When glaciers vanish : nature, power and moral order in the indian Himalayas

La présente thèse est une étude ethnographique qui examine le savoir en tant que pratique située au Ladakh, dans l’Himalaya indien. Elle analyse les implications socioculturelles des deux moteurs de changement en jeu au Ladakh: l’un est d'origine socio-économique et lié à la production du Ladakh en tant que zone frontalière, tandis que l’autre est de nature environnementale et entrainé par les changements climatiques. Alors que le Ladakh est demeuré hors de la portée de l’État bureaucratique pendant l’administration coloniale britannique, la région s’est trouvée reconfigurée en zone frontalière stratégique après l’indépendance de l’Inde des suites des guerres successives avec le Pakistan et la Chine. L’Indépendance a mené à la partition de l’Inde et du Pakistan en 1947; cette thèse examine la portée à long terme des évènements traumatisants de la partition tels qu’ils se sont déroulés au Ladakh et comment les Ladakhis établissent des liens entre ces évènements et les changements climatiques. L’État indien s’est produit dans la région à travers une volonté de dominer les montagnes, principalement par le développement d’infrastructures et par l’intégration du savoir local des Ladakhis dans l’appareil militaire. La militarisation a restructuré l'économie du Ladakh, redéfini la structure des ménages, contribué à l’exode rural, déplacé la centralité des activités agropastorales et, tel que la dissertation le soutient, altéré de manière significative la connexion de la population locale avec l'environnement. La rationalisation croissante de la perspective sur l’environnement aujourd'hui contribue à la fragmentation des liens qui unissent les domaines naturels et humains dans la cosmologie locale de même qu’à l'abandon des pratiques rituelles connexes. Parallèlement, la région est touchée par des effets distincts des changements climatiques, en particulier la récession des glaciers. La thèse juxtapose l'expérience subjective de ces vastes changements dans la vie quotidienne des villageois de la Vallée de Sham avec les faits historiques environnementaux, démontrant ainsi que les événements historiques locaux influent sur les perceptions des changements environnementaux. L'analyse démontre qu’un phénomène objectif tel que la récession des glaciers est interprété à travers des réalités locales. Plus précisément, selon la conception du monde locale, un glacier en retrait est une figure rhétorique d’une transformation de la condition humaine. Comme le fait valoir la dissertation, l’interprétation culturelle ne constitue pas un obstacle à l'objectivité de l'histoire naturelle de la cosmologie locale. L’interprétation culturelle et l'expérience empirique s’avèrent par ailleurs essentielles à la vitalité des connaissances locales sur l'environnement et à la performance des pratiques associées.The dissertation presents an ethnographic study that examines knowledge as a situated practice in Ladakh, in the Indian Himalayas. It analyzes the sociocultural implications of two drivers of change at play in Ladakh: one is of socioeconomic origin and linked to the production of Ladakh as a border area, while the other is environmental and driven by climate change. Ladakh, which remained outside the scope of the bureaucratic state during the British colonial administration, found itself refashioned into a strategic border area following India’s independence and successive wars with Pakistan and China. Independence led to the partition of Indian into India and Pakistan in 1947; the dissertation examines the long-term, traumatic events of the partition in Ladakh, tracing connections to current perceptions of climate change. The independent Indian state has produced itself in the region through the taming of its mountains, primarily through infrastructure development and the co-optation of Ladakhi knowledge of the environment by the military apparatus. Far-reaching militarization has restructured Ladakh’s economy, consequently redefining household structure, contributing to village depopulation, displacing the centrality of agro-pastoralist activities and, as the dissertation argues, significantly altering the local population’s engagement with the environment. The increasing rationalization of the outlook on the environment today contributes to the fragmentation of links between the natural and human realms within the local cosmology and the abandonment of related ritual practices. Concurrently, the region is impacted by distinct effects of climate change, in particular glacier recession. The dissertation juxtaposes both the subjective experience of wide-ranging environmental changes and changes in everyday village life with historical facts, showing that local historical events influence perceptions of glacier recession and the depletion of natural resources. The analysis demonstrates that objective phenomena such as glacier recession are interpreted through local realities. Specifically, in the local worldview, a vanishing glacier is a trope for changes in the human condition. Yet, as the dissertation further argues, such cultural framing does not preclude the objectivity of natural history in local cosmology. Moreover, cultural framing and empirical experience, therefore, are shown to be essential to the vitality of local knowledge about the environment and to the performance of associated landscape practices

