Imagining the Good Life: Negotiating Culture and Development in Nepal Himalaya (Social Sciences in Asia)

Lim, Francis Khek Gee

ISBN 10: 9004167870 / ISBN 13: 9789004167872

Published by Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2008

About this Item

xiv, 234 pages : illustrations, maps. Combining ethnographic research and theoretical reflections on the pursuit of the good life in a Tibetan community in the Nepal Himalaya, this book offers a perspective in seeking to understand contemporary experience of development and globalization.

Seller Inventory # 4jbew801

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Imagining the Good Life: Negotiating Culture and Development in Nepal Himalaya (Social Sciences in Asia)
• Publisher: Leiden ; Boston : Brill
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004167870
• ISBN 13: 9789004167872
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Fine
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Anthropology
  • Tibet
  • India

About this title

Synopsis

This is a book of great originality that analyses cultural change and experience of development in terms of the pursuit of the ‘good life’ as a social process. While recent anthropological critiques of development highlight the importance of ‘local knowledge’, this book argues that these critiques have not gone far enough, and suggests that a much more fundamental issue concerns the ends of development as seen from a more holistic, cultural perspective. Based on ethnographic research among an ethnic Tibetan community in the Nepal Himalaya, the book eloquently illustrates how the pursuit of the good life is inextricably tied to space and history, and demonstrates the relevance of ethno-historically generated conceptions of the ‘good life’ to the practice of development.

About the Author

Francis Khek Gee Lim, Ph.D. (2004) in Anthropology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, is Assistant Professor in the Division of Sociology, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). His research interests include religion, tourism, and the politics of development.