Festivals as the Practice of Politics by the Tamangs of Rural Nepal

Abstract

The literature on indigenous movements tends to limit indigenous festivals and associated cultural practices to performances or strategies of peoples to profess an indigenous culture distinct from mainstream society. This it is claimed, is in a bid to secure membership to the global indigenous community and attain associated material gains. While this is a prominent aspect, the literature fails to recognize that festivals provoke the practice of politics in an everyday setting that, while seemingly proclaiming consent to indigenous movements, actually engender practices that shape, challenge, and resist such movements. This article is based on participatory observation and interviews with a Tamang community in Nepal and employs the concept of the practice of politics to argue that cultural performances such as festivals are an assertion of indigenous power in a shifting context that continuously contest the meanings of culture disseminated by indigenous movements; here, the Adivasi Janajati movement. Through exploring the paradoxical celebrations of the Lohsar and Dashain festivals by the Tamang, this article shows how participation in these festivals does legitimize the indigenous movement, but also challenges and modifies it, as festival meanings collide with the many intersecting interests of the community. Keywords: Indigenous peoples, Adivasi Janajati, Tamang, Nepal, Practice of politics, Dashain, Lohsar.