The Gaddi beyond pastoralism : making place in the Indian Himalayas

The Gaddi of North India are agro-pastoralists who rear sheep and goats following a seasonal migration around the first Himalayan range. While studies on pastoralists have focused either on the pastoralists’ adaptation to their physical environment or treated the environment from a symbolic perspective, this book offers a new, holistic perspective that analyzes the ways in which people “make” place. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book not only describes a contemporary understanding of the Gaddi’s engagement with the environment but also analyzes religious practices and performances of social relations, as well as media practices and notions of aesthetics. Thereby, the landscape in which the Gaddi live is understood as a network of places that is constantly being built and rebuilt through these local practices. The book contributes to the growing interest in approaches of practice within environmental anthropology. Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration and Spelling Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1. The Study of Environment Reconsidered Chapter 2. The Gaddi in Images Chapter 3. A Sheep for Shiva Chapter 4. Doing Kinship, Doing Place Chapter 5. Walking Chapter 6. Visiting the Deities, Enacting the Mountains Chapter 7. Environment and the Body: Understanding Water Change Chapter 8. Cool Water, Short Green Grass, and Fir Trees: The Aesthetics of Environment Conclusion: Doing Place Appendix: Songs and Translations Glossary References Index