

at one of the training programmes of the North East Network (NEN) in 1996 and officially joined NEN two years later. She worked as an activist for women's rights. After eight years of her efforts, Tsuhah managed to convince Chizami village council to women deserved equal wages in unskilled labour. In 2014, the council passed a resolution decreeing equal wages for women agricultural labourers on par with men. The following year, two women were selected to become members of the council. In the highly patriarchal Naga society, the Chizami village council continues to be one of very few that have women as active members.

Indigenous farming

Tsuhah is an Indigenous

food sovereignty Food sovereignty is a food system in which the people who produce, distribute, and consume food also control the mechanisms and policies of food production and Food distribution, distribution. This stands in contrast to the present corporate Agr ...

activist. She set up a NEN centre in Chizami which collected fifteen varieties of millet. Tsuhah represented the Chakhesang Naga community at the

2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Partie ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark. Tsuhah has asserted the role of indigenous women in local farming practices as well as preserving biodiversity. On the occasion of International Women's Day in 2017, she said "Let us acknowledge their omen'swork by using this platform to relook, rethink and restrategise to recognise the contributions of women and men farmers practicing ecological agriculture in our communities". Tsuhah also focuses on role of women in crop selection and seed preservation.

Awards

In September 2020, Tsuhah received the 13th Peace Channel Award in

Dimapur Dimapur () is the largest city and municipality in the Indian state of Nagaland. As of 2024 , the municipality had a population of 172,000. The city is the main gateway and commercial centre of Nagaland. Located near the border with Assam along ...

for her contributions towards women rights, good governance, natural resource management, and sustainable livelihood. In her acceptance speech, Tsuhah acknowledged the women with whom she has travelled throughout the years, especially women farmers, artisans, vendors, elders, and custodian knowledge holders. Two years later, the Naturenomics award was conferred by the Balipara Foundation in order to recognise her pioneering work with Chizami Weaves. In her acceptance, she dedicated the award to the weavers who "become more active and participate in community works in their own village and through this work it has 'visible-lised' the contribution of women." She stated that the award acknowledges the work on sustainable livelihood through textile weaving.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuhah, Seno Living people Naga people Women from Nagaland Educators from Nagaland People from Phek district Year of birth missing (living people)