{"id":488574,"date":"2025-11-24T03:29:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T03:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studyinternational.com\/?p=488574"},"modified":"2025-11-24T03:29:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T03:29:35","slug":"can-a-language-live-and-die-phd-in-cultural-anthropology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studyinternational.com\/news\/can-a-language-live-and-die-phd-in-cultural-anthropology\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a language live and die at the same time? This PhD in Cultural Anthropology student is finding out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nestled between the misty slopes of Sikkim, the dense forests of West Bengal, and the emerald hills of eastern Nepal, live the Lepcha people \u2014 an indigenous tribe whose myths say they were born from the <\/span>snows of Mount Kanchenjunga<\/span><\/a>, the third-highest mountain in the world.<\/p>\n

Their language, songs, and rituals carry centuries of ecological wisdom and spiritual depth. <\/span><\/p>\n

But like many Indigenous traditions, they’re slowly disappearing with time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adi Prakash<\/span><\/a>, a PhD in Cultural Anthropology candidate at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who’s studying this very topic, takes a different view.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"cultural

Prior to pursuing a PhD in Cultural Anthropology, Prakash was a documentary filmmaker. Source: Adi Prakash<\/p><\/div>\n

Can a language live and die at the same time? A LEPCHA-focused PhD in Cultural Anthropology investigates<\/span><\/h2>\n

When Prakash began documenting life in the Himalayas, he encountered the Lepcha people and heard them speaking a language that was not theirs: Nepali, the dominant language in their area.<\/span><\/p>\n

The elders are fluent in Lepcha. Millennials get by, though they speak mainly in Nepali. As for Gen Z? Many can\u2019t speak Lepcha at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe younger generation has increasingly forgotten their traditional tongue,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, their names are in Lepcha.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of Lepchas are Buddhists or Christians, so names often reflect those faiths, like David or Tenzing,\u201d Prakash says. \u201cBut recently, more children are being given traditional Lepcha names.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So, how did this all happen? The answer lies in what sociologist M.N. Srinivas called the dominant caste framework \u2014 a system in which the most powerful community sets the tone, including the language.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn this region, the dominant group are Nepalis, a portmanteau of communities that use Nepali-ness as social and political identity,\u201d Prakash explains. \u201cHence, Nepali has become the language everyone speaks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Land, too, plays a central role in this power dynamic. On paper, India\u2019s laws guarantee indigenous people like the Lepchas rights over their ancestral land. But in reality, those same lands are being reshaped \u2014 quite literally \u2014 by development projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, the government is planning to build a dam that affects the Lepcha territory of Dzongu, which will add to a series of many already constructed in the larger region.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it’s in this unlikely place that Prakash started seeing the contradiction, how a language can die and yet survive through symbols, through resistance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn contesting the state and the development narrative, the Lepchas are finding new ways to exist,\u201d he says. \u201cThis use of language as a means of negotiation with the state is what I study.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"cultural

Adi Prakash\u2019s research interests lie in language, reciprocity and ritual assertions among the Lepcha in the Eastern Himalaya. Source: Adi Prakash<\/p><\/div>\n

Decolonising the study of Indigenous tribes in cultural anthropology\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Prakash\u2019s research raises a vital question: How can anthropology move beyond its colonial past to truly honour Indigenous voices?<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many ways, there\u2019s a contradiction, one that stems from the inequitable distribution of global resources,\u201d he reflects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anthropology, as a discipline, has recently undergone a profound reckoning with its colonial and racist foundations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in an era when Western scholars studied non-Western societies through a lens of superiority, they often documented and interpreted cultures in ways that reinforced colonial hierarchies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, efforts to decolonise cultural anthropology challenge these legacies by questioning who holds authority to produce knowledge \u2014 and how that knowledge is used.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Decolonisation means moving away from extractive fieldwork practices toward more collaborative, ethical, and reciprocal relationships with the communities being studied.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to economics, political science, or social science, a lot of theoretical constructs and assumptions are made in the West,\u201d Prakash explains. \u201cThat\u2019s where the colonisation of a discipline happens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of its colonial roots, anthropology has historically been Westernised, focusing on non-Western cultures from a Western perspective. Scholars like Prakash are working to change that narrative, but the challenge extends beyond anthropology.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"cultural

Prakash has filmed and produced documentaries in Pakistan and the US. Source: Adi Prakash<\/p><\/div>\n

Take <\/span>Fatima Ebadat Khan<\/span><\/a>, for example. The MS in Education graduate and educator in Pakistan is addressing similar issues in her own field. Her master\u2019s programme equipped her to confront the exclusionary nature of Pakistan\u2019s education system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her thesis explored how national curricula often preach intolerance and marginalise minority communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to understand how we can reshape our education to reflect our history and experiences, not someone else\u2019s version,\u201d says Khan.<\/span><\/p>\n

To Prakash, decolonising cultural anthropology starts with more people contributing new knowledge to this field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pursuing his doctorate at a Western university is part of that process of decolonising cultural anthropology.<\/span><\/p>\n

He believes that the presence of non-Western scholars in global academia can itself begin the work of decolonisation \u2014 one voice, one story, and one community at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Colorado, Boulder PhD candidate is studying a paradox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1990,"featured_media":488846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,18],"tags":[15],"countries":[11],"partner":[],"ppma_author":[1486],"class_list":["post-488574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-postgraduate","tag-feel-good","countries-usa"],"acf":{"modules":null},"meta-shares":{"ppma_authors_name":["Nicole Chin"],"_edit_lock":["1763954875:292"],"_edit_last":["292"],"rank_math_internal_links_processed":["1"],"rank_math_seo_score":["80"],"rank_math_focus_keyword":["cultural anthropology,phd in cultural anthropology"],"rank_math_title":["PhD in Cultural Anthropology studies dying languages"],"rank_math_description":["Sometimes, languages can live and die at the same time, as PhD in 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