Nepal


Book Description

This comprehensive history of Nepal spans pre-historic times and the Licchavi Period to more recent developments, such as the Maoist insurgency and the rise of the republic. In addition to religious history and histories of selected regions (Mustang, Sherpa, Tarai, and others), it covers the nation's relations with its powerful neighbors and its cultural aspects, especially its rich history of arts, architecture, and crafts.




Himalayan Dialogue


Book Description

In the mountain valleys of Nepal, Tibetan communities have long been established through migrations from the North. Because of these migrations over the last few centuries, Tibetan lamaism, as one of the world's great ritual traditions, can be studied in the Himalayas as a process that emerges through dialogue with the more ancient shamanic tradition which it confronts and criticizes. Here for the first time is a thorough anthropological study of Tibetan lamaism combining textual analysis with richly contextualized ethnographic data. The rites studied are of the Nyingma Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In contrast to the textual analyses that have viewed the culture as a finished entity, here we see an unbounded ritual process with unfinished interpretations. Mumford's focus is on the "dialogue" taking place between the lamaist and the shamanic regimes, as a historic development occurring between different cultural layers. The study powerfully demonstrates that interrelationships between subsystems within a given cultural matrix over time are critical to an understanding of religion as a cultural process.







Material Engagements


Book Description

The subject matter of archaeology is the engagement of human beings, now and in the past, with both the natural world and the material world they have created. All aspects of human activity are potentially relevant to archaeological research, and, conversely, the ways in which others, especially artists and anthropologists, have investigated the world are of interest to archaeologists. Archaeological artefacts and sites are also used by groups and nations to establish identity, and for financial gain, both through tourism and trade in antiquities. Colin Renfrew has actively engaged with art, with politics and with the antiquities trade, and has presented his ideas to broad audiences through accessible books and television programmes, as well as championing the cause of archaeology in many public roles. The papers in this volume, which have been written by colleagues and former students on the occasion of his retirement, relate to all of these subject areas, and together give some idea of the complexity of the issues raised by critical engagements with the material world, both past and present.










Language Contact in Nepal


Book Description

This book examines language contact and shift in Nepal, a multilingual context where language attitudes and policies often reflect the complex socio-cultural and socio-political relationship between minority, majority and endangered languages and peoples. Presenting the results of a 15-year study and making use of both quantitative and qualitative data, the author presents evidence relating to speakers' opinions and perceptions of mother tongues including English, Hindi, Nepali, Sherpa, Dotyali, Jumli and Tharu. This book explores an under-studied part of the world, and the findings will be relevant to scholars working in other multilingual contexts in fields including language policy and planning, language contact and change, and language attitudes and ideologies.




Cambridge Anthropology


Book Description




Materials for the Study of Gurung Pe, Volume II


Book Description

The Nepalese Gurung recitations known as pe form a diverse group of oral narratives performed by a medicine man or shaman to promote health and prosperity. This two-volume set includes an analytical introduction, 13,000 lines of annotated transcriptions for 92 pe, color plate illustrations, and field recordings on an accompanying DVD.




Transforming Governance


Book Description

Transforming Governance: New Values, New Systems in the New Business Environment, edited by Maria Aluchna and Güler Aras addresses the current state, as well as the development of corporate governance and its perceived tasks and functions, in response to the changing market and regulatory environment. Divided into three parts, the book firstly addresses the variety of theoretical approaches. The inefficiencies, scandals and crises as well as the significant shortcomings and current criticism of shareholder value provide a new setting and theoretical assumptions for the purpose and role of corporate governance in the economy and society. The second section of the book goes on to discuss the forces which lead to the changing corporate governance paradigm, as companies are expected to incorporate not only shareholders but also stakeholders expectations and report and improve upon social and environmental performance. The focus of this section is to present the impact of stakeholders, the requirement for corporate social responsibility and sustainability, as well as the increasing importance of women in management and their participation at corporate board level. Section Three contains corporate governance case studies within various organizational and institutional settings; including the case of family companies, social enterprises/benefit corporations, sustainable companies and emerging markets. The book's contributors comprise both researchers and business experts addressing both theoretical and practical dimensions.