When Alexandra David-Neel, French spiritualist and writer, set foot on the soil of Tibet in 1924, Tibet was known only as a kingdom mysteriously hidden in the Himalayas. That was eighty-five years ago. In comparison with other ancient civilizations, Tibet entered the popular world consciousness rather recently. Tibet began the socialist transformation brought by the Chinese state in the late 1950’s and Tibetan Buddhism became an alternative religious/spiritual practice in North America and Western Europe in the 1970’s. In the last thirty years, news coverage on Tibet has been frequent enough that Tibet has become a household word.
For the last half century, the Chinese state has modernized Tibet in both economic and social terms, and social issues and humanitarian predicaments continue to emerge. Knowledge concerning Tibet’s past and present is unprecedentedly in demand.
In the North American academic world, Tibetan studies or Tibet-related courses have become increasingly popular. Research entities, such as the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University and the Contemporary Tibetan Studies Program of the Institute of Asian Research at British Columbia University, are hubs of scholarly findings that shed new light on the current state of Tibet for both academics and the general public.
This seminar attempts to be as informative as possible regarding the current state of the Tibetan culture and people. It focuses on the interplay of Tibetan religion, ecology, and cultural practices in an interdisciplinary fashion. As most of the lectures will be given by local scholars, seminar participants will fully experience how research and teaching concerning Tibet is done in the Chinese academic system. Along with lectures, everyone is highly encouraged to converse and interact with local scholars and students. The Seminar is thus positioned as a gateway for participants to develop professional relationships with local scholars and their institutions.
Beijing is chosen as the entry point of the Seminar because of the number of research institutions and scholars specializing in Tibetan Studies. They are representative of Tibet-related academic activities in China. Meanwhile, Beijing, as the cultural and political center of China, is linked with Lhasa by modern infrastructure. The recently completed Beijing-Lhasa railway is representative of China’s increased modernization efforts toward Tibetan regions. In this regard, modern Sino-Tibetan relations mirror the complex relationship between tradition and modernity in the broadest sense.
Lhasa, the destination of the seminar, is a place that has undergone significant transformation since the middle of the last century. While attempting to preserve tradition in architecture and life style, it also absorbs the same modernization as Han Chinese regions. Through site visits, seminar participants will have opportunities to experience firsthand the changes occurring in contemporary Tibet.
This is a 13-day seminar starting and ending in Beijing. Most of the seminar will be held travelling throughout the Lhasa area.
