Dans cette thèse, j'étudie les pratiques de sorcellerie et de guérison chez les Khasi, une communauté tribale du nord-est de l'Inde. Ceux-ci forment la majorité de la population de l'état du Meghalaya. À la suite de la colonisation britannique, ils se sont principalement convertis au Christianisme. Cependant, malgré leur adoption d’un mode de vie ancrée dans la modernité et les changements socioculturels subséquents, les discours sur la sorcellerie prévalent encore aujourd'hui. Selon les Khasi, les pratiques de sorcellerie sont encore très répandues et plusieurs malédictions continuent d'affecter la population. Afin de lutter contre ce fléau, la guérison traditionnelle est fréquemment recherchée. Pour les Khasi, la preuve de l’existence de la sorcellerie se trouve dans les symptômes physiques ressentis par les victimes et par les morts mystérieuses qui se succèdent. Afin de mieux comprendre la réalité de la sorcellerie chez les Khasi, j'utilise l'approche théorique et méthodologique du tournant ontologique en anthropologie. Elle permet de jeter une lumière nouvelle sur l’étude de la sorcellerie. En effet, tout au long de l'histoire de l’anthropologie, les chercheurs ont voulu donner un sens à l'ensemble complexe de croyances et de pratiques qu'est la sorcellerie. Ils l'ont surtout expliqué comme faisant partie de la rationalité des peuples «primitifs», ou en réaction à des bouleversements sociaux. Le tournant ontologique apporte une nouvelle manière de comprendre la sorcellerie et sa réalité. Dans cette thèse, je m’appuie sur les travaux de Strathern, Descola et Viveiros De Castro, entre autres, pour montrer comment la sorcellerie peut être construite comme une réalité pour les anthropologues et les personnes qu'ils étudient. Je cherche à répondre à plusieurs questions : qu’est-ce que la sorcellerie pour les habitants du Meghalaya ? Comment la conceptualisent-ils ? Et quelle devrait être ma position d’anthropologue en matière de sorcellerie ? J'explore d'abord l'histoire sociopolitique des Khasi. Je présente un survol des événements marquants de l'histoire régionale récente, avant de souligner les particularités culturelles du groupe. Je démontre ensuite comment le paysage de guérison de Meghalaya est varié : on y retrouve des guérisseurs de religion tribale, hindoue, chrétienne et musulmane. Je donne un aperçu de leur approche respective de la sorcellerie. Je me concentre ensuite sur l'écosystème du mal à Meghalaya, expliquant et détaillant les principales malédictions affectant les Khasi et leurs voisins. Je présente la quête thérapeutique d’une famille qui a souffert de nombreuses pertes et tragédies et qui a cherché de l’aide auprès de guérisseurs de diverses confessions et ethnicités. À la suite de cette analyse, je définis la sorcellerie et la guérison selon le monde ontologique Khasi. Ces définitions émergent de la construction de la personne chez les Khasi et de la relation qu'ils entretiennent avec des entités non humaines. Dans leur monde ontologique, il est possible d'être maudit par des entités maléfiques et de guérir grâce aux dieux et déesses. Cette réalité est construite et validée à la fois par les guérisseurs et leurs patients. Ils partagent pour la plupart une compréhension commune du monde et du réel. / In this thesis, I study the practices of witchcraft among the Khasi, a tribal people of northeast India. The Khasi form most of the population of the state of Meghalaya. Following British colonization, they mainly converted to Christianity. However, despite adopting a modern lifestyle and the major socio-cultural changes it has brought, discourse on witchcraft still prevails today. According to the Khasi, witchcraft practices are widespread, and several curses continue to affect the population. In order to fight this scourge, traditional healing is frequently sought by the Khasi. From their point of view, proof of the existence of witchcraft can be found in the physical symptoms experienced by the victims and the mysterious deaths of many people. To better understand reality of witchcraft for the Khasi, I use the theoretical and methodological approach of the ontological shift in anthropology, because it sheds new light on the study of witchcraft. Indeed, throughout the history of anthropology, researchers have sought to make sense of the complex set of practices that is witchcraft. They have explained it as part of the rationality of "primitive" peoples, or as a reaction to social woes. The ontological turn offers a new way of understanding witchcraft and its reality. In this thesis, I draw upon the work of Strathern, Descola, and Viveiros De Castro, among others, to show how witchcraft can be constructed as a reality for both anthropologists and the people they study. I seek to answer several questions: what is witchcraft for the inhabitants of Meghalaya? How do they conceptualize it? How is this conception of witchcraft defined and redefined in a contemporary world? And finally, what should be my position as an anthropologist in regard to witchcraft? To answer these questions, I first explore the socio-political history of the Khasi, presenting a survey of the significant events in recent regional history, before highlighting the cultural particularities of the group. I then demonstrate how the healing landscape of Meghalaya is varied. I divide these practices according to the religion of the healers: tribal, Hindu, Christian and Muslim, and give an overview of their respective approach to witchcraft. I then focus on the ecosystem of evil in Meghalaya, explaining and detailing the major curses affecting the Khasi and their neighbours. I present the therapeutic quest of a family that had suffered many losses and sought out healers of different faiths and ethnicities. Considering this analysis, I define witchcraft and healing as it appears in the Khasi ontological world and show how they emerge from the construction of personhood among the Khasi, and from the relationship they have with non-human entities. The Khasi build an ontological world where it is possible to be cursed by evil entities and to be healed by gods and goddesses. This reality is constructed and validated by both healers and their patients. For the most part, they share a common understanding of the world and of what is real.

