Contemporary Visions in Tibetan Studies; Proceedings of the First International Seminar of Young Tibetologists

Chicago, IL: Serindia Publications, Inc, 2009. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good (except for some wear/rubbing to bottom of boards)/Very good. Format is approximately 7.75 inces by 10.75 inches. xii, 416, [2] pages. Appendix. Notes. Some text not in English. Bibliography. Contributors. Index. From the early 1980s onward, the field of Tibetan studies has been transformed by the opening of Tibet to foreign researchers. This has ushered in a new era of engagement with Tibet characterized by partnership between Tibetan scholars and their international colleagues, and by an increasing focus on the study of modern Tibet. Concomitant with this trend, the study of traditional Tibetan society and the imperative for cultural preservation has gained a newfound sense of urgency as the older generation of Tibetans, both in Tibet and in the Tibetan diaspora, began to pass away, taking their stories with them. Taken together, these chapters, as the first fruits of the ISYT, bear witness to a diversity and vitality of scholarship that will continue to characterize the field as scholars put forward new agendas and come to terms with interdisciplinary development. This volume of essays, Contemporary Visions in Tibetan Studies, reflects in many ways a critical phase in the discipline of Tibetan studies. The contributions, from promising young scholars, both Tibetan and non-Tibetan from across the globe, are divided evenly between essays that engage with the various modernities of Tibet, China and the diaspora on the one hand, and more classically oriented studies of history, culture and religion on the other. Here Tibetan tradition is scrutinized from without and within, sometimes upheld and sometimes revised. Reflecting the growth of the field and its movement away from assertions of Tibetan exceptionalism and towards cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural projects, many of the essays are problem-oriented, and their enquiries take them outside of the confines of the Tibetan cultural area and towards engagement with the wider world.