Tingvong: A Lepcha Village in Sikkim

Synopsis: Ilustrates the changes the Lepcha of the Dzongu reserve, North Sikkim, have been through in the last 60 years. From the 1940s, the Lepcha of Tingvong village gradually abandoned hunting, gathering and the slash and burn cultivation of dry rice, and became settled agriculturalists. Entire mountain sides were converted to cardamom and terraced for the cultivation of irrigated paddy. The irrigated rice and the cardamom cash crop not only brought the Lepcha within Sikkim’s market economy but helped create a surplus which could among other things be invested in religion. In the 1940s, the Lepcha of Tingvong embraced Buddhism and all its complex rituals without however abandoning their strong shamanic traditions. Today, both forms of rituals amiably co-exist in the village. This film is part of a long-term visual anthropology training project for the tribal communities of Sikkim.
Language: English
Country: Tibet
Year of release: 2006
Year of production: 2005
Subjects: Agriculture; Anthropology; Development studies; Religious studies
Keywords: agricultural development; Buddhism; crops; shamans; social anthropology; Tibet

Name: Royal Anthropological Institute
Contact: Susanne Hammacher (Film Officer)
Email: film@therai.org.uk
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Phone: 020 7387 0455
Fax: 020 7388 8817
Address: 50 Fitzroy Street
London
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Notes: The Institute sells more than 250 anthropology and ethnology titles on video and DVD, including some produced by students and staff of the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology. There is also a large library of internationally produced film and video productions from which items may be borrowed within the UK.

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