This dissertation explores the intellectual and cultural history of natural knowledge at the eighteenth-century court of Tipu Sultan of Mysore (r.1782-1799), and the ways in which this knowledge was both a product of Mysore’s local context and its wider global connections. It argues that more attention to Mysore’s sources and perspective is needed in the history of science given the power and productivity of the court before it was conquered by the British East India Company (BEIC) in 1799. After 1799, the BEIC dispersed the Mysore’s court’s library and artifacts, and obscured the court’s contributions to knowledge-making. This dissertation demonstrates that Mysore’s library and gardens were sites of natural science collection, experimentation, and production worthy of study. The extant collection of Tipu Sultan’s manuscripts remains understudied, especially those related to science. This dissertation outlines the surviving library texts related to natural knowledge and provides case studies of particular manuscripts that showcase Tipu Sultan’s interest in collecting, organizing, and producing encyclopedic knowledge of nature and natural processes. It further emphasizes that many (often unnamed) hands and labors enabled the natural sciences to be produced and disseminated in the eighteenth century, through close readings of Persian, French, and English texts and diplomatic records related to Tipu Sultan’s court. It thus seeks to recover both the elite contributions of Tipu Sultan and his courtiers engaged in natural knowledge production as well as the more obscure, but no less vital contributions of unnamed actors.

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No description available.

In order for one to understand the dramatic historic development of Taiwan, one must first gain a sense of place and time in order to appreciate how different periods in the history of Taiwan have helped shape its progress, either in a constructive or negative way. The purpose of this thesis is to describe a British presence that existed in Taiwan from 1858 to 1895. The Treaty Port era has been documented in a number of different discourses, but the role the British played in the nineteenth century economic and social transformations of Taiwan have not been studied as a subject within its own right. Attention to this overlooked aspect of British history is not only important because it was a turning point in British perception of extraterritoriality, but also in Chinese relations to foreign powers. In addition the period was also marked by a reformation in the importance Taiwan played to the Qing court. In 1858 with the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin and the Treaty of Peking in 1863, as a result of the Second Opium War, China was required to open four ports on Taiwan. The Treaty of Tientsin designated Anping as a Treaty Port in 1858 and the Treaty of Peking opened the ports of Tamsui and Keelung in 1860 and 1863 respectively. Finally, concessions of the treaty opened Takao in 1864. However, the question of Taiwan as an obvious location for trade was raised as early as 1883 and this period was mirrored by the withdrawal of the East India Trading Company for China. As a consequence, it was not the ‘Company’ that penetrated the shores of Taiwan as it had done in both India and China. Instead it was agency houses and private firms, which transformed the agrarian economy into the market mechanisms of international commerce. This thesis will confront a British community presence as a social historical process by highlighting the cause, course, and consequence of the formation and the theoretical structuration of nineteenth century treaty ports in Taiwan.

