THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

Chapter Three: Yakha Identity: The Social Environment
3.1 Introduction
The previous chapter highlighted the limitations of traditional
studies of 'people' and 'environment' in a situation where, ss in the
case of the Yakha, one is dealing with multiple identities and multiple
environments. This chapter looks primarily at the nature of Yakha
identity, as it had been forged historically and as we saw it being
negotiated and manipulated in Tamaphok during our fieldwork. It argues
that Yakha identities can only be understood in relation to the other
ethnic groups which made up the social environment of which the Yakha
were a part, It looks at Yakha perceptions of this environment, and at
how these perceptions in turn fed in to the creation, maintenance end
manipulation of Yakha identities. Subsequent chapters will look at
other environments in the lives of the Tamaphok Yakha and how Yakha
perceptions of these environments also contributed to the creation and
expression of Yakha identities.
The Yakha had probably always been, through their interact ion with
non-Yakha, in a state of cultural flux. The main historical model which
has been used to explain the incorporation of groups such as the Yakha
into the centralized Hindu state is that of Sanskritization, In his
exposition of the concept, Srinivas (1955) described how groups of
relatively low status in the caste system assume the trappings of
Hinduism in order to increase their economic, social and political
status. In this model, tribal groups such as the Yakha lose their
traditional values and beliefs in the wake of over-bearing Hindu
influence (cf, Messerschmidt 1982, on the Thakali).