The lecture entitled " Sacrifice to govern : rituals, legitimacy and power in Nepal ", given by Marie Lecomte-Tilouine, Director of Research at LAS, and held as part of the exhibition " Du terrain au texte. Publier l'ethnologie et ses images " will take place on Tuesday 24 February 2026 at 5 pm at the Institute of Civilizations, 52 rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, 75005 Paris.
Nepal is one of the few contemporary countries where blood sacrifice is still an authorized and official practice, closely associated with political power. Every year, this is renewed during the buffalo sacrifice, a high point that involves the entire population in one way or another. Yet this ordering mechanism is maintained in an unstable equilibrium, as the group is put in tension, and the opposing effects it provokes. It itself displays a plasticity based on the multiple threads of its construction, and can become an instrument of destruction for the organization.
