Rachna Books’ latest publication explores indigenous survivance of Lepchas

GANGTOK,: Rachna Books has released their latest publication, titled ‘Guardians of Land & Water - Rituals, Vulnerability, and Indigenous Belonging among Himalayan Mútunci Róng,’ written by Dr. Jenny Bentley.

Simultaneously published under a unique partnership between Rachna Books for the Indian subcontinent and Seismo Press for the European market, the publication documents a “carefully woven exploration of ritual protection, changing power politics, and indigenous survivance of the Lepcha community.”

“The book offers a detailed analysis of the pluriverse of an indigenous community in the south-eastern Himalaya. It is a rare deep-dive ethnography of the Mútunci Róng community – more commonly called by their exonym Lepcha – and of the ontologies and strategies activated in ritualised struggles to reduce marginality and ensure a good life,” Rachna Books said in a press release. “Based on over a decade of interactions, Dr. Bentley assembles community ritual practices and performances, their actors and power relations, as well as the histories and thought-frameworks they are embedded in. She shows how Mútunci Róng actors live and activate various understandings of self and the world depending on their respective spatio-temporal positioning. Through the ritual lens, the author analyses vulnerability and survivance and unravels multi-modal processes of constituting belonging to the place, community, and the Himalayan environment, putting the polysemic concept of Lyángdók Úngdók, protectors of land and water, at the core of her analysis.”

Dr. Jenny Bentley is an independent researcher based in the Indian Himalaya, with a PhD in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of Zurich. In an ongoing project on storytelling and empowerment among Mútunci Róng youth, the release states, she collaborates with several indigenous scholars, knowledge keepers, and artists. Additionally, she is an active member of Swiss Anthropological Societies Interface Commission for Engaged Anthropology and consults at Echostream, a multi-disciplinary design agency based in Gangtok.

Publisher Raman Shresta, in a statement, said, “Having followed Dr. Bentley's work in the region for nearly two decades, it was with great urgency we felt that this important work by her was made available to the people of Sikkim, and the region at large, at an affordable price.” He added that the book was launched at an international arena at Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest industry book fair in the world, earlier in October.

‘Guardians of Land & Water’ is available at select bookstores. Outstation orders can be placed at rachnabooks.com.