Tarabout Gilles
Ethnology
Laboratory of Ethnology and Comparative Sociology (LESC)
France
Biography
In 1986 at the EHESS (l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales / School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences), Gilles Tarabout completed a PhD thesis in social anthropology and ethnology on temple festivals in Kerala (South India), under the supervision of Marie-Louise Reiniche and Madeleine Biardeau. Subsequent projects – all on Kerala – focused on the social morphology of the region and on various themes of religious anthropology (festivals, divine mediumship and spirit possession, witchcraft, astrology) as well as some theatrical practices. His approach, initially marked by the structuralism of Louis Dumont and Madeleine Biardeau, evolved towards an account of social heterogeneities, of historical dynamics, and of power relationships and conflict. His current work mainly explores how the Indian courts manage lawsuits relating to Hindu temples.
Research Interest
social and cultural anthropology, religious anthropology, performance studies, legal anthropology
Publications
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2009 eds (with D. Berti),Territory, soil, and society in South Asia (New Delhi, Manohar).
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2012 eds (with S. Dreyfus-Asséo, D. Cupa and G. Chaudoye), Les Ancêtres (Paris, Éditions EDK).
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2013 eds (with D. Berti), Les Frontières de la loi. Justice, pouvoirs et politique [special issue], Diogène, 239-240 (July-October 2012) .
