Tibetan Studies > News for Tibetan Studies & Tibetans
News for Tibetan Studies & Tibetans
Obituary > Gugé Tsering Gyalpo
Gugé Tsering Gyalpo (གུ་གེ་ཚེ་རིང་རྒྱལ་པོ་), director of the Religious Department, Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences (TASS), Lhasa, passed away June 27, 2015. For an English obituary by Guntram Hazod, see 
this page; for a Tibetan obituary by Chung Tsering (ཆུང་ཚེ་རིང་) see this page.
UVa Tibet Day 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 3-6 pm, 101 Nau Hall
Discover all the ways you can engage with Tibet and Tibetan Culture at UVa. Join us to learn about Tibetan language and culture, Tibetan studies at UVa, and more. Enjoy refreshments and discover Tibetan studies at UVa (3-4pm). Opening remarks, performance, and slideshow (4-6pm). For more information visit the Tibet Day page.
Tibetan Medicine and Meditation Symposium
April 13-15, 2012, University of Virginia. This innovative symposium will bring together leading Tibetan, American, and International scholars and practitioners of meditation and mindfulness, researchers on mind-body connections, and medical professionals to explore the intersection between modern science and the classical medical and contemplative traditions of Tibet. It will investigate how Tibetan medical and meditation systems have traditionally been used in the healing of mind and body, as well as exploring how these techniques can be adapted and incorporated into contemporary healthcare systems. For the schedule and other information see the Symposium website.
Obituary > Andre Alexander
Andre Alexander, co-founder of the Tibet Heritage Fund, passed away in January, 2012. For an obituary by Per Sørensen and Janet Gyatso, see this page.
Course > Summer Tibetan Language
The South Asia Summer Language Institute (SASLI) based at the University of Wisconsin – Madison is offering an intensive summer course in Tibetan. Applications for Summer 2012 are now being accepted. For application instructions and information about fees, see http://www.sasli.wisc.edu.
Event > Conference: ACES Central Eurasian Studies Conference
Call for Papers. Submission Deadline: 15 November 2011
The Association of Central Eurasian Students (ACES) at Indiana University invites panel and individual paper proposals for the Nineteenth Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference to be held Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 on the Bloomington campus of Indiana University. For more information, see http://www.indiana.edu/~aces/.
Obituary > Richard Keith Sprigg
Richard Keith Sprigg, outstanding contributor to the fields of Himalayan Studies, phonetics, and phonology, passed away on Wednesday, September 8, 2011. For an obituary by Martine Mazaudon, please see this page.
Obituary > Marceline de Montmollin
Marceline de Montmollin passed away peacefully on Saturday 10 September, aged 80. Our colleague Cristina Scherrer-Schaub has kindly offered to write an obituary, which will be posted in due course on the website of the JIATS.
Obituary > E. Gene Smith
E. Gene Smith, outstanding pioneer of Tibetan Studies who singlehandedly preserved for posterity the enormous heritage of Tibetan texts on philosophy, history and culture, died at his home in New York City on December 16. Read the English obituary by Leonard van der Kuijp, Janet Gyatso, and Jeff Wallman, and Lobsang Yongdan's appreciation in Tibetan.
Obituary > Luciano Petech
Many of you will have heard the sad news that Professor Luciano Petech passed away in September. His erstwhile student, Elena de Rossi Filibeck, has been kind enough to compile a short obituary, which you can read in English or in the Tibetan translation by Tsering D. Gonkatsang. ~ Charles Ramble
Event > Conference: International Association for Ladakh Studies
15th IALS Conference, Call for Papers: The 15th Conference of the International Association for Ladakh Studies will be held at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, from 24 to 28 August 2011. The central theme of the conference is defined as "Responding to Climate, Biodiversity and Resource Changes in Ladakh and elsewhere in the Western Himalaya." We hope, as always, to make this a multidisciplinary event, where scholars from different fields may interact fruitfully. Full details may be found on our website, www.ladakhstudies.org.
Event > International Symposium on Music and Ritual in the Himalayas
November 4, 2010, 4:00 PM. Luce Hall Auditorium, Yale University (34 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven CT). Free and open to the public.
