Newars occupy a complex position in the Nepal nation, and in relation to academic scholarship on it. Though they comprise just one of the many ethnic peoples who make up the country today, Newars were once the independent rulers of the wealthy Kathmandu Valley, which is now the capital of modern Nepal. For many Western scholars and visitors, from the British Resident, Brian Hodgson, to the many tourists who visit Kathmandu each year, Newar culture is perceived to offer a precious glimpse into an archaic world that no longer exists outside of the remote Himalayas. With its many gods, goddesses, castes, and rituals, understanding the richly coherent aspects of Newar culture long proved a fascinating and rewarding task. But recent interest in the politics of representation, combined with increasing ethnic and political unrest in Nepal, have led to new moves to integrate this dominant trend in scholarship with critical questions about how these worlds have been constituted. The papers on this panel continue to draw on long-standing interests in Newar studies such as kingship, religion, ritual, and characteristically Newar guthi associations, but they are newly attuned to questions of power and historical agency, and to Newar life today as the product of a dialogue between inherited tradition and modern influences, local forms of order and the Nepal state. Together, they constitute an argument for bringing diachronic interests to the study of ritual, meaning and society in Nepal and offer a glimpse into recent scholarship on Newar culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment