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

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higher administrators in Europe, mine were asked by project staff in Nepal, 13. For a detailed account and analysis of the events surrounding the pro-democracy 'revolution' in Kathmandu and elsewhere, see Hoftun and Raeper (1992). Burghart and Gaenszle (1991) also provide an interesting review. What follows here is a personal account more in the genre of reports Burghart and Gaenszle term "witness literature: witness in the sense that they have been written or recorded by those who witnessed the events in Spring, 1990 leading to the restoration of multi-party democracy in Nepal" (1991: 51, 14, A major preoccupation in the months leading up to our departure was how to disposed of our surplus belongings equitably, Since arriving in the village with the contents of two backpacks we had accumulated a surprising amount of equipment, particularly living in our own house, little of which we wanted to transport out of the village again. From conversations with other researchers and foreign volunteers living in villages, we knew that if badly handled, the question of who was given what on departure could badly sour farewells. While there were some things we wanted to give our neighbours and special friends as a token of our affection and knew they would appreciate, for the rest we decided we had to be ruthless and insist that everything would be disposed of publicly and fairly, Auctions needed much verbal dexterity and plenty of people to make them work. Furthermore, they were likely to benefit the richest people in the community unfairly, and ran the risk of less desirable things not being sold. For this reason, after much thought we decided the best solution was to organize a tombola whfch we advertised with posters outside the office and the school, Every item to be disposed of was given a numbered ticket, the pair of which was put with all the others in a box, Everything on display was worth at least 2 NRs (4p), some things (such as an unwanted saree) were worth up to 250 NRs (f51, and every ticket won a prize, Since it was the festival season we figured people were quite likely to have some extra money they would be willing to chance in this sort of event. We were very excited and apprehensfve about the tombola beforehand. We had invested so much time and energy in its planning that we felt rather like actors before a first night, On the morning of the tombola, we carried everything we were raffling up the hill from our house to the school where we displayed the 250 items in an open classroom, We started by allowing everybody to buy two tickets but as numbers swelled and it became obvious things were getting out of hand we had to switch to one t icket per person. Some people won some very appropriate (and others some very inappropriate) things which caused great amusement, such as the village health worker who won a lice comb, and a Brahmin school teacher who won a basket for carrying wood, We -re happy that at least some poorer people won some nice things that they would never have bought for themselves normally. The tombola raised 500 NRs (about f 10) to which we added 300 NRs of our own money, We had also thought a lot about how the money raised could best be spent to benefit the whole communf ty. The school classrooms were very shabby, dark and gloomy, and we felt that a worthwhile contribution would be to pay for whitewash to improve the lighting and general atmosphere inside, Many of the teachers seemed to
think that books for the school library would be a more profitable way to spend the money, but the library did not seem a tremendously well used resource and the better books were 1 iable to 'walk' from it, so we favoured a contribution of more general benefit to all, The problem was we were not going to be in Tamaphok to administer dispensin~ the money (a classic source of problems in larger scale 'aid' work), but we made arrangements as best we could to ensure it would be carried out. We also donated larger Items, such as a cupboard and a water filter, to the school. We subsequently learnt that the whitewash work took place a year later, after the national electfons, delayed by the teachers who were communist party supporters because they did not want it to appear that anything worthwhile was done for the people while the interim government was in power, 15. Cf, Rarnirez (1991; 361 writing about problems in collaboration between the CNRS/<strong>IN</strong>RA Gulmi and Argha-Khanci Inter-Disciplinary Programme and an EEC development project planned for the same area: "Our work was of little use to the EEC development proJect.,.when they are not part of a codified agreement, exchanges between the two parties generally seem not to take placem.
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THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND
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Dedicated to the memory of MART IN
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Without the funding of the ESRC it
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CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: Searching for
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CHAPTER SEVEN: Other Worlds: Inside
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List of Plates After Page P!ate 1:
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, Map I: Nepal, showing location of
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March 1989 and October 1990, in the
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to be social?", friends asked. "Enc
Page 19 and 20: people whom the project was designe
Page 21 and 22: was no reason why SEADD (who liked
Page 23 and 24: presence of institutions at the loc
Page 25 and 26: I did have the opportunity to under
Page 27 and 28: (Map 2). We decided to make Kathman
Page 29 and 30: felt I had scored a small victory o
Page 31 and 32: Chainpur (see Map 3). It was on the
Page 33 and 34: primary level teacher at the Tamaph
Page 35 and 36: quest ions concerned wi th language
Page 37 and 38: p 5: KHARDEP map of Tamaphok penchy
Page 39 and 40: to visit during the day. Our own da
Page 41 and 42: learn the Yakha language, our progr
Page 43 and 44: week into his palm to cover the ext
Page 45 and 46: make enquiries. I found out about a
Page 47 and 48: a research assistant after school.
