1st Edition

Inter-Ethnic Dynamics in Asia Considering the Other through Ethnonyms, Territories and Rituals

Edited By Christian Culas, François Robinne Copyright 2010
    240 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    240 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    South-East Asia is one of the most complex regions in the world as far as ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity is concerned with an extremely rich ancient and contemporary history. Because of this, it offers an exceptionally rich field of study for inter-ethnic relations. This book examines interethnic relationships between groups and the dynamics of exchange networks throughout Asia and includes case studies based in Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Nepal, China, and Siberia.

    The innovative aspect of this book lies in the fact that the contributors examine relationships between groups and the dynamics of exchange networks across Asia rather than ethnic groups studied in isolation. Rendering the important moments of daily life of ethnic groups and focussing on the exchanges between groups sharing a specific social space, this approach, today still rarely used in Asian anthropology, allows systems of exchange to emerge and for us to understand the systems of power and local leadership from the inside out.

    Inter-Ethnic Dynamics in Asia will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian culture and society, ethnicity and regional anthropology.

    Introduction C. Culas and F. Robinne  Part I: Ethnonyms : Naming oneself, naming others and being named in a multi-ethnic complex  1. The ethnonyms of the Hmong in Vietnam: Early history (1856-1924) and practical epistemology Christian Culas  2. Rai, Khambu, Kirant etc.: ethnic labels or political and land tenure categories ? Logics of identification of an ensemble of populations in Nepal Grégoire Schlemmer  3. Making ethnonyms in a clan social organization: The case of the so-called Kachin subgroups (Burma) François Robinne  4. Names and Territoriality among the Phunoy: How The State creates Ethnic Group (Lao PDR) Vanina Bouté  Part II: Spatial configurations and appropriation of the social landscapre in multi-ethnic contexts  5. A Sense of Place. The Spatial Referent in the Definition of Identities and Territories in the Dulong Valley (Northwest Yunnan - China) Stéphane Gros  6. Territorial construction and ethnic relations in the context of collectivisation A case study from a mountain area in Northern Vietnam Marie Mellac  Part III: Presence and use of the Other in religious rituals  7. Orthodox Russians, Siberian shamanists and a bear : How do you take an oath in Siberia ? Jean-Luc Lambert  8. The illness is the other people: cross representations and ritual mangement of alterity and illness among the Kulung (Nepal) Grégoire Schlemmer  9. Presence and use of the Burmese legend heritage in the dynamic of interethnic relations (South Shan State) François Robinne  Part IV: Analyse a-contrario  10. Ethnic Isolationism in the China-Southeast Asia Borderlands Nicholas Tapp

    Biography

    Christian Culas is a Senior Research Fellow in Anthropology at the French Institute on Contemporary South-East Asia (IRASEC – CNRS-French Ministry of Foreign Affairs) at Hanoi belonging to the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).

    François Robinne is Director of Research in CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) and Director of IRSEA (Institute of Research on South-East Asia) at the Université de Provence, France.