Event > Conference: Himalayan Meeting Places: Trade, Pilgrimage and Cultural Encounters
April 27-29th, 2011. Bedlewo Palace, Poznan, Poland. Contact Dr. Rafal Beszterda, rbeszterda@yahoo.co.uk or rbeszterda@gmail.com. The Committee of Ethnological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences – Eastern Research Commission and the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology – Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun invite academics and professionals to submit papers, presentations or workshops, and to register interest in attending. The Conference will discuss the cultural aspects of the Himalayan belt and is thought to be the first to take place in Poland. The organisers hope that it will serve to launch a series of summits involving specialist anthropologists, ethnologists, historians and scholars in related disciplines interested in the cultural aspects of the Himalaya and other high-altitude areas of the world.
Papers presented at the Conference should be devoted to the social and cultural dimensions of the Himalaya from the perspective of the social sciences and humanities, including political science, economics and history. Presenters are invited to examine norms and traditions, societal values, the operation of centres of power/administration in the Himalayan countries, the production, distribution and consumption of goods, also the motors and means of social change, relations between trade encounters and regional/local religions and belief, together with the role played by pilgrimage centres. Participants are asked to focus on primary research, drawing on personal or documented knowledge, experiences, and on-going or planned projects.
Event > Chu-bzhi Movie Premiere October 20, 2010, 7 pm
A cinematic meditation by Tenzin Phuntsog; shot in western Tibet.
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St, New York, New York.
Second screening: December 12, 2010, 3 pm. www.rmanyc.org, 212-620-5000 x344
Event > 12th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, August 15-21, 2010.
See the website for further information about the conference, accommodations, and registration: http://www.iar.ubc.ca/programs/ctsp/iats.aspx. Please direct inquiries to iats2010ubc@gmail.com. Application deadline: January 30, 2010.
Event > Exhibition of Contemporary Tibetan Art, Beijing
An exhibition of Contemporary Tibetan Art will take place at the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, from October 25 to November 16. For more information, see http://www.redgategallery.com/hm/yiwang/yiwang12.htm.
Event > Lecture Series on Minority Language in Today’s Global Society, NYC
Trace Foundation will launch a Lecture Series Program, with the first series entitled Minority Language in Today’s Global Society. The lecture events in the series will bring together speakers from diverse national and disciplinary backgrounds to examine and share experiences on the selected topics at hand, with a special comparative focus on Tibetan communities in China. The first lecture event will take place Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 at Trace Foundation and Latse Contemporary Tibetan Cultural Library in New York City. Updates and information on future events can be found at http://www.trace.org/pressroom_lecture_series.html.
Event > Situ Panchen Conference at Rubin Art Museum, NYC, February 2009
February 7-8, 2009, will see a conference on Situ Panchen: Creation and Cultural Engagement in 18th Century Tibet at the Rubin Art Museum, in conjunction with an exhibition on the Situ artistic tradition. Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne (1700-1774) was influential in multiple domains of cultural and institutional life in 18th-century Tibet, making major contributions to the fields of painting, the literary arts, and medicine. He was also a charismatic leader of the Karma Kagyu sect during a particularly volatile period in Tibetan history, as well as the senior court chaplain in the culturally significant Kingdom of Derge during its golden age. At this symposium eight scholars will present on multiple aspects of Situ's cultural production and engagement with the social world of his time. This program coincides with opening weekend of the exhibition Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style (February 6-July 13) at the Rubin Museum of Art. For more information see the Museum’s website at http://www.rmanyc.org/.
Event Update > International Seminar of Young Tibetologists website
There is a new website for the International Seminar of Young Tibetologists (ISYT), with information specifically concerning the upcoming conference in Paris, France, September 7-11, 2009. See http://www.isyt.org/.
