Hill tribe (Duran)

Elderly Hua people in traditional dress.

Hill tribe (Namkha: རི་འབུར Riburpa "hill people") is a term used to designate the various ethnic groups of Duran who primarily inhabit the upper reaches of the Beishan Mountains and North Duranian Highlands, and is sometimes extended to the related peoples who inhabit northern Shangea and other surrounding nations. Comparable with the term Vanavasi in neighbouring Satria, the various ethnic groups which fall under the umbrella of the hill tribe label are diverse and share few concrete relations, being composed of a range of different language groups and families. Instead, they are associated due to their similar lifestyles based upon slash-and-burn agriculture, pastoralism, and resistance to central authority under the Nampa dominated valley states. These characteristics are shared with other upland peoples who inhabit the South Coian Massif, which has formed a key aspect of the Kussuria theory, which posits a shared resistance to central state control as the shaping factor in such societies

In Duran, the term has an official political dimension as scheduled hill tribes are granted special protections under the Dratsung system. This system arose as a compromise between autonomist militias and the Chenpodrang government, and allows tribes to maintain their own local customs and governance with state assistance. The system allows for hill tribes to decide on the nature of development aid and infrastructure in their communities, so that it does not infringe on local beliefs. Despite this accord, there have been numerous incidents of forced land siezure and cultural erasure by the Duranian government, which has resulted in political turmoil and low level insurgency. Hill tribes remain behind urbanised populations in most metrics of living standards, and complain of less access to education and healthcare.

Official recognition of the label "Hill Tribe"

The term "Hill Tribe" is considered to be a politically neutral way of refering to the peoples of upland Duran, as it is purely descriptive as opposed to historical terms which often carry a pejorative connotation. The older term used in the Namkha language is Jagö (Namkha: བྱ་རྒོད), which is derived from the term for "vulture". This word is perceived as derogatory by most hill peoples, and came about due to the perception that the hill tribes were scavengers who lived in the mountains. ANother term now deemed offensive is the Shangean 苗 Miao, which has sometimes been translated as "Barbarian". This term was used to denote hill tribes during the Shangean Occupation of Duran and is still used in the Shangean language.

Under the Dratsung system, any ethnic group is able to apply for official designation as a Hill Tribe. Their application is examined by the Commission for National Minorities, and judged according to three criterion: A clearly demarcated and unique group identity, a common language or dialect, and a breadth of shared and unique cultural practices. These criterion are often considered too broad, and mean that many subgroups within wider linguistic or cultural groups are not separately recognised. For example, despite historical and cultural uniqueness from the valley Nampa, the Yagpa people were only recognised as a Hill Tribe in 2008 because their language is the same as the valley Nampa. As a Hill Tribe must be officially recognised by the government in order to be granted the same autonomy and federal aid, the recognition of tribes is highly political and has been used as a tool of repression against hill tribes.

Main groups

Hua

A gathering of Hua in traditional garments.

The Hua are the most populous group of hill peoples in Duran. There are several major Hua subgroups geographically dispersed across the north of the country, each of which speaks a different dialect of the Hua language. Seven of these are recognised by the Duranian government, of which the White Flower Hua are the most numerous. The Hua are related to the Maaisou people, together forming an isolate linguistic group. In total there are an estimate 4.5 million Hua in Duran, including those who now live within urban areas.

Like most hill peoples, the Hua have traditionally depended on slash-and-burn agriculture for their livelihoods. However, the Hua are more sedentary than other hill tribes and have on occasion formed paddy states in fertile areas of upland Duran. Hua society is organised on the basis of clans, patrilineal kinship groups based around common ancestral deities. Endogamous marriage is prohibited, partners must be found outside the groom's clan, which has been a way of securing alliances in the past. According to Jacques Legalle, this practice can be interpreted as a means of avoiding being tied down to a static kinship group, allowing for escape from urbanisation. Several Hua states have existed historically, such as the historical Matu culture in the Chalcolithic era and Tsathaw Kingdom, a petty kingdom which fought against the Namrong Dynasty. The Hua have a history of rebellion against central authority, and formed the backbone of the early insurgency. However, their size and past relations with the Nampa meant that they were one of the first groups to gain protection under the Dratsung system and gain political representation in the Assembly of Elders. The current Nam Desi, Xia Kha Yia, is of Hua ethnicity. The Hua have a traditional religious system, known as Kadawism, which is dominant in their people and has influenced the belief systems of other hill tribes.

Ro

A Ro family, pictured in 1904.

The Ro people make up the second largest hill tribal grouping in Duran. They are divided into two main recognised groupings, the Jotsu and Losu. It is believed that there are around 2 million Ro in Duran, though the population size is hard to gauge as many Ro-majority areas are controlled by the insurgent Ro Salvation Socialist Front which is the largest hill tribe militia force in active opposition to the government. Much like the Hua, the Ro have vacillated between practices of nomadic and sedentary agriculture, but have been historically less amenable to trade with the Valley states and have therefore faced persecution. The aftermath of the sixteenth century Black Turban revolt, which was predominantly waged by Ro, was particularly brutal and destroyed the last Ro sedentary polities. The memory of this brutal repression has been preserved in much of Ro culture, and plays a key role in traditional religious beliefs which tell of the curse of the Ro for abandoning their prophet Hni Wo. The Ro recieved settlements during the early Dratsung system, but after a major Ro settlement was destroyed to make way for the Kartrinpa Dam a religious-socialist sect began to fight against the central government.

