Social topologies (3/3) Border(lands)
In two previous posts, I introduced some considerations about the use of topology as a method in anthropology. The first of these presented conceptions of the body in relation to tattooing and the second...
Category: *Research posts*
Social topologies (2/3). The House
In a previous post I introduced some considerations about the use of topology as a method in anthropology, and briefly presented a first case study about conceptions of the body in the tattooing process...
Social topologies (1/3). Tattoo interface
As objects of anthropological inquiry, a body, a house, and a territory each pose a similar set of questions in relation to notions of interiority/exteriority; identity/alterity; limit or boundary; and containment. The body, the...
Borders, Ethnicity and Critical Scholarship
For some ten years, my work has focused on border politics and identity, ethnicity and state-society relations in China, giving rise to intensive fieldwork in the Gyalrong region of Sichuan province. These issues are...
Incompleteness in Yi writings
China officially numbers fifty-five “minority nationalities” (shaoshu minzu 少数民族)—an expression often inappropriately translated as “national minorities” and wrongly regarded as “ethnic groups”. One of these is the “Yi nationality” (Yizu 彝族), ranked first among...
Changing forms of religion as an indicator of current transformations in Nepal
When carefully considered, the motto of “let’s be happy” seems rather appropriate to the current Nepali situation. Political failure, disillusionment with politics, power cuts, a shortage of so many basic necessities, an economic crisis,...
“Kham Project” receives support from the European Research Council
Stéphane Gros has been awarded a Starting Independent Researcher Grant from the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant)[1] for his project “Territories, Communities and Exchanges in the Sino-Tibetan Kham Borderlands (China),” hosted at the...
Les minorités de Chine à l’exposition universelle de Shanghai
Par le biais de l’exposition universelle organisée à Shanghai en 2010 sur le thème : « Better city, better life » (chengshi rang shenghuo geng mei hao 城市让生活更美好), la Chine a montré comment elle...
Money and butter: On participation in optional rituals
In his study of the rituals of Newar Buddhism, although he privileges others categories for his analysis, David Gellner points out that “[t]he first and most important distinction for Newar Buddhists is that between...
Quasi-generalized, mostly temporary, monasticism among boys: An uncommon form of Tibetan “mass monasticism”
The phrase “mass monasticism” coined by Melvyn Goldstein1 is by now commonly used by specialists of Tibetan religion. As recently reformulated by Goldstein, it designates a monastic system characterized by “an emphasis on recruiting...
Trans-ethnic entities
To my knowledge, literature devoted to North-East India and the Himalayas makes little mention of either trans-ethnic descent groups or trans-ethnic patronymic groups. Hutton and Mills mention people from distinct Naga tribes who consider...
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