Event > The Tibetan Revolt, Spring 2008: Beyond the Cliches
A one-day workshop on 3 November 2008 at EHESS in Paris, jointly organised by Centre d’études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine (CECMC-CNRS/EHESS) and Centre de recherche sur les civilisations chinoise, japonaise et tibétaine (UMR 8155 - CNRS/EPHE/Collège de France/Université de Paris Diderot). Speakers include Robbie Barnett (Columbia University, NY), Lobsang Sangay (Harvard University, Boston), Michel Bonnin (CECMC, Paris), Heather Stoddard (INALCO, UMR 8155, Paris), Elliot Sperling (Indiana University, Bloomington), Andrew Fischer (Institute of Social Studies, The Hague), Françoise Robin (INALCO, UMR 8155, Paris), Marie Holzmann (Independent researcher, Paris), and Lara Maconi (INALCO, UMR 8155, Paris). For more information, contact Francoise Robin, francoise.robin2@wanadoo.fr
Job Advertisement > SIT Tibetan and Himalayan Studies program instructors
The SIT Tibetan and Himalayan Studies program is looking for two replacements for one semester only (Spring '09). The program introduces undergraduate students to Tibetan Culture and Civilization in India, Nepal, Tibet (in the Fall) and Bhutan (in the Spring). The minimum requirement is an M.A. in the field. Those who would like to apply should send an e-mail with CV to Manuel Lopez, Academic Director and Lecturer, Manuel.Lopez@sit.edu. The deadline for receiving CVs is October 31st.
Publications > "Languages of the Himalayas" Special Offer
The senior editor of Brill's Asian Studies series has informed us that George Van Driem's two-volume "Languages of the Himalayas" is now available at a special offer price of euro 139/USD 219 (regular price is euro 328/ USD 489) until the end of the calendar year. See Brill's Backlist Offer 2008.
Event > Sahajayana and the Samye Debate, A Reappraisal
This international workshop will be held 4th – 6th December 2008 (3 days), at the Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Visva-Bharati University, in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. Eminent scholars and masters of Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan practice lineages are invited to contribute an abstract of unpublished research work based on authentic primary sources. The title of your contribution and the synopsis/response should reach us not later than 30th October 2008. The event will offer II A.C. train or Pax airfare within India for reimbursement, plus accommodation and hospitality in the simple Ashram spirit of Santiniketan. Contact Prof. Dr. Andrea Loseries, Head and Convener, Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Visva-Bharati; andrea.l@japan.com
Job Advertisement > English Teachers at Golok Prefecture Tibetan High School (September 2008)
TESL teachers required for up to 14 hours of contact English teaching per week with beginner students age 14-18. Must have TESL experience. Teachers will provide intensive instruction to classes of 30 students from local Tibetan areas (Qinghai Province). All positions are for one year with possible extension. More information can be found on the web at www.bridgefund.org. Contact Peyang Sharlho, Human Resource Director, at peyangshalug@yahoo.com and Bill Bleisch, China Program Director, at wvbleisch@gmail.com.
Funding & Fellowships > Rowell Fund Competition 2008
September 1-30, 2008 deadline application for funding for Tibetans with contributions in the fields of visual arts and media, and environmental and women’s rights.
Institutional Announcement > Tashi Rabgey Joins University of Virginia (September 2008)
Tashi Rabgey joins the University of Virginia faculty full-time as of September 2008 to co-direct the Tibet Center and direct the Contemporary Tibet Research program. A former Rhodes scholar, Rabgey holds graduate degrees in law from Oxford and Cambridge. Her doctoral research focuses on Chinese constitutionalism and the politics of sovereignty and Tibetan nationality in the Republic of China on Taiwan. Rabgey is also the co-founder of Machik, a nonprofit organization that works to develop new opportunities for education and capacity building for Tibetan communities on the plateau.
Institutional Announcement > New Diploma Program in Tibetan Buddhist Studies in India (2007)
In 2007-08, the Department of Chinese and Tibetan Languages of Panjab University, Chandigarh, India will begin offering a PG Diploma in Buddhist Studies, with Tibet and the Himalayas as one of several areas of specialty.
Event > 2nd Meeting of the International Seminar of Young Tibetologists (Conference-September 7-11 2009)
This is an announcement and call for papers for the second meeting of the International Seminar of Young Tibetologists (ISYT), to be held in Paris, France, September 7-11, 2009. Ph.D. candidates and early career Doctors (who defended less than six years ago) are welcome to attend.
