Ethnographic study and cultural production in Sikkim

This chapter discusses fieldwork methodology in a context where ethnographic knowledge—constructed in the interaction between ethnic activists and state anthropologists—has ‘political efficacy’. It is in particular instrumental to the recognition of groups as Scheduled Tribe (ST). In Sikkim today, eleven ethnic communities claim recognition as ST with the support of the local state governments. This chapter revolves around an anecdote that occurred during field study in South Sikkim in 2010 where the presence of the author led villagers to invite a new ritual specialist in a ritual they had organised. Connecting this anecdote to the notions of ‘immediacy’ and ‘ethnographic authority’, it shows that the ethnographer was assigned the role of a state anthropologist: controlling her observation was firstly part of ethnic activists’ techniques aiming at seizing decision-making power in the procedure for tribal recognition to which they were set aside; it also contributed to the ‘authentication’ of cultural practices newly-produced as part of a collective political project. I argue that understanding cultural production in a context of politicisation of ethnographic knowledge thus necessitates including the ethnographic encounter in the analysis.