Winfried Ellingsen

Ethnic Appropriations of the City: the Territoriality of Culture in Kathmandu Winfried Ellingsen

The main thesis of this book relates the territoriality of ethnic groups to their cultural and political concepts and understanding. Retrieving territoriality from its former biological connotations, the concept developed is situated squarely in practice theory. Structuring practices of institutionalised and everyday character are related to cultural concepts and the material environment. This theoretical framing is followed empirically in the analysis of two distinct ethnic groups in Kathmandu, the 'original' Newar and Tibetan refugees. The analysis is set in the historical context before proceeding to the socio- spatial practices of the groups that appropriate and internalise the city in their own image and self- perception.