Mélanie Vandenhelsken
Biographic Data
| ID | 4064075 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mélanie Vandenhelsken |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mélanie |
| FAMILY NAME | Vandenhelsken |
| SIGNATURE | VANDENHELSKEN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Vienna |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8627-9521 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 8 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Introduction. Re-orienting Himalayan Borderlands: Beyond Spatial Fixations in South Asia
This special issue critically rethinks the conceptualization of borders in the Eastern Himalayas as clearly delimited by fixed lines, arguing that they are instead dynamic zones of negotiation, resistance, and reimagining. With a regional focus on the Eastern Himalayas, comprising of Nepal, Sikkim, West Bengal, Northeast India, and the Indo-Myanmar frontier, the articles in this special issue reveal how colonial categories, intellectual construct…
Borders and Connectivity in the Sikkim-Nepal Borderlands: Re-imagining the Limbu Native Space
This paper examines the transformations of the Limbu 'native' or 'indigenous space' in the borderlands between eastern Nepal and Sikkim since the early twentieth century. It approaches 'native space' as the region where most Limbu reside today, where trans-local and intra-ethnic relationships predominantly occur, and which they associate with their shared memory and collective identity. The paper explores how the border has shaped both the repres…
Ils ont transformé la divinité Yuma en Dieu ! »: Recompositions religieuses et dissensions chez les Limbu du Sikkim
Cet article porte sur les transformations récentes des rituels limbu au Sikkim et discute en particulier le désaccord entre, d’une part, un nouveau mouvement religieux appelé yumaism, centré sur le culte d’une jeune femme considérée comme une réincarnation de la divinité domestique des Limbu Yuma, et, d’autre part, ceux qui considèrent le chamanisme comme unique représentant de la tradition limbu. Ce désaccord reflète non seulement des conception…
Loyalty, resistance, subalterneity: A history of Limbu ‘participation’ in Sikkim
This paper explores the process of construction of the interconnection between ethnicity, indigeneity, and political participation in Sikkim concerning the Limbu ethnic community. It firstly discusses Limbu associations’ claims for the reservation of seats for the Limbu community in the state legislative assembly, following the recognition of the group as a Scheduled Tribe in 2003. From this point on, the paper goes further back in time, and, bas…
The 1961 Sikkim subject regulation and ‘indirect rule’ in Sikkim: Ancestrality, Land Property and Unequal Citizenship
This paper discusses the principles behind the 1961 Sikkim Subject Regulation, the first citizenship law framed in Sikkim. It explores the historical construction of the entanglement of ‘ancestrality’ with land property and political membership, which is central to the issue of citizenship in Sikkim today. It shows how categories of citizens were formed in colonial and post-colonial time, in particular the division between ‘natives’ (Bhutia and L…
Ancestrality, Migration, Rights and Exclusion: Citizenship in the Indian State of Sikkim
This is the introduction to a special issue of Asian Ethnicity that includes six papers on the issue of citizenship in the Indian state of Sikkim, from the perspectives of anthropology, political science, sociology and history. These contributions explore the entanglement of migration and ethnicity that defines political membership and exclusion in Sikkim, as it does in other parts of India. They give a central place to the consequences of the co…
Geographies of Difference: Explorations in Northeast Indian Studies
Fluid attachments in Northeast India: Introduction
This introduction presents the context and theoretical basis of fluidity of attachments in Northeast India. A large cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity, an international border situation, and various forms of unsettled relations with ‘mainstream India’ characterize Northeast India. These aspects form the frame of highly dynamic movements of identity and ethnicity formation. This special issue includes five papers that focus on these dynami…
Quête du présent dans le passé par un groupe de culture tibétaine au Sikkim1 (Himalaya oriental, Inde)
De jeunes membres d'un groupe de culture tibétaine du Sikkim appelé Bhotia fondèrent, au début des années 1990, des associations de « survivance » de leur culture. Leur projet est la réhabilitation de « traits culturels traditionnels » comme le tir à l'arc ou des rituels monastiques bouddhiques. L'intégration du Sikkim à l'Union indienne en 1975 et la chute de la monarchie qui en découla sont vues comme les principales causes de ce « déclin » de …
Loyalty, resistance, subalterneity: A history of Limbu ‘participation’ in Sikkim
This paper explores the process of construction of the interconnection between ethnicity, indigeneity, and political participation in Sikkim concerning the Limbu ethnic community. It firstly discusses Limbu associations’ claims for the reservation of seats for the Limbu community in the state legislative assembly, following the recognition of the group as a Scheduled Tribe in 2003. From this point on, the paper goes further back in time, and, bas…
The 1961 Sikkim subject regulation and ‘indirect rule’ in Sikkim: Ancestrality, Land Property and Unequal Citizenship
This paper discusses the principles behind the 1961 Sikkim Subject Regulation, the first citizenship law framed in Sikkim. It explores the historical construction of the entanglement of ‘ancestrality’ with land property and political membership, which is central to the issue of citizenship in Sikkim today. It shows how categories of citizens were formed in colonial and post-colonial time, in particular the division between ‘natives’ (Bhutia and L…
