The prohibition on incest, a topic so key to kinship studies, has not featured prominently in literature on Tibet. This article draws attention to a previously unreported section of writing devoted to the topic of incest, composed by the Tibetan ‘prime minister’ Sangye Gyatso (Sangs rgyas rgya mtsho, 1653–1705), one of the principal architects of the Tibetan state. Sangye Gyatso sets out what purports to be a threefold classification of incest, traditional to Tibet, and considers how aspects of it are to be interpreted. The present article focuses on some of the significant issues raised by this piece. Among these are questions about the context and circumstances of its appearance, the status of incest as a category in historical Tibet, and the place of religious and state authority in the social domain. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.

For those interested in participating in the up-and-coming seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (Paris 2019), you may wish to consult this list to see if your proposed presentation might fit in one of these panels. There is, however, no requirement that proposals be limited to these panel topics.

Review of volume discussing in some detail the major figures of Boasian anthropology--and some of the less well-known ones.

Are We Legend? Reconsidering Clan in Tibet Tibetan Studies is relatively familiar with the theme of clan. The so-called “Tibetan ancestral clans” regularly feature in works of Tibetan historiography, and have been the subject of several studies. Dynastic records and genealogies, often labelled “clan histories,” have been examined, and attempts have been made to identify ancient Tibetan clan territories. Various ethnographic and anthropological studies have also dealt both with the concept of clan membership amongst contemporary populations and a supposed Tibetan principle of descent, according to which the “bone”-substance (rus pa), the metonym for clan, is transmitted from father to progeny. Can it be said, however, that we have a coherent picture of clan in Tibet, particularly from a historical perspective? The present article has two aims. Firstly, by probing the current state of our understanding, it draws attention to key unanswered questions pertaining to clans and descent, and attempts to sharpen the discussion surrounding them. Secondly, exploring new avenues of research, it considers the extent to which we may distinguish between idealised representation and social reality within relevant sections of traditional hagiographical literature.

This article analyses the relationship between gender and religious authority in contemporary Aceh, Indonesia. It focuses on the lives and careers of two female Islamic teachers in different parts of the province. Their authority, it is argued, derives from expertise acquired from prestigious centres of religious learning, careful (if not always successful) negotiation of formal institutions – including the state – and their status as local community leaders. Their views and experiences raise urgent questions about the position of women in Acehnese society and the influence of (the rise of) normative Islam and the state. By asking what, exactly, is “female” about female Islamic authority, and what is not, this article addresses a persistent dichotomy in the literature on Southeast Asia between formal (state and religious) discourses and institutions as a source of male authority and more informal, localised practices and social relations as a domain of female authority.

In Greek mythology the Chimaera was a fearful fire-breathing hybrid creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, one of the offspring of monsters Typhon and Echidna. The Chimaera is usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat protruding from its back, and a tail that might end with a snake or a dragon head. The term ‘chimera’ has come to describe anything composed of different parts, anything that is perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible, or unattainable. In medicine and genetics this term indicates an organism containing a mixture of genetically different tissues. How does it feel to incorporate such dreadful hybridity? What does it mean to become a ‘chimaera’? Inspired by a feminist post-humanist approach and based on phenomenological and auto-ethnographic approach to illness (Carel 2016), this exploration investigates how embracing the concept of hybridity (Latour, 1991) can help us overcome dualistic thinking and reshape our relationship to the world. By looking at ‘other’ ways of being-toward-the-world (Merleau-Ponty, 1945). This work shows how drawing on embodied knowledge can challenge dominant perspectives and help us explore ways to engage with transformative and uncertain times. It shows how monsters and chimeras can help us rethink our categories and cope with impending threats and radical transformations.

Archaeological Sciences are continuously extending our knowledge of the past by bringing together different disciplines and methodologies coming from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Contrary to earlier positivist approaches, contemporary Archaeological Sciences are becoming more interested in integrating all data within their archaeological and sociocultural contexts. In this respect, the relatively young field of historical bioarchaeology implements bioanthropological methods for the study of human skeletal remains coming from archaeological contexts, where written records and historical sources exist and allow the contextualization of data. Lived experiences are the accumulation of cultural and historical forces, embodied in skeletal remains. In this direction, life history, biocultural and social science approaches are integrated by historical bioarchaeology addressing a multitude of pressing issues including embodiment, gender, identities, inequality, violence, race, childhood and disability. Adopting the abovementioned perspective, the given paper will examine a Byzantine population coming from the eastern necropolis of Amathus in Cyprus. The assemblage comprises highly commingled and fragmented skeletal remains, hence it represents bodies that have undergone multiple stages of most-mortem and post-depositional transition, while it dates to the Arabic invasions (7th c. AD), thus reflecting a population also undergoing a major socio-political transition.