The papers in this volume all result from field work in the Indian Himalayas and the TAR conducted by the Interdisciplinary Research Unit, Austrian Science Fund. While the research goals were established within the framework of transdisciplinary research, each scholar approaches scientific problems according to the methodologies associated with their respective disciplines: philology, philosophy, history, art history, linguistics, and anthropology.
In the contribution published here, Steinkellner, Klimburg-Salter, Widorn, and Jahoda explicate the structure, methods, and advantages of transdisciplinary research. Lasic and Tauscher analyse two different philosophical questions on the basis of manuscripts from Tabo (Spiti) and Gondhla (Lahaul). Pasang Wangdu, Tropper and Ponweiser each examine a Buddhist monument from a different perspective: Keru (TAR), Wanla (Ladakh), and Tabo. Papa-Kalantari and Hein discuss respectively an iconographic problem and oral traditions from Spiti and upper Kinnaur.

Text, Image and Song in Transdisciplinary Dialogue, Brill, Hardcover + CD (with color images), 252 Pages, $120.00

Deborah Klimburg-Salter, Ph.D. (1976) in Art History, Harvard University, is Professor of Asian Art History at the University of Vienna. Publications include Tabo, a Lamp for the Kingdom (Skira, 1997; Thames and Hudson 1998) Mahakasyapa in the Art of Bamiyan (Proceedings of the EASAA, 2005).

Christian Jahoda, Ph.D. (2003) in Social Anthropology, University of Vienna, is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Lecturer for the Anthropology of Tibet and the Western Himalaya at the University of Vienna.

Kurt Tropper, Ph.D. (2001) in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna, is Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer for Classical Tibetan at the University of Vienna. Publications include Die Jataka-Inschriften im skor lam chen mo des Klosters Zha lu (WSTB 63, 2005).