Authenticity and Uncertainty: The Spring Festival Taghm in Shimshal

Sökefeld, Martin (2018): Authenticity and Uncertainty: The Spring Festival Taghm in Shimshal. In: Scrutiny, Bd. 11/12: S. 1-20

Abstract

Taghm in Shimshal is much more than simply a „traditional‟ or „authentic‟ spring festival in a „remote‟ high-mountain village. It has become the focal point of intersecting discourses and struggles addressing sentiments of uncertainty and nostalgia, of ambiguities and anxieties that at least partly are mirrored in the invocation of a past when „people took care of one another‟. My brief exploration of the festival in the valley uncovered a considerable complexity of diverse positions and assessments among its people. Interestingly, in spite of the uncertainty voiced in the days before the taghm, the festival itself could be read in an almost Durkheimian manner as a ritual recreating community, for in the festival itself no friction became apparent. On the contrary, the Shimshalis celebrated taghm with joy and fervour. Moreover, as thumon blew in the right direction, there was hope for a plentiful harvest that year.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Publikationsform: Publisher's Version
• Fakultät: Kulturwissenschaften > Department für Kulturwissenschaften und Altertumskunde > Ethnologie
• Themengebiete: 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 300 Sozialwissenschaft, Soziologie
• ISSN: 0377-5143
• Sprache: Englisch