Page 49 and 50: to collect a VSO (Voluntary Service
Page 52 and 53: towns). Demonstrations and strikes
Page 54 and 55: post-mortem exemfnations could be c
Page 56 and 57: Kathmandu and elsewhere, and there
Page 58 and 59: sending to Kathmandu, a lucky find
Page 60 and 61: Our return to Tamaphok after this w
Page 62 and 63: een his concern: ie there has been
Page 64 and 65: of the ncrude distinction between '
Page 66 and 67: with their environment' ) and ask w
Page 68 and 69: Notes: Chapter One 1. I should expl
Page 72 and 73: Chapter Two: Ecological Anthropolog
Page 74 and 75: despite long-term involvement in th
Page 76 and 77: This chapter looks at how many of t
Page 78: Poffenberger (1980) sees a direct a
Page 81 and 82: The major variable which Macfarlane
Page 83 and 84: the mindless instigators of denudat
Page 85 and 86: ather than regularities in the phen
Page 87 and 88: contradict ions" (Ellen, 1979b: 21,
Page 89 and 90: position which is too broad to be u
Page 91 and 92: Steward was predated by Meggers (19
Page 93 and 94: value of an ecosystemic approach in
Page 95 and 96: small population may be more adapti
Page 97 and 98: describes as ' mangeurs du bois' [e
Page 99 and 100: Rappaport thus argues for the need
Page 101 and 102: eing trivial and dealing only with
Page 103 and 104: What we have, then, is ecological a
Page 105 and 106: Others have suggested that there ma
Page 107 and 108: were unique is to deny an answer to
Page 109 and 110: 1987:86>. Sometimes identity derive
Page 111 and 112: and funeral and other ritual obliga
Page 113 and 114: suggests. Varioari for the Yakha wo
Page 115 and 116: Plate 7: Yakha woman, Kami boy Plat
Page 117 and 118: Certainly Yakha identity, their sen
Page 119 and 120: Bahadur one day; "doesn't it smell
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inland, and came into contact with
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land amongst kinsmen and adjudicati
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part. We shall then go on to look a
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settlers was from a pattern of shif
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PanciWa t Ankhibhui Maml i ng Tamap
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At the local level, the figures for
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P6-c Khap~ar (1 it, 'Five Skulls' )
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etween the two tribes were to be ta
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greater extreme the Yakha of Kingri
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People did not seem unduly perturbe
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take food, and to whom one could gi
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However, despite the influence of c
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1979:53). We were told of two other
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circumspection, A particularly stro
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striking in terms of the dichotomy
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ut never eaten. It should be noted
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Dasai-, TihBr, S8un San.krBnti, M B
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splattered with whitewash, and it o
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its scrupulous egalitarianism in ap
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In preparation, a large square of c
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practitioner) stepped forward and d
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Tihtir, their distinctive smell bei
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Plate 12: The predh6n v6-c gives Ti
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marked, clockwise from top left, wi
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e honoured, and proceeding through
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would tend to make feeble excuses a
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ice and dahi which had been the mar
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also served. The house was speciall
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there was no simple 'melting pot' a
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not at the material level conceived
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although it has been observed among
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amongst the more sophisticated memb
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Yakha came into Tamaphok in search
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muntum were essentially the same, w
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Sagant (1976:58) admits that "in th
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There were few specific things mark
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arkhi had to be of a different chor
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Plate 16: Chambog dh6ri5 in the mid
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millet would be enough to satisfy a
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pointing down. The next stage was c
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The story of O'B'mi was told to us
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of Tenbe'na was recited as follows:
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such as me,ca cydtj, which were sai
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and Yasokeni, all played to in a ba
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y the religious practitioners who t
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2. Cf, A1 len: "When I arrived in t
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5.2 The Yakha House The house in wh
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whitewash in painting their houses,
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me Porch The porch (omphu) mediated
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in this. People would put small wov
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to a terrace (Plate 20) which overl
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21). Ground level was part animal e
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clans, lineages and familial roles.
