
Du 16 novembre au 18 novembre s’est déroulé le 4e colloque international de l’association SEECHAC (Société européenne pour l’étude des civilisations de l’Himalaya et de l’Asie centrale) à Heidelberg, en partenariat avec le Cluster Asie de l’Université de Heidelberg.
J’eus la chance d’être invitée à présenter une partie de mon travail de recherches issues de mon mémoire de maîtrise sur Donyi-Polo, qualifié de « religion » ou « mouvement religieux tribal » chez les Adi en Arunachal Pradesh, nord-est indien.
En attendant de publier ici l’article issu de cette conférence, je propose ci-dessous le résumé de ma présentation ainsi qu’une bibliographie indicative.

Donyi-Polo, a reformist and revival « tribal » and « indigeneous » religion in Arunachal Pradesh, North-East India: two approaches to discuss.
I propose in this paper to analyse and observe the revival phanomena or rather the « cration » of Donyi-Polo, a religious practice of the Adi (one of the major tribe) of the Siang valley in the Himalayan region of Arunachal Pradesh (north east India). The project, based on a two months fieldwork in the area between february and April 2015, will look at various aspects of this religious practice. This topic is an entry to observe social and cultural change among the Adi, an ethnic and linguistic tibeto-burmese group (Blackburn, Post, 2010). Donyi-Polo has been analysed as an animistic and/or spiritual practice (Fürer-Haimendord, 1954) and not a religion in its Dukherimian or Maussian defintion. However, since the late 80’s, a certain form of revival and institutionalization of Donyi-Polo, also called « Donyi-Poloism » has been observed but seldom studied (Blackburn 2010, Chaudhuri, 2013).
After some contextualisation and a descriptive introduction on Donyi-Polo, the practice and discourses I would have collected from the field, I propose to discuss two approaches in my paper. Firstly, I would like to debate the influence and the social role of such a revival religious form in a fluid and fast-moving geopolitical and social context. What is the role of Donyi-Polo in the Adi society ? Could we consider that its religious shape is leading to defining a new ethnoscape and eventually, a change in the perception of a collective identity (Appadurai, 2001, 2005) ?
Secondly, I would like to develop the ongoing issue of saffronisation in Arunachal Pradesh through Donyi-Poloism, bringing forward the role of the Hindutva in the Indian tribal context (Sundar, 2002) as well as the element of an « indigeneous religion » and its politival use. This approach follows the studies on hinduisation and sanskritization in the Himalayan region (Berti, Jaoul, Kanungo, 2011) and questions the notion of indigeneism in its essentialist vision.
key words: Arunachal Pradesh, change, hinduisation, ethnoscape, revival, religion
Selected Bibliography
Amselle, Jean-Loup. 2010. “Le retour de l’indigène.” L’Homme 194 (2): 131–38.
———. 2012. “Au nom des peuples : primitivismes et postcolonialismes.” Critique 776-777 (1): 165–77.
Appadurai, Arjun. 2005. Après le colonialisme: les conséquences culturelles de la globalisation. Payot
Berti, Daniela, Nicolas Jaoul, and Pralay Kanungo, eds. 2011. Cultural Entrenchment of Hindutva: Local Mediations and Forms of Convergence. 1 edition. New Delhi ; Abingdon: Routledge India.
Beteille, Andre. 1998. “The Idea of Indigenous People.” Current Anthropology 39 (2): 187–92. doi:10.1086/204717.
Blackburn, Stuart H. 2008. Himalayan Tribal Tales: Oral Tradition and Culture in the Apatani Valley. BRILL.
———. 2010. The Sun Rises: A Shaman’s Chant, Ritual Exchange and Fertility in the Apatani Valley. BRILL.
Chaudhuri, Sarit Kumar. 2013. “The Institutionalization of Tribal Religion: Recasting the Donyi-Polo Movement in Arunachal Pradesh.” Asian Ethnology 72 (2): 259–77.
Deliège, Robert. 2001. “L’ethnographie contre l’idéologie.” L’Homme. Revue française d’anthropologie, no. 160 (January): 163–76. doi:10.4000/lhomme.130
De Sales, Anne. 2001. “Paroles et objets magiques dans une séance de cure chamanique au Népal.” L’Autre 2 (2): 279–90. doi:10.3917/lautr.005.0279.
Elwin, Verrier. 1957. A Philosophy for NEFA. Gyan Publishing House.
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. Basic Books.
Gellner, David N. 2003. The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes. New Delhi; New York: Oxford University Press.
Haimendorf, C. V. Furer. 1982. Highlanders of Arunachal Pradesh. illustrated edition edition. New Delhi: Stosius Inc/Advent Books Division.
Hamilton, A. 1983. In Abor Jungles of North-East India. Delhi: Mittal Publications.
Huber, T., and Blackburn S., eds. 2012. Origins and Migrations in the Extended Eastern Himalayas. Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library. Leiden ; Boston: Brill.
Lecomte-Tilouine, Marie. 1997. “Entre Orthodoxie Hindoue et Cultes Tribaux / ~~Between Hindu Orthodoxy and Tribal Cults~~.” Archives Des Sciences Sociales Des Religions 99 (1): 9–32.
Nyori, Tai. 1993. History & Culture of the Adis. Omsons Publications.
Obadia, Lionel. 2006. “Chamanisme et modernité : Une perspective himalayenne.” Socio-anthropologie, no. 17-18 (April). http://socio-anthropologie.revues.org/461#toc.
Pigg, Stacy Leigh. 1994. “Disenchanting Shamans: Representations of Modernity and the Transformation of Healing in Nepal.”
Ramirez, Philippe. 2014. “New Book: People of the Margins.” The Himalayas and beyond. March 19. http://himalayas.hypotheses.org/1675.
Roy, Sachin. 1966. Aspects of Padam-Minyong Culture. Shillong: North-East Frontier Agency.
Schlemmer, Grégoire. 2009. “Jeux d’esprits.” Archives de sciences sociales des religions 145 (1).
Singh, K. S. 1995. People Of India – Arunachal Pradesh – Vol. Xiv. Seagull Books.
Srinivas, M. N. 1956. “A Note on Sanskritization and Westernization.” The Far Eastern Quarterly 15 (4): 481. doi:10.2307/2941919.
Srinivas, Mysore Narasimhachar. 1952. Religion and Society Among the Coorgs of South India. Asia Publishing House.
Sundar, Nandini. 2002. “Indigéniser, Indianiser et Spiritualiser L’éducation ? Tout Un Programme….” Revue Internationale Des Sciences Sociales 3 3 (173): p. 413–24.
Toffin, Gérard. 2005. “La forêt dans l’imaginaire des populations de l’Himalaya népalais.” Revue de l’histoire des religions, no. 2 (April): 177–207.
Xaxa, Virginius. 1999. “Tribes as Indigenous People of India.” Economic and Political Weekly 34 (51): 3589–95.
Zins, Max-Jean. 2009 « L’hindouisme et l’Autre », Revue Projet 3 (310): pp.33-42