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

Conc 1 ud i ng Renar ks
This study of the Yakha of Tamaphok, like the spirit Saguni in the
relevant myth, has traversed many environments, It began by looking at
the history of my research, in Oxford, London and elsewhere, which
explained much about the nature of the fieldwork subsquently undertaken
in Nepal, and the structure of the thesis produced as a result of it. 1
then looked critica!ly at a range of anthropological orientations to the
study of +,he environment, in which I argued for the need to question
what two key concepts in human ecology, namely 'people' and
'environment', meant loca!!y. Both, on closer inspection, became
problematic. I found that there was both diversity within the group
labe! led ' Yakha' and homogeneity between it and other groups. There was
a!so ambiguity as to where the outer boundaries of the group should be
drawn (if indeed they couid be). This was subsequently demonstrated
across a range of identity markers, such as language, re! igion and food.
'Yakha' was only one of a range of identity !abe!s an individual cou!d
use. Different labels were used in different environmental contexts.
'Environment' was likewise not the neatly bounded, reified entity it
is often taken to be. Yakha moved physically (and in their
imaginations) through multiple environments. These inciuded the other
caste and ethnic groups living within and around Tamaphok (in comparison
with and contrast to which Yakha identity was negotiated), the spirit
worid, the household environment, and the world beyond Tamaphok, as wel!
as the fields and forests we might conventiona!ly think of as
'environment',
The questions 'who are the people?' and 'what is the environment?',