Цель исследования – изучить развития торговой деятельности Китая с Россией и европейскими странами в рамках внешнеторговой политики, проводимой правителями Цинской империи в разные периоды. Объект данного исследования – торгово-экономические отношения Китая с Россией и Европой в 1722-1820 гг. Предмет исследования – торговая деятельность Китая с Европой и Россией и политика экономического развития, проводимая цинским правительством в указанный хронологический период. Представленная магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, трех глав, заключения, списка используемых источников и литературы, приложений. В первой главе рассматривается развитие межгосударственных торговых контактов Китая с Европой и Россией в эру Юнчжэн. Во второй главе исследуется этап активизации русско-китайских торговых отношений на Севере Китая в Кяхте и становление особой системы монопольной торговли с иностранцами в Гуанчжоу в эру Цяньлун. В третьей главе проанализированы особенности торговли на территории Кяхты и Гуанчжоу при императоре Цзяцине. В заключении приводятся краткие выводы по проведенным исследованиям. / The aim of the study is to examine the development of China's trade activities with Russia and European countries within the foreign trade policy pursued by the rulers of the Qing Empire in different periods. The object of this study is trade and economic relations of China with Russia and Europe. Subject of the research is China's trade activities with Europe and Russia and economic development policies pursued by the Qing government in the specified chronological period. This master's thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, a list of used sources and literature, and appendices. The first chapter examines the development of China's interstate trade contacts with Europe and Russia in the Yongzheng era. The second chapter examines the stage of activation of the Russian-Chinese trade relations in the North China and formation of the special monopoly trade system with foreigners in Guangzhou in the Qianlong era. The third chapter analyses peculiarities of trade in the territories of Kyakhta and Guangzhou under the Jiaqing Emperor. The conclusion concludes with brief conclusions of the research.

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This thesis reassesses the nature and importance of the Scottish Episcopal Church in Edinburgh and more widely. Based on a microstudy of one chapel community over a twenty-four year period, it addresses a series of questions of religion, identity, gender, culture and civic society in late Enlightenment Edinburgh, Scotland, and Britain, combining ecclesiastical, social and economic history. The study examines the congregation of Charlotte Episcopal Chapel, Rose Street, Edinburgh, from its foundation by English clergyman Daniel Sandford in 1794 to its move to the new Gothic chapel of St John's in 1818. Initially an independent chapel, Daniel Sandford's congregation joined the Scottish Episcopal Church in 1805 and the following year he was made Bishop of Edinburgh, although he contined to combine this role with that of rector to the chapel until his death in 1830. Methodologically, the thesis combines a detailed reassessment of Daniel Sandford's thought and ministry (Chapter Two) with a prosopographical study of 431 individuals connected with the congregation as officials or in the in the chapel registers (Chapter Three). Biography of the leader and prosopography of the community are brought to illuminate and enrich one another to understand the wealth and business networks of the congregation (Chapter Four) and their attitudes to politics, piety and gender (Chapter Five). The thesis argues that Daniel Sandford's Evangelical Episcopalianism was both original in Scotland, and one of the most successful in appealing to educated and influential members of Edinburgh society. The congregation, drawn largely from the newly-built West End of Edinburgh, were bourgeois and British in their composition. The core membership of privileged Scots, rooted in land and law, led, but were also challenged by and forced to adapt to a broad social spread who brought new wealth and influence into the West End through India and the consumer boom. The discussion opens up many avenues for further research including the connections between Scottish Episcopalianism and romanticism, the importance of India and social mobility within the consumer economy in the development of Edinburgh, and Scottish female intellectual culture and its engagement with religion and enlightenment. Understanding the role of enlightened, evangelical Episcopalianism, which is the contribution of this study, will form an important context for these enquiries.