Rituals of Ethnicity
CONTEMPORARY ETHNOGRAPHY
Kirin Narayan and Alma Gottlieb, Series Editors
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
Rituals of Ethnicity
Thangmi Identities Between Nepal and India
Sara Shneiderman
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2015 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shneiderman, Sara.
Rituals of ethnicity : Thangmi identities between Nepal and India / Sara Shneiderman. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Contemporary ethnography)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8122-4683-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Thami (Nepalese people) 2. Thami (Nepalese people)—Ethnic identity. 3. Thami (Nepalese people)—Migrations. 4. Thami (Nepalese people)—Government relations—Nepal. 5. Thami (Nepalese people)—Government relations—India, Northeastern. 6. Tribes—Government policy—Nepal. 7. Tribes—Government policy—India, Northeastern. 8. Ethnicity—Political aspects—Himalaya Mountains Region. 9. Emigration and immigration—Political aspects—Himalaya Mountains Region. I. Title. II. Series: Contemporary ethnography.
DS493.9.T46S56 2015
305.80095496—dc23
2014028283
Ama apa, bubu pairi, tete jarphu, hu wari, humi damari, ca camaica! Sakale kai seva!
Mother and father, older brother and sister-in-law, older sister and brother-in-law, younger brother and sister-in-law, younger sister and brother-in-law, son and daughter!
I offer service to all of you!
* * *
With this Thangmi greeting that recognizes all present with invocations of kinship, I dedicate this book to those who contributed to this project but did not live to see its end: Rana Bahadur and Maili of Balasode; Ram Bahadur of Kodari; Maili and Jyakha Bhojyu (Buddha Laxmi) of Pashelung; Junkiri of Suspa; Dalaman of Alampu; Singha Bahadur and Khumbalal of Kathmandu; and Basant, Gopal Singh, and Latte Apa (Man Bahadur) of Darjeeling
Contents
1. Of Rocks and Rivers—Being Both at Once
2. Framing, Practicing, and Performing Ethnicity
3. Origin Myths and Myths of Originality
4. Circular Economies of Migration, Belonging, and Citizenship
5. Developing Associations of Ethnicity and Class
6. Transcendent Territory, Portable Deities, and the Problem of Indigeneity
7. The Work of Life-Cycle Rituals and the Power of Parallel Descent
8. Resisting the End of a Ritual
Epilogue: Thami ke ho?—What Is Thami?
Abbreviations
| AIGL | All India Gorkha League |
| BLTS | Bhai Larke Thami Samaj |
| BTWA | Bharatiya Thami Welfare Association |
| CPI | Communist Party of India |
| CPI(M) | Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
| CPN | Communist Party of Nepal |
| CPN-ML | Communist Party of Nepal—Marxist-Leninist |
| CPN-UML | Communist Party of Nepal—United Marxist-Leninist |
| DFID | Department for International Development (U.K.) |
| DGHC | Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council |
| GDNS | Gorkha Duhkha Nivarak Sammelan |
| GJM | Gorkhaland Janamukti Morcha |
| GNLF | Gorkhaland National Liberation Front |
| HPSU | Hill People’s Social Union |
| ILO | International Labour Organization |
| IPO | Indigenous People’s Organization |
| JANSEEP | Janajati Social and Economic Empowerment Project |
| JEP | Janajati Empowerment Project |
| LGES | Lapilang Gau Ekai Samiti |
| NC |
Nepali Congress
|