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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Himalayan Heritage: Local Organization And The Role Of Tradition In The Community Development Of The Thakali People, Erik Svedberg
Himalayan Heritage: Local Organization And The Role Of Tradition In The Community Development Of The Thakali People, Erik Svedberg
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Within the communities of the Thakali people of Mustang, Nepal, decisionmaking power has traditionally been held by the local chieftain, the Mukhiya. However, this traditional authority appears to be threatened by two trends of Nepali development: the institutionalization of the Village Development Committee (VDC) as the official entity of local government, and the proliferation of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) as part of a development push to expand community participation in decisionmaking. Current scholarship has deeply explored the sociocultural dynamics of the Mukhiya as well as how the sociopolitical landscapes of Thakali societies are changing, but a scholarly link between the …
Tibetan Women Tailors: Sewing A Community Of Tibetan Women Tailors, Charlotte Fleming
Tibetan Women Tailors: Sewing A Community Of Tibetan Women Tailors, Charlotte Fleming
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
This paper examines the effects of a handicraft promoting company and sewing training workshop, the Shangri La Tangtong Handicraft Development Center, on the lives of its participant group of 28 women tailors. Explained is the history of the organization, justifications for formation, and description of the current workspace and products as located in Shangri La Old Town, Yunnan Province. From a series of 19 interviews (13 of which conducted with the tailors) and personal observations comes the conclusion that beyond the organization’s specified goals of cultural heritage preservation and poverty alleviations, the workshop effectively provides the tailors with a strong …
From Pokhara To Kandahar: The Two Hundred Year Journey Of The Force That Made Nepal Famous, Elijah Wohl
From Pokhara To Kandahar: The Two Hundred Year Journey Of The Force That Made Nepal Famous, Elijah Wohl
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
The Gurkhas are renown throughout the world for their fighting skills, their bravery, and their loyalty to the British Crown. Much has been written on their distinguished history, but traditional literature on the Gurkhas leaves several questions unanswered. How did the Gurkhas come to be as a fighting force for the British Empire when the British never occupied Nepal? How have they survived the independence of India and the subsequent dismantling of the British Empire? And what will the future of the Gurkhas be? Will they continue their two centuries of service to the British Crown? Or will they become …
Oxen And Elephants: An Examination Of Approaches To Enlightenment And Dialogue Between Zen And Tibetan Buddhism, Alexander Macmillan
Oxen And Elephants: An Examination Of Approaches To Enlightenment And Dialogue Between Zen And Tibetan Buddhism, Alexander Macmillan
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Exchange between Tibetan Buddhism and Zen1 Buddhism in the United States has proven fruitful and mutually beneficial to each form as practiced in the American context. The relationship between the two began famously with the intimate relationship between Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and Chogyam Trungpa, arguably the two most influential Buddhist teachers in the West during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Although short lived, this relationship led Trungpa, from the Kagyu Tibetan lineage, to reach out to other Zen teachers in America and adopt zen art forms and meditation style in his teaching. On the side of Zen practitioners in America, Trungpa …
Preserving Tradition: Analyzing The Commoditization Of Cultural Identity Through Beauty Pageants Among Ethnic Minority Groups In Kathmandu, Martha Oster-Beal
Preserving Tradition: Analyzing The Commoditization Of Cultural Identity Through Beauty Pageants Among Ethnic Minority Groups In Kathmandu, Martha Oster-Beal
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
This research primarily focuses on the “cultural talent contests” enrolling contestants who are members of the numerous minority ethnic groups residing in Kathmandu. In a growing metropolis, these beauty queens are often seen as symbolic representations of collective cultural identities, and the pageants as fields of active ‘cultural production’. This author surveys the growing literature on beauty pageants and several opinions of organizers, community members and the contestants themselves to better understand how culture is produced within the contexts of pageants. The study examines how beauty pageants operate as locations of commodification and consumption in a world increasingly influenced by …
The Modern Status And Future Of Dongba Religion, Chris Delacy
The Modern Status And Future Of Dongba Religion, Chris Delacy
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
I have amassed data related to the changes undergone by the Dongba religion and its effects on local Naxi culture in the Eya, Baidi, Tacheng/Weixi County, and Lijiang communities. Each district was unique in that their religious practices and participation by the community was radically different as a result of outside influence (or lack thereof) as evidenced by how the religion is passed on through the generations and how the religion is publicly represented through art. As Naxi culture and the Dongba religion have already undergone an incredible amount of changes (especially the declining number of the Dongba religion’s religious …
Dharma And The Free Market: Reconciling Buddhist Compassion With A Market Economy In Post-Socialist Mongolia, Yazmeen Mendez Nuñez
Dharma And The Free Market: Reconciling Buddhist Compassion With A Market Economy In Post-Socialist Mongolia, Yazmeen Mendez Nuñez
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
In this inductive ethnographic study, I explore the unique social and theological pressures placed on Mongolian Buddhists after the wake of free market transition in Mongolia. It utilizes the Buddhist virtue of compassion as a lens by which the study might examine how Mongolians balance their spirituality and commitment to Buddhist ethics with new roles as rational agents in an emergent free market. In this study I draw on narratives from thirteen subjects as well as extensive participant observation to examine the ways that Mongolian market reform has guided social paradigms of ethic that present ethical contradictions with Buddhist dharma, …
Cameras And Incense: Negotiating Religious Dance On Tourist Bali, Emma Brandt
Cameras And Incense: Negotiating Religious Dance On Tourist Bali, Emma Brandt
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
The small island of Bali has become famous throughout the world as a center of arts and culture. Tourists visit the island in droves each year to collect traditional paintings, carvings, and fabrics, and to watch performances of dances, gamelan, and puppet shows, all of these based in a Shivaite Hindu tradition that has absorbed elements of Buddhism and Islam, as well as bits and pieces from the religions of China and other erstwhile visitors to the island. Bali, a strongly Hindu island in one of the world’s largest Muslim countries, has achieved a worldwide fame perhaps greater than the …