The Tales of Origin and Settling Process of Marginal Societies in Bhutan

Abstract

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is yet one of the most under-represented regions among the marginal and peripheral societies in the developing world. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a general understanding of the attributes that characterise cultural landscapes in Bhutan, their diversity, the cultural, social and economic processes that have shaped these landscapes, their genesis and their associations. In most cases, the genesis of settlement and their impact upon the form of later development only began to be felt when they grew in both size and complexity. These isolated village societies have played much vital role before provincial and territorial boundaries were drawn and artificially superimposed on their native land. Each village community in Bhutan, despite a commonly held culture and life experiences similar to other village communities, has a unique history, and slightly different cultural practices. Orally based community histories allow these people to describe their own historical experiences. This investigation is based on the documentation of the village tales from about 25 villages spreading over 10 districts out of a total of 20 districts in Bhutan. While community studies is an expanding area of Studies, more literature is needed to describe how these marginal societies are evolved and survived for a better understanding of their planning in the context of globalization and their entry into market economy.