High Frontiers - Himalayan Pastoralists in a Changing World

Erscheinungsjahr 2004
ISBN: 978-0-231-12391-4
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 336 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 413 g

Reihe: Historical Ecology Series

Dolpo is a culturally Tibetan enclave in one of Nepal's most remote regions. The Dolpo-pa, or people of Dolpo, share language, religious and cultural practices, history, and a way of life. Agro-pastoralists who live in some of the highest villages in the world, the Dolpo-pa wrest survival from this inhospitable landscape through a creative combination of farming, animal husbandry, and trade.

High Frontiers is an ethnography and ecological history of Dolpo tracing the dramatic transformations in the region's socioeconomic patterns. Once these traders passed freely between Tibet and Nepal with their caravans of yak to exchange salt and grains; they relied on winter pastures in Tibet to maintain their herds. After 1959, China assumed full control over Tibet and the border was closed, restricting livestock migrations and sharply curtailing trade. At the same time, increasing supplies of Indian salt reduced the value of Tibetan salt, undermining Dolpo's economic niche. Dolpo's agro-pastoralists were forced to reinvent their lives by changing their migration patterns, adopting new economic partnerships, and adapting to external agents of change. The region has been transformed as a result of the creation of Nepal's largest national park, the making of Himalaya, a major motion picture filmed on location, the increasing presence of nongovernmental organizations, and a booming trade in medicinal products. High Frontiers examines these transformations at the local level and speculates on the future of pastoralism in this region and across the Himalayas.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bauer, Kenneth Michael

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Ethnographie
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Physische Anthropologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Kultur- und Sozialethnologie: Materielle Kultur, Wirtschaftsethnologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Agrarsoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Umwelt und Kultur, Kulturökologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

ContentsAbbreviationsAcknowlegmentsA Note on Tibetan and Nepali TermsIntroduction1. Dolpo's Agro-Pastoral System2. Pastoralism, in View and Review3. A Sketch of Dolpo's History4. A New World Order in Tibet5. Nepal's Relations with Its Border Populations and the Case of Dolpo6. The Wheel Is Broken: A Pastoral Exodus in the Himalayas7. Visions of Dolpo: Conservation and Development8. A Tsampa Western9. Perspectives on ChangeNotesWorks CitedGlossaryAppendix 1: Pasture ToponomyAppendix 2: Dolpo Plant SpeciesIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Kenneth M. Bauer founded DROKPA, a nonprofit organization that partners with pastoral communities to implement grassroots development projects in the Himalayas and Central Asia.