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clan. Yet one five-year old girl si
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Despite the origins of the relation
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are no women mentioned apart from K
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due, was to use their kinship term
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number of relationships covered by
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strife and tension. Quite often the
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situation was often only a temporar
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5.4 The Household Economy The expec
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labourers'). Some distinction betwe
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kind of previously cooked snack foo
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parma workers was a source of extra
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een the collaboration of groups of
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Loans, Debts and Indigency We ident
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'traditional' patterns were changin
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suggests, is a trait shared by all
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Kirsten Johnson and her col leagues
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karele variety grown lower down, an
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also said to keep plants such as du
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whereby people and goods came into,
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and September, before the rice plan
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few weeks ear!ier during Dasai-> to
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maize planting time in the beginnin
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y performing a pul to pokta cyao in
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when his parents died, was granted
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trees served as an important fodder
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valley). There was at that time no
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were said to be found where tigers
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causes of forest depletion. Many pe
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family we interviewed could remembe
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ecological basis of the societies i
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However, our over-r id ing impress
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3. The surprise which some anthropo
Page 295 and 296:
Chapter Seven: Inside-Out: Other Wo
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N.R. Shrestha, 1982, 1985a, 1985b;
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usinesses were located near them, T
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Plate 26: Walking through the fores
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Adding to the sense of Basantapur a
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Plate 28: Sansare Mude bazaar Plate
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Khola valley and to the Himalaya, a
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Annual Fairs In addition to the reg
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verses, these were not generally kn
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8 Tapai- arth ffarnuhos (Promise yo
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problems, The fundamental importanc
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in the district. In our studies of
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clothing from abroad was much in ev
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friend of his. This annual military
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Pakistan war and remembered the con
Page 325 and 326:
everyone, As potential wage labour
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service and bought land in the same
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money paid agents in Kathmandu who
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people concerned, and how the outsi
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and this, perhaps, made marriage ac
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jerked by the strings of broader so
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is ...p rimarily due to the growth
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Sanskritizat ion had been part of Y
Page 341 and 342:
Plate 30: Listening to music Plate
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as a backwater, everyone agreed tha
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students coming from some distance
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For students in ward 9, Okhre-Bhote
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The teachers also administered a sc
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the school. The curriculum followed
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see the spatial relationship betwee
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King Mahendra in 1960 after he accu
Page 357 and 358:
Plate 32: Pradhen P8-c issuing citi
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Outside, people started getting exc
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muscle with regard to its de jure c
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after festivals and somewhat lackad
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As well as the ANM, a students' ass
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Ths school was a central forum for
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of the po!itical struggle, despite
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the ambiguously regarded superpower
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of their shop with stout wooden pla
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section looks briefly at how these
Page 377 and 378:
for individuals within the prevaili
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particular ward, Books and other me
Page 381 and 382:
e overturned: the visiting BNMT wor
Page 383 and 384:
wondered whether everyone was likel
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that, with his influence, a nascent
Page 387 and 388:
Newang, President of the Front. (Hi
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I argued, are particu!arly pertinen
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Yakha, I have produced a text which
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Kathmandu where she enrolled in Eng
Page 395 and 396:
a'wa a a achia ach~ tamum ach~ tapu
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ha emabu bhasnik bhusudna ca came c
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dukka mene jogan duna duna du-ru Da
Page 401 and 402:
i , kma i , mma ka 'nir~o kacek kam
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leema lesnchi le.pma le,kma le*r]ma
Page 405 and 406:
Plate 35: The Maya Khola valley
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pha 'me phak pharog phamne pha* bu
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uc un ucumphakr]a uha uhaoma ukma u
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Appendix I1 Interview Schedule (The
Page 413 and 414:
Annual production: rice, maize, mil
Page 417 and 418:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Adhikary, K. R, 1988,
Page 419 and 420:
Brown, C. H. 1984. Languages and Li
Page 421 and 422:
Doherty, V. S. 1975. Kinship and Ec
Page 424 and 425:
Hitchcock, J , 1961, A Nepalese hil
Page 426 and 427:
--- 1986b. Human Imapct on Some For
Page 428 and 429:
Orlove, B. S. 1980. Ecological Anth
Page 430 and 431:
Shrestha, K. 1984. Nepal i Names fo
Page 432:
White, L.A, 1959. TheEvolutfon of C
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