1. Special Issue: Repertoires of Timekeeping in Anthropology.
2. Author Affiliation: Oxford University, UK.
摘要
This article examines the uses of time-reckoning, temporality, and historical record in the creation of individual and collective identity. The focus is the community of Te, a closed, endogamous settlement in Lo (Mustang), an old Tibetan kingdom in the high Himalayas of Nepal. The inhabitants of Te apply a range of temporal devices to represent their community as a reified entity distinct from the individuals who compose it. The collectivity is set apart from both the world of Buddhist ideology and the local political environment by a unique calendrical system and the concept of quality-free cracks in the continuum of time. The transcendent character of the collectivity is established by using temporal distortions to represent counterintuitive properties of institutions. Stability is further ensured by a written constitution that freezes the parameters of social action within a 12year legal cycle.
目次
The Place S76 “Stealing the Crack” S76 The Territorial Gods S77 Calling the Gods to Witness S77 The Zatönse Ceremony S78 The Loss of Utility S79 Te-Time and the Tibetan Buddhist Calendar S80 East and West S81 Oaths and Law S81 Literacy and Time Capsules S83 Conclusion S84 References Cited S84
