Bonpo Tantrics in Kokonor Area

Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines Number 15, November 200

Verses of Praise and Denigration: Finding Poetic Creativity in the Tibetan Election in Exile

Between October 2015 and March 2016, over ninety-thousand Tibetans in exile prepared to elect either Lobsang Sangay or Penpa Tsering as the new political leader of the Tibetan government in exile. In a negative campaign style, which was unprecedented in the history of the Tibetan democracy in exile, the two candidates were pitted against each other. Many Tibetans now reminisce with some remorse about how this election campaign stirred up tensions and animosity in the exile community. The campaign offered a germane platform to many Tibetan poets all over the world to express their opinions about their potential future leaders in the Tibetan language. One forum where they disseminated their poems about the two candidates was an exile-based Tibetan-language website devoted to poetry, news, essays, and songs. In this piece, I offer an English translation of four of these poems and discuss the issues and themes that concerned the poets as well as the Tibetan electorate

Disciples of a crazy saint: The Buchen of Spiti

The Buchen are specialist religious performers from Spiti, a culturally Tibetan valley in North India. They are widely known for performing an elaborate exorcism ritual that culminates in a slab of stone, marked with images of demons, being smashed on a man’s belly. In winter groups of Buchen perform their religious theatre, a localised form of Ache Lhamo, the Tibetan Opera. This book, published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford is the result of a research project and substantial fieldtrip funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, with project partnership from the Pitt Rivers Museum. Patrick Sutherland has been photographing in Spiti for nearly two decades and working with the Buchen for several years. The book consists of a self-reflexive essay by Patrick Sutherland illustrated with historical photographs and his own photographs, followed by four sections of photographs and captions by Patrick Sutherland. It concludes with a substantial essay, placing the Buchen into a wider cultural and historical context, by Tashi Tsering, founding Director of the Amnye Machen Institute (Tibetan Centre for Advanced Studies) in Dharamsala. This essay is also illustrated with historical photographs

Stem Cell-based Study on Defining Toxic Astrocytes in Neurodegeneration

M.Phil. in Global Health - ThesisINTH395AMAMD-GLO

Cold Arid Agro-Animal Technologies

Ensuring the nutritional security of combatants guarding the extreme altitudes along the Himalayan frontiers remains a daunting task owing to the harsh cold desert climatic conditions, landlocked terrain and sparse vegetation. These cold arid regions are characterised by rugged topography, extreme temperature variations, low precipitation, high wind velocity, thin atmosphere with high UV-radiation and fragile ecosystem. The Defence Life Science Journal decides to bring out a special issue on the theme ‘Cold Arid Agro-Animal Technologies’ focusing on the significance of agro-animal technologies for nutritional security of the soldiers deployed in inhospitable environments as well as the local population who have been living and thriving in these harsh conditions of high altitude

Engaging Communities Through Schools and Housing to Reduce Teen Smokers in NYC

In New York City, about 15,000 public high school students smoke cigarettes and more than 200,000 children encountered secondhand smoke at home (“The smoking rates,” 2017). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims one-third of these students may die prematurely because of direct smoking consequences (“The smoking rates,” 2017). The tobacco industry targets teens with advertising. Studies prove that one-third of juveniles’ experiment with smoking is derived from advertisements (“The Toll of Tobacco,” n.d). New York City has the highest rate of exposure to second-hand smoke in the United States. According to the NYC Health, 37% of people who reside in the city are exposed to second-hand smoke as opposed to the national rate being 24%. (Smoking and Tobacco Control Laws. n.d). Every year 12,000 people are killed by tobacco in New York City and these deaths are preventable (“Health Department,” 2018). On average, New York State households spend $1,430 for health care costs related to smoking, and the State’s health care cost is$10.39 billion annually caused by direct smoking (“The Toll of Tobacco in New York,” n.d.)

The insecurity dilemma and the Sino-Tibetan conflict

Noting the inadequacies of existing IR theories to explain the security policies of states in the global south and the frequent intra-state conflicts there, this research demonstrates the analytical capacity of the insecurity dilemma as an alternative framework. The research develops the insecurity dilemma first and then applies it on the Chinese-Tibetan conflict. Over sixty years of violence and dialogue has brought the Chinese and the Tibetans no closer to a resolution of their conflict. The insecurity dilemma provides a nuanced understanding of the underlying reasons for this protracted conflict. This research argues that, conscious of its weakness as a state, which has implications for state, regime and ‘national’ security, China has pursued state-building through its policies on religion, language, education and economy in Tibet. Beijing has also denied the existence of a ‘Tibet Issue’ and rejected a number of Tibetan proposals for autonomy out of fears that they threaten their state-building project in Tibet. Conversely, Tibetan identity insecurity, generated by the Chinese policies, migration and cultural influences inside Tibet, explains both the Dalai Lama’s unpopular decision to give up his erstwhile aspiration for Tibetan independence as well as his steadfast demands for autonomy and unification of all Tibetans under one administration. Identity insecurity also drives the multi-faceted Tibetan resistance both inside Tibet and in the diaspora. Although the intentions of both Beijing and the Tibetans are to increase their respective securities identified above, the outcome is greater insecurity for both, plunging them into dilemmatic cycles of state-building and hardening of policies on the Chinese side and strengthening of identity and resistance on the Tibetan side. This study gives play to a multiplicity of actors, objectives and strategies on both sides and examines the feed-back effect that exists between the Sino-Tibetan conflict and the regional and global political strategic and ideological competitions