Lords and Lamas

Lords and Lamas
Author: Michel Peissel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 220
Release: 1970
Genre: Travel
ISBN:

Lord of the Dance

Lord of the Dance
Author: Tulku Chagdud
Publisher: Pilgrims
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Son of Dawa Drolma, one of Tibet’s most renowned female lamas, Chagdud Rinpoche was recognized early in life as a Tulku, or incarnation of a realized master, and was rigorously trained by many great lamas. Forced into exile by the Chinese invasion, his was the last generation to inherit the highest teachings and methods of Buddhism in Tibet. This candid autobiography helps Westerners understand the astonishing culture that is bound up with Vajrayana teachings.

Cherishing Men from Afar

Cherishing Men from Afar
Author: James Louis Hevia
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780822316374

In the late eighteenth century two expansive Eurasian empires met formally for the first time--the Manchu or Qing dynasty of China and the maritime empire of Great Britain. The occasion was the mission of Lord Macartney, sent by the British crown and sponsored by the East India Company, to the court of the Qianlong emperor. Cherishing Men from Afar looks at the initial confrontation between these two empires from a historical perspective informed by the insights of contemporary postcolonial criticism and cultural studies. The history of this encounter, like that of most colonial and imperial encounters, has traditionally been told from the Europeans' point of view. In this book, James L. Hevia consults Chinese sources--many previously untranslated--for a broader sense of what Qing court officials understood; and considers these documents in light of a sophisticated anthropological understanding of Qing ritual processes and expectations. He also reexamines the more familiar British accounts in the context of recent critiques of orientalism and work on the development of the bourgeois subject. Hevia's reading of these sources reveals the logics of two discrete imperial formations, not so much impaired by the cultural misunderstandings that have historically been attributed to their meeting, but animated by differing ideas about constructing relations of sovereignty and power. His examination of Chinese and English-language scholarly treatments of this event, both historical and contemporary, sheds new light on the place of the Macartney mission in the dynamics of colonial and imperial encounters.

Tibet

Tibet
Author: Michel Peissel
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2002
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780312309534

A passionate homage to Tibet in words and pictures by one of the last great explorers who brings the geographical, spiritual, and intellectual heart of the country to life. 250 photos.

China's Tibet?

China's Tibet?
Author: Warren W. Smith
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780742539907

This groundbreaking book explores China's efforts to assimilate Tibet, in the process rewriting Tibetan history to conform to Beijing's goals. Warren W. Smith Jr. provides the historical context for understanding the current situation through an overview of China's actual--as opposed to its promised--policies toward Tibet over time. His clear-eyed appraisal of Chinese policy convincingly shows that the PRC's ultimate intention is assimilation rather than autonomy. The author argues that Beijing fears that any genuine autonomy or dialogue with the Dalai Lama will fuel renewed nationalism in "China's Tibet," as the Chinese leadership calls its possession. The book highlights China's past and current propaganda on Tibet to demonstrate China's sensitivity and defensiveness regarding the legitimacy of its rule. It traces the history of Sino-Tibetan dialogue to show how China has tried to use it to defuse Tibetan exile and international criticism, while making no concessions in regard to Tibetan autonomy. In the absence of any solution, Smith advocates the promotion of Tibet's right to self-determination as the most viable strategy for sustaining international attention and maintaining the most essential elements of Tibetan national identity. Smith's thoroughly informed work will be valuable not only to Tibet experts and students, but also to the larger world of Tibet activists, sympathizers, and others attempting to understand China's policies.

The Land of the Lamas

The Land of the Lamas
Author: William Woodville Rockhill
Publisher:
Total Pages: 434
Release: 1891
Genre: China
ISBN:

Nomads of Western Tibet

Nomads of Western Tibet
Author:
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1990-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780520072107

this copiously illustrated book is a fascinating account of these remarkable people, of their traditional way of survival. In a world where indigenous peoples and their environments are vanishing at alarming rates, the survival of this way of life represents an unexpected and heartening victory for humanity.

Fortune and the Cursed

Fortune and the Cursed
Author: Katherine Swancutt
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2012
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 085745482X

Innovation-making is a classic theme in anthropology that reveals how people fine-tune their ontologies, live in the world and conceive of it as they do. This ethnographic study is an entrance into the world of Buryat Mongol divination, where a group of cursed shamans undertake the 'race against time' to produce innovative remedies that will improve their fallen fortunes at an unconventional pace. Drawing on parallels between social anthropology and chaos theory, the author gives an in-depth account of how Buryat shamans and their notion of fortune operate as 'strange attractors' who propagate the ongoing process of innovation-making. With its view into this long-term 'cursing war' between two shamanic factions in a rural Mongolian district, and the comparative findings on cursing in rural China, this book is a needed resource for anyone with an interest in the anthropology of religion, shamanism, witchcraft and genealogical change. Katherine Swancutt is a Research Fellow in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford. She has carried out fieldwork on shamanic religion across Inner Asia, working among Buryats in northeast Mongolia and China since 1999, and among the Nuosu of Southwest China since 2007.