Yagpa

An elderly Yagpa woman with her tent.

The Yagpa, whose name can be directly translated to "Yak People", are a hill tribe in Duran who speak a variety of Duranic languages. Though many of their cultural practices are similar to the larger Namkha and Lhopa people, the Yagpa live in the higher mountains and live a purely nomadic lifestyle based upon transhument pastoralism. They keep herds of Yaks, Takins and Goats, and are unique among the peoples of Coius for their practice of Cheesemaking which due to longer aging times can resemble Euclean cheeses. The Yagpa are a minor group, making up less than 2% of the total population.

Maaisou

The Maaisou people inhabit the southern highlands of Duran on the borders with Shangea, with populations either side of the border. Numbering almost a million in Duran, the Maaisou are one of the more numerous hill tribes in the country. According to oral history, the Maaisou were historically located further south in modern-day Shangea, but were pushed northwards as the dynastic Shangean states expanded further and further. Like most other hill tribes, the Maaisou predominantly practice slash and burn agriculture centred upon the cultivation of yams and other similar crops. Their society is strongly patrilineal and their traditional religion resembles traditional Shangean beliefs.

Gie

A Gie funeral. Despite their Sotirianisation, the Gie still wear traditional outfits for special occasions.

One of the smaller hill tribes of Duran, the Gie are linguistically and genealogically related to the Ro people. However, their cultures are highly divergent and so the two groups are recognised to be different entities. Unlike the Ro, who follow their own well-defined folk religion, the Gie are predominantly followers of the Episemialist Church due to missionary work by the Soravian Missionary and Anthropologist Yuri Tardedenko. The Gie are remarkable for their matrilocal marital system, which is unique among the peoples of the region and according to legend came because in the aftermath of the Red Turban revolt, a man's family would be subject to conscription and this therefore allowed the Gie boys to hide with their mothers.

Issues faced by hill tribes

Provisionment of services

A typical Akkar village, showing the living conditions of many Hill Tribes.

A key issue faced by many hill tribe communities is a significant deficit in access to infrastrucure and governmental services such as electricity, healthcare and education. As the bulk of scheduled hill tribes are located in rural areas, it is often harder for basic utilities to reach their settlements. An estimated 78% of hill tribe settlements are reliant on local electricity supplies through petrol generators, if they have access to power at all. Running water can be equally scarce, and while this problem is less serious due to Duran's plentiful rainfall water scarcity can occur in dryer months.

Education within hill tribes has been a delicate political issue for some time. Before the Dratsung system was introduced, hill youths were schooled in residential boarding schools which sought to teach the nation's minorities Namkha and integrate them into valley lifestyles. This posicy of attempted cultural erasure was a major source of tension between the central government and hill tribes, meaning it was abandoned after the passage of the Dratsung system. Local communities are now allowed to teach within their own languages for the duration of primary schooling, though any students who wish to enter secondary education must also be proficient in Namkha. While local schools are theoretically intended to allow students to choose between village life and urban life, in practice they are massively underfunded and produce very few students for secondary school. Major issues include literacy, given the archaic writing system used for Namkha and a lack of focus upon it as most tribal languages are predominantly oral.

Healthcare availability is another area of major inequality between hill peoples and the urbanised population. Very few hospitals exist within rural areas, meaning that unwell people often must travel long distances in order to recieve care. This is especially difficult as roads and other transport infrastructure is comparably lacking in such areas. Rural clinics are also less well funded, understaffed, and unable to perform major procedures. This issue is compounded by a lack of nurses and doctors able to speak tribal languages, which makes it hard for hill tribespeople to interact in a medical setting.

Tensions with government

Main article: Hill tribes insurgency in Duran

Fighters of the Ro Salvation Socialist Front, one of the larger Hill Tribe militias active.

Due to their treatment at the hands of the Nampa-dominated central government, many of the hill tribes have engaged in combat or political activism which has called for greater autonomy or even independence for their communities. There are numerous records of historical revolts by hill tribes, with the Black Turban revolt in the sixteenth century being most well known due to its scale and the brutality of the repression which followed. In the late nineteenth century, the government of Zhabrung Rinchen Namgyal' campaigns of modernisation caused major tensions and violence, as they sought to sedentarise many hill tribes to facilitate their inclusion into the Duranian state. Such efforts continued under the Heavenly Shangean Empire, leading to the beginning of a series of insurrections which have continued to the modern day. Despite the institution of the Dratsung system, political tension has remained constant between Chenpodrang and the hill tribes. This has been the result of limited recognition of tribal groups in some areas, land siezure employed against tribal groups, and disproportionate counterinsurgency tactics which have targetted civilians.

In the modern period these tensions have primarily played out through non-violent action such as protests and advocacy, with armed struggle diminishing in scale. Notable events have included the 2006 Day of Acknowledgement protests, a series of protests across Duran organised by the Alliance of Duranian Hill Tribespeople, United Democratic Party and several smaller tribal association which campained for greater recognition of hill tribes' languages and culture. As a result, the government declared August 16 to be Hill People's Day, a national holiday, and pledged to improve on many of the areas outlined. Several groups are still active in low level insurgencies, the largest being the Nuosu National Front, with this confict claiming several lives each year.