11 research outputs found
Being an assistant to a shaman
This article is built around the authorâs experience as a shamanâs assistant. This autobiographical account touches upon the poverty, beliefs in ghosts, and shamanistic practices in a Limbu hamlet of Kalimpong, which is a piece of land between Sikkim and Bhutan. Starting with a brief discussion on who a shaman is, the author describes the situation under which he became an assistant to a shaman whom he had to fetch to deal with the sickness of his brother. The author also brings out the issue of the shaman, or phedaáč
gmÄ in the Limbu language, becoming rare because one could not become one by wishing so or by undergoing training under a senior shaman. He says that to become a shaman is a destiny and the signs of becoming one start to show quite early in childhood in the form of abnormal behaviour in specific cycles of months and on partaking of certain foods. In the end, the author shows concern for the future of shamanism, as it seems to be losing out to organised religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity.Cet article est un rĂ©cit autobiographique qui repose sur lâexpĂ©rience de lâauteur comme assistant dâun chamane. Il aborde la pauvretĂ©, la croyance aux mauvais esprits et les pratiques chamaniques dans un hameau limbu de la rĂ©gion de Kalimpong, situĂ©e entre le Sikkim et le Bhoutan. AprĂšs avoir briĂšvement discutĂ© lâĂ©tat de chamane, lâauteur raconte comment il est devenu assistant du chamane quâil avait dĂ» quĂ©rir pour soigner son frĂšre malade. Lâauteur souligne Ă©galement que les chamanes, ou phedaáč
gmÄ en langue limbu, deviennent rares, car pour devenir chamane il ne suffit pas de le dĂ©sirer ou de suivre une formation auprĂšs dâun maĂźtre. Câest un destin, dont les signes se manifestent trĂšs tĂŽt dans lâenfance, sous forme dâun comportement anormal Ă des moments clĂ©s du calendrier et par la consommation de certains aliments. Au final, lâauteur sâinquiĂšte du devenir du chamanisme, qui semble perdre du terrain face aux religions organisĂ©es comme lâhindouisme, le bouddhisme et le christianisme
Introduction
International audience[No abstract
Introduction
International audience[No abstract
Nature, Environment and Society: Conservation, Governance and Transformation in India
International audience[No abstract
Mobilité, territoire et pouvoirs en Himalaya : pour Philippe Sagant
Ă la fin des annĂ©es 1950, la recherche sur les rĂ©gions himalayennes connaĂźt un tournant majeur : les enquĂȘtes de terrain des premiers ethnologues professionnels prennent le pas sur les travaux textuels orientalistes. Le NĂ©pal, royaume himalayen jamais colonisĂ©, vient de sâouvrir au monde. EnvironnĂ© dâĂ©tats dorĂ©navant fermĂ©s oĂč sâĂ©tait illustrĂ©e la recherche britannique des administrateurs coloniaux de lâAsie du Sud, il devient un laboratoire centrĂ© sur lâethnologie des minoritĂ©s dites tibĂ©to-birmanes prises sous la double influence du monde indien et du monde sino-tibĂ©tain, une configuration dâune infinie richesse. EngagĂ© aprĂšs la guerre dâAlgĂ©rie dans le mĂ©tier dâethnologue, Philippe Sagant, Ă la mĂ©moire duquel ce numĂ©ro des Ateliers d'anthropologie est consacrĂ©, est un acteur de ce moment pionnier. Ses travaux nouent les exigences de la collecte ethnographique, entiĂšrement Ă faire au NĂ©pal, Ă une rĂ©flexion dĂ©passant les clivages rĂ©gionaux culturels ou religieux pour dĂ©velopper une anthropologie des sociĂ©tĂ©s des marges prises entre des forces centralisatrices oĂč les domaines du politique et du religieux sont indissociables. Ils tĂ©moignent des rĂ©flexions Ă lâĆuvre dans lâaire himalayenne et dans la discipline ethnologique, depuis la formation de Philippe Sagant au musĂ©e de lâHomme, sa participation aux RCP des annĂ©es 1960 et aux institutions crĂ©Ă©es Ă cette Ă©poque, jusquâĂ ses ambitions comparatives sur un modĂšle de pouvoir archaĂŻque, « le chef Ă©lu des dieux ». Son engagement dans la formation Ă lâuniversitĂ© de Nanterre et Ă lâInalco a marquĂ© toute une gĂ©nĂ©ration. Les Ă©crits de Philippe Sagant, câest aussi un style trĂšs personnel, une voix trĂšs moderne par lâimportance quâil attribua Ă la parole et au vĂ©cu de ses informateurs, Ă la forme en ethnologie, vecteur de lâethnocentrisme. Cet Ă©lan fut brisĂ© par une maladie terrible qui le coupa de la recherche en 1996 jusquâĂ son dĂ©cĂšs en 2015. Pour renouer les fils de ce temps suspendu, ce recueil propose des contributions reprenant certains de ses travaux, qui dialoguent avec des pages inĂ©dites issues de ses archives sur le vĂ©cu des Limbu de lâest du NĂ©pal Ă la fin des annĂ©es 1960, pĂ©riode marquante dans lâhistoire de ce pays. Il offre aussi la traduction en anglais de deux textes sur le « chef Ă©lu des dieux » en milieu hindou et bouddhiste et des inĂ©dits tardifs destinĂ©s Ă un public plus large. In the late 1950s, research on the Himalayan regions reached a major turning point: field studies by the first professional ethnologists supplanted orientalist textual works. Nepal, a Himalayan kingdom that had never been colonised, had just opened to the world. Surrounded by previously closed states where British research by the colonial administrators of South Asia had been illustrated, it became a laboratory focused on the ethnology of so-called Tibeto-Burman minorities under the dual influence of the Indian and Sino-Tibetan worlds, an infinitely rich configuration. Philippe Sagant, to whom this issue of Ateliers dâanthropologie is dedicated, played a part in that pioneering moment, taking up the ethnological profession after the Algerian War. His works combine the rigors of ethnographic collectionâsomething that needed to be done in its entirety in Nepalâwith reflection that goes beyond regional cultural or religious divisions, to develop an anthropology of marginal societies caught between centralising forces in which the political and religious spheres are inseparable. They show the reflections pursued in the Himalayan area and in the ethnological discipline, from the time of Philippe Sagantâs training at the MusĂ©e de lâHomme and his participation in the RCPs of the 1960s and in institutions created at that time, to his comparative ambitions revolving around an archaic power model of âthe godsâ chosen oneâ. His involvement in training at Paris-Nanterre University and Inalco influenced a whole generation. Philippe Sagantâs writings also have a very personal style, and a very modern voice because of the importance he attributed to the words and experiences of his informants, and to form in ethnology, a vehicle of ethnocentrism. This momentum was broken by a terrible illness that halted his research in 1996 until his death in 2015. To reconnect the threads of that suspended time, this collection offers contributions revisiting some of Sagantâs works. They establish a dialogue with unpublished pages from his archives on the lives of the Limbu in eastern Nepal in the late 1960, a striking period in the history of that country. It also offers English translations of two texts on the âgodsâ chosen headmanâ in Hindu and Buddhist environments, and late unpublished texts intended for a broader readership