A study of the effects of social variables on technological conceptualisation in light of the desktop metaphor

In this dissertation, I investigate whether the conceptualisation of computerised technological phenomena is influenced by social variables, in particular exposure to the computer. The conceptualisation and behaviour of a group of students majoring in technology-related fields were studied. Through the application of Conceptual Blending Theory, the multi-modal desktop metaphorical blend (DMMB) (as an electronic representation of an actual office desktop) was focused on. The participants were provided with tasks with the aim of determining whether they conceptualise the electronic desktop as a literal ‘thing-in-itself’ or as an e-version of their actual desks. The intent was to examine to what extent social variables, especially exposure, motivate the nature of the conceptualisation. Therefore, it is hypothesised that exposure, regarded as the primary variable in this study, influences conceptualisation of the DMMB to the extent where the it either loses its metaphoric quality in participants, who maintain regular and prolonged exposure to the computer, or retains the metaphoric quality of the DMMB in participants, who are not exposed to the computer on a regular and prolonged basis. Two groups were distinguished based on the extent of the individual participants’ exposure to computer technology, namely a high-exposure group and a low-exposure group. A mixed method approach was used to test and analyse data collected from individual participants, as well as from the high- and low-exposure groups. Methods used to test these hypotheses included questionnaires, word association (a conceptual task), controlled observation (a behavioural task), and interviews. The resulting data were analysed by means of a thematic interview analysis and non-parametric statistical tests.Linguistics and Modern LanguagesM.A. (Linguistics

Embodying spirits: village oracles and possession ritual in Ladakh, North India

This thesis focuses upon village oracles in Buddhist Ladakh who provide ritual services to clients when they are in trance and possessed by gods. Village oracles are discussed in the context of a customary division made by Ladakhis between the lay and clerical components of their society. They are among the few layy ritual specialists and are consequently accorded less esteem than their monastic counterparts for they are associated with the lower reaches of the pantheon and with inferior ritual techniques. Moreover, Ladakhi village oracles attract suspicion because of the manner in which they are created. They are elected through affliction which is gradually, but only precariously, contained as the spirits responsible are domesticated in their human vessels. The process of initiation is seen in terms of the transformation of a probable demonic affliction into a capricious divine power. This process is analysed further through rituals associated with witchcraft possession and monastery oracles. Village oracles were once overwhelmed by affliction, like witchcraft victims, and it is never clear that these erstwhile patients have become healers, nor that they have turned their demons into gods. Village oracles are also related to practitioners in the monastery. The gods evoked by monastery oracles were converted to Buddhism in "historical" times and, today, they join the side of religion in the continuing conquest of enemies. The gods embodied by village oracles may also be seen as converts but, by comparison, their conversion is a much more uncertain affair. It is argued that village oracles are best understood in terms of their position in-between affliction in the village and a respected ritual power in the monastery. The analysis suggests similarities with spirit mediums elsewhere who are likewise associated with movements away from affliction towards ritual powers

Embodying Spirits: Village Oracles and Possession Ritual in Ladakh, North India

This thesis focuses upon village oracles in Buddhist Ladakh who provide ritual services to clients when they are in trance and possessed by gods. Village oracles are discussed in the context of a customary division made by Ladakhis between the lay and clerical components of their society. They are among the few lay ritual specialists and are consequently accorded less esteem than their monastic counterparts for they are associated with the lower reaches of the pantheon and with inferior ritual techniques. Moreover, Ladakhi village oracles attract suspicion because of the manner in which they are created. They are elected through affliction which is gradually, but only precariously, contained as the spirits responsible are domesticated in their human vessels. The process of initiation is seen in terms of the transformation of a probable demonic affliction into a capricious divine power. This process is analysed further through rituals associated with witchcraft possession and monastery oracles. Village oracles were once overwhelmed by affliction, like witchcraft victims, and it is never clear that these erstwhile patients have become healers, or that they have turned their demons into gods. Village oracles are also related to practitioners in the monastery. The gods evoked by monastery oracles were converted to Buddhism in “historical” times and, today, they join the side of religion in the continuing conquest of enemies. The gods embodied by village oracles may also be seen as converts but, by comparison, their conversion is a much more uncertain affair. It is argued that village oracles are best understood in terms of their position in-between affliction in the village and a respected ritual power in the monastery. The analysis suggests similarities with spirit mediums elsewhere who are likewise associated with movements away from affliction towards ritual powers