We invite you to send us your CV and a short abstract (maximum 300 words) on a topic concerning one of the following panels:
- Family, kinship, alliance and genealogy
- Religious figures, doctrines and practices
- People and places of power
- Religious representations, edifices, and places
- Scholarly sciences and technical know-how
- Written and oral heritage
- Issues and expressions of modernity
- Research methods, techniques and technology in Tibetan Studies
Your abstract may be written in English, French, or Tibetan, and we ask that you submit it in both Microsoft Word and Adobe pdf format to isytparis2009@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is October 31st 2008.. All abstracts will be reviewed for presentation at the upcoming conference.
Event > Bhutanese Art (Exhibition-February to August 2008)
The Honolulu Academy of Arts will be hosting an exhibition, “The Religious Art of Bhutan,” that will begin February 24, 2008 and run for six months. The show will then travel to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and to the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. A catalogue will be published by Serindia.
Event > Bon Art (Exhibition-October 2007 to January 2008)
The Rubin Museum of Art in New York is hosting the first exhibition of the art of Bon, “Bon: The Magic Word,” from October 5, 2007 until January 14, 2008. A catalogue will be published by Wilson (U.K.). For announcements about this and other exhibitions at RMA, please click here.
Event > Photography Exhibition on Newars in Nepal (Exhibition-September 2007)
A selection of images from Michael Muehlich’s photo-documentation of “Buddhist Initiation of the Newars in Nepal” is currently on display at Tibethaus, Frankfurt, presented with English as well as German captions. A small catalogue, published in 2004 by the Lumbini International Research Institute, on the documentation of the ritual is also available (ISBN 99946-933-0-1, liri at mos dot com dot np). Visitors interested in relations between Tibet and Nepal are welcome for a reception and talk on September, 28, 2007 (pre-register by September 25). Details about hours and other information can be found at: tibethaus.com.
Event > Buddhism Conference at Visva Bharati (September 25-28, 2007)
The Centre for Buddhist Studies at Visva Bharati University held an international conference on the topic of “Buddhism and Its Social Significance for the Asian World,” September 25-28, 2007, in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. For further details contact the convener, Dr. Andreas Loseries.
Event > Ladakh Studies Conference (September 7-11, 2007)
The 13th colloquium of the International Association of Ladakh Studies (IALS) took place at the La Sapienza University in Rome, September 7-11, 2007. There were panels on religion and society, history, history of art, medicine, ecology, and development. For further details please see: www.ladakhstudies.org, or contact John Bray.
Event > Traditional Asian Medicine Conference: Call for Papers (September 7–11, 2009)
The International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine (IASTAM) will hold its Seventh International Congress (ICTAM) September 7–11, 2009, at the Institute of Traditional Medicine Services in Thimpu, Bhutan. The theme for the Seventh Congress is “Asian Medicine: Cultivating Traditions and the Challenges of Globalisation.” IASTAM invites proposals for papers on the cultivation of the body, plants, and traditional knowledge and practice. IASTAM also invites proposals on the challenges faced by the globalization of traditional Asian medicines, tensions between local and global production, interpretation, professionalization and evaluation, as well as issues of trade, economy, and ecology. IASTAM encourages papers from scholars from all science and humanities disciplines as well as from practitioners of traditional Asian medicine (Unani, acupuncture, Sowa Rigpa, Ayurveda etc.). Proposals on any theme or topic are welcome, but papers that address the themes of cultivation and globalization will be given preference. Proposals for organized panels will also be given preference over individual papers. A list of panels and additional information about registration, etc., will be available on the conference website http://www.iastam.org/conferences.htm. Panel and paper abstracts of not more than 250 words should be sent as e-mail attachments to Emma Griffin. Deadline for abstract submission is January 1, 2008.
Event > Young Tibetologists Conference in London (August 9-13, 2007)
The first meeting of the International Seminar for Young Tibetologists (ISYT) was held at SOAS, London, August 9-13, 2007. ISYT was born of the IATS at the 2006 meeting in Königswinter, and now has approximately 40 delegates attending from around the world. The group has been given generous funding from the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK) to bring delegates from India, China, Tibet, and the other Himalayan States. Further details can be found on the website: www.ISYT2007.com.
