Modernization, the state, and the construction of a Tharu identity in Nepal

Article Abstract:

Assumptions about the cultural and linguistic underpinnings of ethnicity were explored using the case of the Tharus of southern Nepal and northern India. Theories focusing on the importance of cultural symbols as the basis for ethnic identity were challenged by demonstrations that the Tharus had constructed an identity for themselves that was more politically than culturally based, although they lacked a common set of symbols. Therefore, ethinicity cannot be viewed as a cultural phenomenon.

India, Ethnicity, Nepal

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The forms culture takes: a state-of-the-field essay on the anthropology of Southeast Asia

Article Abstract:

Southeast Asianists have shifted their focus in studying the cultures of the region. Instead of reading signs as having intrinsic meanings that have to be interpreted, anthropologists now focus on how these signs are interpreted by those who have access to these, whether the interpretations change over time and across groups, the process of such interpretative change and what is at stake when the change is to be wrought.

Practice, Study and teaching, Anthropologists, Cognition, Southeast Asia, Anthropological research, Cognition and culture, Discourse analysis

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Agricultural change and ethnic succession in Southeast Asian states: a case for regional anthropology

Article Abstract:

Deductive reasoning is applied to explain ethnic succession in Southeast Asian regions. In these regions, agriculture is central to the existence of an ethnic group, not just on the level of physical sustenance, but also in the spiritual and ethical-moral dimensions. Successful farming technologies assured the continuance of the community, which also meant the continuance of a culture, i.e., ethnic identity.

Research, Agriculture, Ethnology, Agricultural systems, Cultural anthropology

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