Building the Sherpa's New Present in the Age of Globalization (Paperback)

Paperback. The central concern of this book is a detailed examination of both the strategy and the means employed whereby the Sherpas have been successfully managing the creation of a novel tradition beyond the narrow confines of their traditional particularism and, in firm association, a new wider, i.e. all-embracive, collectivity and a corresponding greater, pan-Sherpa identity. This achievement proves to be of crucial importance in their dealings not only with other citizens within the nation-state of Nepal but also in their diasporic communities where Sherpas celebrate their major festivals with other Tibetan Buddhists and live together with other Nepalis in a larger neighbourhood of South Asians. This innovation is being achieved at a new site in a new framework and, most significantly, through the solemn performance of certain major Tibetan Buddhist ritual celebrations. Thus, the actors clearly demonstrate their remarkable capacity to carve out a suitable niche in the globalized world of the 21st century while initiating and also realizing a veritable renaissance of Sherpa Buddhism, culture and society that, for long, seemed to be a seriously endangered species, spoilt by its own tremendous material success and its inevitably concomitant grave cultural loss and alienation and an alarming state of environmental degradation. The central concern of this book is a detailed examination of both the strategy and the means employed whereby the Sherpas have been successfully managing the creation of a novel tradition beyond the narrow confines of their traditional particularism and, in firm association, a new wider, i.e. all-embracing, collectivity and a corres Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…