{"product_id":"rituals-of-ethnicity-thangmi-identities-between-nepal-and-india-hardback-9780812246834","title":"Rituals of Ethnicity; Thangmi Identities Between Nepal and India (Hardback) 9780812246834","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eRituals of Ethnicity\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eThangmi Identities Between Nepal and India\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eSara Shneiderman (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812246834\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 25 March 2015\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e328 pages, 22 illus.\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Theoretically informed (but never pompous), attractively and clearly written (but not overwritten), ethnographically grounded (but never boring), multi-sited and boundary-crossing, politically aware, engaged, and reflexive, Sara Shneiderman's ethnographic monograph makes a significant, indeed brilliant, intervention in Himalayan anthropology, one that is (or ought to be) just as relevant for specialists of India as it is for scholars of Nepal.\" (David Gellner, in \u003ci\u003ePacific Affairs\u003c\/i\u003e) \"An entirely unique and stunning ethnography. Shneiderman finds herself assisting the Thangmi's drive to manifest their distinctiveness and seek recognition. She manages a high-wire performance herself: one full of compassion, acute theoretical insight, exemplary balance, and respect for the sacredness of the quest-doing as much credit to ethnography as a craft as to the Thangmi as a people. Few have been as fortunate in their ethnographer as the Thangmi.\" (James C. Scott, Yale University) \"Brilliant and original, \u003ci\u003eRituals of Ethnicity\u003c\/i\u003e traces how identity, ethnicity, and indigeneity are constructed by members of a marginalized group within different state structures. Arguing for the importance of often self-conscious rituals for mobilizing and objectifying ethnicity, Shneiderman shows how anthropology too can be marshaled for this project, recasting ethnography as a variety of ritualized performance.\" (Kirin Narayan, Australian National University)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eRituals of Ethnicity\u003c\/i\u003e is a transnational study of the relationships between mobility, ethnicity, and ritual action. Through an ethnography of the Thangmi, a marginalized community who migrate between Himalayan border zones of Nepal, India, and the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, Shneiderman offers a new explanation for the persistence of enduring ethnic identities today despite the increasing realities of mobile, hybrid lives. She shows that ethnicization may be understood as a process of ritualization, which brings people together around the shared sacred object of identity.\u003cbr\u003e The first comprehensive ethnography of the Thangmi, \u003ci\u003eRituals of Ethnicity\u003c\/i\u003e is framed by the Maoist-state civil conflict in Nepal and the movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland in India. The histories of individual nation-states in this geopolitical hotspot-as well as the cross-border flows of people and ideas between them-reveal the far-reaching and mutually entangled discourses of democracy, communism, development, and indigeneity that have transformed the region over the past half century. Attentive to the competing claims of diverse members of the Thangmi community, from shamans to political activists, Shneiderman shows how Thangmi ethnic identity is produced collaboratively by individuals through ritual actions embedded in local, national, and transnational contexts. She builds upon the specificity of Thangmi experiences to tell a larger story about the complexities of ethnic consciousness: the challenges of belonging and citizenship under conditions of mobility, the desire to both lay claim to and remain apart from the civil society of multiple states, and the paradox of self-identification as a group with cultural traditions in need of both preservation and development. Through deep engagement with a diverse, cross-border community that yearns to be understood as a distinctive, coherent whole, \u003ci\u003eRituals of Ethnicity\u003c\/i\u003e presents an argument for the continued value of locally situated ethnography in a multisited world.\u003cbr\u003e Cover art: \u003ci\u003eLost Culture Can Not Be Reborn\u003c\/i\u003e, painting by Mahendra Thami, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eList of Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Preface\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Of Rocks and Rivers-Being Both at Once\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Framing, Practicing, and Performing Ethnicity\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Origin Myths and Myths of Originality\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Circular Migration, Circular Economies of Belonging and Citizenship\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Developing Associations of Ethnicity and Class\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. Transcendent Territory, Portable Deities, and the Problem of Indigeneity\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 7. The Work of Life-Cycle Rituals and the Power of Parallel Descent\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 8. Resisting the End of a Ritual\u003cbr\u003e Epilogue: \u003ci\u003eThami ke ho?\u003c\/i\u003e-What Is Thami?\u003cbr\u003e Glossary\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52555718787352,"sku":"9780812246834","price":53.89,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/rituals-of-ethnicity-thangmi-identities-between-nepal-and-india-hardback-9780812246834","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}