Diamond Rana

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Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg

South Asia Institute

Department of Anthropology


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Research Projects Nepal





"Rana Reflect"

person in charge: Stefanie Lotter
project period: April 1998 - September 2003



Filming 'Basanti" by Diamond S. Rana in the role of king Biju SJB Rana


This study is a contribution to the field of elite studies, an underrepresented area that has gained increasing interest in anthropology with its recent gaze towards power reproduction as well as prestige and status. The Rana, who effectively ruled Nepal until fifty years ago, declined from being an effective elite, although aspects of their distinctness have survived.

This study does not narrate the history of the Rana but examines the present situation between reorientation, re-creation and nostalgia as the poles within eluding spheres of past glory. ‘Rana Reflect’ covers disperse material from a Rana theme park to the family goddess, but is clearly divided into three parts. The first part of the study covers, besides a discussion of the methodology, the dynasties trans-national association with modernity as a way of legitimisation. The second part is likewise concerned with the fusion of influences however it transfers the discussion into the individual, featuring the hybridisation of the Rana who identify with Hindu high caste culture as well as with western elite culture. Turning from the fusion of identity towards its mainly unconscious manifestation, the study turns further to the distinct but declining habitus of the Rana. The third part of the study draws further into the field of representation and conscious self-reflection presenting the Rana in faction and docudrama. The equally conscious but less public re-creation of a community at the Rana family temple, builds the final chapter of the study.

publications:

egraner IX/ 2003