Fluid attachments in Northeast India: Introduction
This introduction presents the context and theoretical basis of fluidity of attachments in Northeast India. A large cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity, an international border situation, and various forms of unsettled relations with ‘mainstream India’ characterize Northeast India. These aspects form the frame of highly dynamic movements of identity and ethnicity formation. This special issue includes five papers that focus on these dynami…
Ancestrality, Migration, Rights and Exclusion: Citizenship in the Indian State of Sikkim
This is the introduction to a special issue of Asian Ethnicity that includes six papers on the issue of citizenship in the Indian state of Sikkim, from the perspectives of anthropology, political science, sociology and history. These contributions explore the entanglement of migration and ethnicity that defines political membership and exclusion in Sikkim, as it does in other parts of India. They give a central place to the consequences of the co…
Quête du présent dans le passé par un groupe de culture tibétaine au Sikkim1 (Himalaya oriental, Inde)
De jeunes membres d'un groupe de culture tibétaine du Sikkim appelé Bhotia fondèrent, au début des années 1990, des associations de « survivance » de leur culture. Leur projet est la réhabilitation de « traits culturels traditionnels » comme le tir à l'arc ou des rituels monastiques bouddhiques. L'intégration du Sikkim à l'Union indienne en 1975 et la chute de la monarchie qui en découla sont vues comme les principales causes de ce « déclin » de …
Fluid attachments in Northeast India: Introduction
This introduction presents the context and theoretical basis of fluidity of attachments in Northeast India. A large cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity, an international border situation, and various forms of unsettled relations with ‘mainstream India’ characterize Northeast India. These aspects form the frame of highly dynamic movements of identity and ethnicity formation. This special issue includes five papers that focus on these dynami…
Geographies of Difference: Explorations in Northeast Indian Studies
Ils ont transformé la divinité Yuma en Dieu ! »: Recompositions religieuses et dissensions chez les Limbu du Sikkim
Cet article porte sur les transformations récentes des rituels limbu au Sikkim et discute en particulier le désaccord entre, d’une part, un nouveau mouvement religieux appelé yumaism, centré sur le culte d’une jeune femme considérée comme une réincarnation de la divinité domestique des Limbu Yuma, et, d’autre part, ceux qui considèrent le chamanisme comme unique représentant de la tradition limbu. Ce désaccord reflète non seulement des conception…
Loyalty, resistance, subalterneity: A history of Limbu ‘participation’ in Sikkim
This paper explores the process of construction of the interconnection between ethnicity, indigeneity, and political participation in Sikkim concerning the Limbu ethnic community. It firstly discusses Limbu associations’ claims for the reservation of seats for the Limbu community in the state legislative assembly, following the recognition of the group as a Scheduled Tribe in 2003. From this point on, the paper goes further back in time, and, bas…
The 1961 Sikkim subject regulation and ‘indirect rule’ in Sikkim: Ancestrality, Land Property and Unequal Citizenship
This paper discusses the principles behind the 1961 Sikkim Subject Regulation, the first citizenship law framed in Sikkim. It explores the historical construction of the entanglement of ‘ancestrality’ with land property and political membership, which is central to the issue of citizenship in Sikkim today. It shows how categories of citizens were formed in colonial and post-colonial time, in particular the division between ‘natives’ (Bhutia and L…
Ancestrality, Migration, Rights and Exclusion: Citizenship in the Indian State of Sikkim
This is the introduction to a special issue of Asian Ethnicity that includes six papers on the issue of citizenship in the Indian state of Sikkim, from the perspectives of anthropology, political science, sociology and history. These contributions explore the entanglement of migration and ethnicity that defines political membership and exclusion in Sikkim, as it does in other parts of India. They give a central place to the consequences of the co…
Introduction. Re-orienting Himalayan Borderlands: Beyond Spatial Fixations in South Asia
This special issue critically rethinks the conceptualization of borders in the Eastern Himalayas as clearly delimited by fixed lines, arguing that they are instead dynamic zones of negotiation, resistance, and reimagining. With a regional focus on the Eastern Himalayas, comprising of Nepal, Sikkim, West Bengal, Northeast India, and the Indo-Myanmar frontier, the articles in this special issue reveal how colonial categories, intellectual construct…
Borders and Connectivity in the Sikkim-Nepal Borderlands: Re-imagining the Limbu Native Space
This paper examines the transformations of the Limbu 'native' or 'indigenous space' in the borderlands between eastern Nepal and Sikkim since the early twentieth century. It approaches 'native space' as the region where most Limbu reside today, where trans-local and intra-ethnic relationships predominantly occur, and which they associate with their shared memory and collective identity. The paper explores how the border has shaped both the repres…
Geography (7 works) · South Asian Studies and Conflicts (7 works) · Political science (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Ethnic group (3 works) · Gender Studies (3 works) · History (3 works) · Politics (3 works)