The Tribe–Caste Continuum and Kinnaur: Aspects of Acculturation, Stratification and Factorial Heterogeneity

This article discusses aspects of ‘hybridity’ in societal relations based on religion, caste, identity, power etc. in Kinnaur to underscore the negotiability of caste and tribe and argues that the presence of a localised two-fold system of caste stratification in a region designated as ‘tribal’ questions the universality of the varna model as a pan-Indian classificatory system. Discussing the concurrence of traditional and modern denominators of identity formation, the article problematises the basic premise of the tribe–caste continuum within which the larger theoretical framework of tribal integration is located and critiques the meta-narrative of unilinear cultural evolution by substantiating heterogeneity, internal differentiation, contact etc. among the Kinnauras to render the a priori reduction of tribal societies into a few identifiable stages or modes of production as historically and epistemologically erroneous. Characteristics of cultural assimilation alongside processes of modernisation and democratisation effectuating mobility and other associational aspects among the Kinnauras are also discussed.