GROS, Stéphane, 2001c, “Ritual and Politics: Missionary Encounters with Local Culture in Northwest Yunnan”. Paper presented at the AAS Annual Meeting, Chicago, March 22-25.

What can ethnologists learn from missionaries’ documents on local cultures, aside from missionaries’ approaches and methods of conversion?

Having worked on archives about the French Catholic “Tibet Mission”, while at the same time collecting important data on the culture of local Tibeto-Burmese populations, it appears that missionaries’ writings are of great help to reach a real understanding about inter-ethnic relations and power relations.

By employing an ethno-historical approach, the analysis of the first steps of the settling of the French missionaries in Northwest Yunnan, near the Tibetan border, reveals that by the end of the 19^th century, this area showed a complex interweaving of spheres of power resulting from both Tibetan and Chinese colonization. For the local populations, gradually deprived of their land, allegiances became multi-layered.

This paper underlines several aspects of missionaries actions that are meaningful for understanding local social organization and political institutions. The paper concludes by showing the role the debt system played in allowing authorities to impose their domination, and demonstrate that for local cultures, the ritual process of political legitimisation is a key aspect.

Despite being focused on a specific geographical area, this study can shed light on the process of religious conversions for comparative research perspectives.