Origins and Migrations in the Extended Eastern Himalayas

Toni Huber Ph.D. (1993), is Professor of Tibetan Studies at the Humboldt University, Berlin. His extensive publications on the anthropology and cultural history of Tibetan societies include The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain (Oxford, 1999) and The Holy Land Reborn (Chicago, 2007).Stuart Blackburn is Senior Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. His most recent publications include Himalayan Tribal Tales: Oral Tradition and Culture in the Apatani Valley (Brill, 2008) and The Sun Rises: A Shaman's Chant, Ritual Exchange and Fertility in the Apatani Valley (Brill, 2010).

• List of IllustrationsIntroduction - Toni Huber and Stuart Blackburn Trans-Himalayan Migrations as Processes, Not Events: Towards a Theoretical Framework - Geoff Childs Where the Waters Dry Up – The Place of Origin in Rai Myth and Ritual - Martin GaenszleWhere did the Question ‘Where did My Tribe Come From?’ Come From?- Robbins BurlingCoevolving with the Landscape? Migration Narratives and the Environmental History of the Nyishi Tribe in Upland Arunachal Pradesh - Alexander AisherMicro-Migrations of Hill Peoples in Northern Arunachal Pradesh: Rethinking Methodologies and Claims of Origins in Tibet - Toni HuberApatani Ideas and Idioms of Origins - Stuart BlackburnMigration Narratives, Official Classifications, and Local Identities: The Memba of the Hidden Land of Pachakshiri - Kerstin GrothmannThe Language, Culture, Environment and Origins of Proto-Tani Speakers: What is Knowable, and What is Not (Yet) - Mark W. PostGlimpses of the Ethnolinguistic Prehistory of Northeastern India - George van DriemOrigin and Migration Myths in the Rhetoric of Naga Independence and Collective Identity - Marion Wettstein Oral Histories and the ‘Origins’ of Current Peoples: Dynamic Ethnogenesis, with Remarks upon the Limitations of Language-Family Subgrouping - F. K. L. Chit Hlaing Cords and Connections: Ritual and Spatial Integration in the Jinghpaw Cultural Zone -Mandy SadanOrigin and Return: Genesis and the Souls of the Dead in Naxi Myth and Ritual - Charles F. McKhannMigrating Brothers and Party-State Discourses on Ethnic - Origin in Southwest China - Koen WellensContributorsIndex

"Exploring various Tibeto-Burman language groups of the Himalayan foothills, it includes areas only recently opened up to Western researchers. The book not only presents detailed examinations of the issues surrounding origin and migration in various societies– on their present and past forms, and on their roles and meanings for local societies and for researchers – it also makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the political and social roles of origin and migration narratives in the Himalayas." - Mélanie Vandenhelsken, Austrian Academy of Sciences, in: Himalaya XXXII (2012)