Event > XIth IATS Seminar, 2006 (summer 2006)
The next meeting of the International Association of Tibetan Studies will take place in Bonn, Germany in the summer of 2006. The meeting is being organized by the Seminar for Central Asian Studies, Bonn (Prof. Peter Schwieger, director). Visit the website at www.iats2006.uni-bonn.de; contact the organizers at iats2006@uni-bonn.de.
Institutional Announcement > New Doctoral Program and Language Classes in Scotland
As part of their growing postgraduate-taught program, the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research at the University of Aberdeen announces the introduction of a new doctoral program in Himalayan Research designed to allow students to continue forward from the Centre’s existing masters programs in Himalayan Studies and Himalayan Ethnobotany. Each program includes recently introduced language courses in Nepali and Tibetan.
Institutional Announcement > New Group Formed at AAS (Spring 2006)
A new Tibetan Studies Group affiliated with the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) was founded at the San Francisco AAS meeting in 2006. The group plans to have regular meetings at the AAS and hopes to advocate for the growth and support of Tibetan Studies within (and beyond) the AAS. With the support of David Germano and the staff at the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library, an electronic mailing list has been established to facilitate communication and exchange by faculty, independent scholars, and graduate students across disciplines with specialized interest in Tibetan Studies who belong to AAS. Those wishing to subscribe may do so at: https://list.mail.virginia.edu/mailman/listinfo/aastibet. Those who have subscribed are free to directly post messages to the list-serv. Profs. Gray Tuttle and Carole McGranahan request that IATS members share this information with anyone who may be interested.
Publication > PIATS 2003
Ten volumes of the Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies (2003) are now available from Brill.
Publication > Jonang Publication Series
The first set in the Jonang Publication Series (jo nang dpe tshogs, mi rigs dpe skrun khang, Beijing, 2007) is now available for purchase from the Jonang Foundation website. This annual series of select Tibetan Buddhist philosophical classics features important works by major Jonang authors from all genres of sūtra and tantra. Each work in this ongoing series, in dbu can, is chosen from the corpus of Jonang literature to reflect the contemporary scholastic curriculum within Jonang monastic universities inside Tibet. To view the inaugural set of 8 books (10 volumes), and to purchase, visit the Publications page under “Resources” on the Jonang Foundation website: http://www.jonangfoundation.org/publications-tibetan-text
Publication > Proceedings of the Xth IATS Seminar, September 6-12, 2003
For information concerning the publication of the proceedings of the Xth Seminar, held at Oxford University, please go to http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/iats/post.html. The group picture of participants is also to be found on that page. Many thanks to the convenor, Dr. Charles Ramble, to his staff, and to the Aris Trust Centre for their work in organizing such a successful meeting.
Publication > Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library, and IATS IX Proceedings
Brill Academic Publishers inaugurated its Tibetan Studies Library in 2001. Among the volumes in the series are the multi-volume proceedings of IATS IX. Visit the Brill Tibetan Studies Library by clicking here.
Publication > The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center Publishes the Katen (Bka’ bstan)
TBRC announces the publication of the Sde dge edition of the Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur on CD-ROM in PDF format. See the announcement for this and other texts available from TBRC by clicking here.
Publication > The Institute of Tibetan Classics
ITC, under the direction of Geshe Thupten Jinpa, announces the publication of the first volume in The Library of Tibetan Classics, its thirty-volume translation series. Ornament of Stainless Light is a translation of Mkhas grub nor bzang rgya mtsho’s (1423-1513) Dpal dus kyi ’khor lo’i phyi nang gzhan gsum gsal bar byed pa dri med ’od kyi rgyan, and is published by Wisdom Publications. Visit the Institute’s website by clicking here.
About this Page > News for Tibetan Studies & Tibetans
The page you are reading highlights news in Tibetan Studies, for Tibetan and non-Tibetan scholars, including funding opportunities, news about individuals, job possibilities, language and other study programs, programs and institutional news, and recent publications. Please note the site is not a news site about Tibetan political events, for which there are a number of excellent resources already available, nor about Tibet in general. The focus is on research, teaching, publications, and education.