Imag(in)ing the Nagas: The Pictorial Ethnography of Hans-Eberhard Kauffmann and Christoph von Fuerer-Haimendorf

One of the projects I’m finishing at the moment is my Doctoral thesis in Visual Anthropology. It was handed in at the beginning of July 2011 to the supervisor Prof. Dr. Michael Oppitz and Prof. Dr. Annegret Nippa. I will defend it in September during a two month stay in Europe. The thesis is concerned with historical photographs of the Nagas and is based on two photographic collections, assembled by the anthropologists Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf and Hans-Eberhard Kauffmann who both travelled among the Nagas during the 1930′s. It focuses on Kauffmann’s work which was largely unknown until I discovered the original photographic films in an German archive. His photography is explained and contextualized through the work of Fürer-Haimendorf. A ‘pictorial history’ of the Naga introduces earlier image sources and shows how they changed and developed until today.
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Ritual and Space: Identity based on Ritual Landscape among the Rai of Eastern Nepal

Another project which I am currently working on is concerned with a topic I have been studying for the last ten years: The Dumi Rai of Eastern Nepal and their shamanistic rituals. In my new project titled “Ritual and Space: Identity based on Ritual Landscape among the Rai of Eastern Nepal”, the main research question is concerned with ritual landscapes and territories as perceived by the Rai communities. In what ways are they defined as a sacred topography in myth and ritual? And how are they used by local agents in power struggles and in the formation of contemporary identities? To answer these question, I’m documenting Dumi ritual recitations and practices and their symbolism as major source and starting point. The project is affiliated with the Center for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) of Tribhuvan University Kathmandu. From October 2011 onwards, the project will be integrated into the project “Ritual, Space, Mimesis: Performative Traditions and Ethnic Identity among the Rai of eastern Nepal”, lead by Prof. Dr. Martin Gaenszle at the Institute of South Asian, Tibetan, and Buddhist Studies (ISTB) of the University of Vienna. It will be conducted as a sub-project alongside the project “Ritual and Mimesis: Identity based on Dance”, led by Marion Wettstein, and funded by the Fonds für Wissenschaftliche Forschung (FWF), Austria.
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