The Sherpa are Tibeto-Burman people from the Nepal Himalayas, best known for their skill in mountaineering and as guides and porters. This excellent and informative book gives a thorough guide to Sherpa culture and their way of life.
Despite the difficulties of life in their harsh mountainess environment, Sherpas have earned a reputation as reliable, loyal, and honest workers. The culture of the Sherpa people is recognized for its conversation ethics and sense of environmental responsibility. Although the traditional homes are located at forbidding altitudes, they have managed to make these highlands relatively safe and prosperous places to live. These successful adaptations are not purely because of luck or hard work. There are Sherpa values, ethics, and way of thinking that have an influence. This illustrated, easy reference book introduces the reader to the history, culture, spirituality and environment that shape Sherpa culture. Although this book is written from a Sherpa perpspective to increase cultural appreciation among younger Sherpa, other members of the Tibeto-Burman communities across the Nepal Himalaya will find surprising similarities and differences that are equally interesting.
It will also be of interest to other readers who are interested in the indigenous culture and traditions of the Himalaya.
Includes names in Tibetan language and phonetics alongside English translation of items entered.
Lhakpa Norbu Sherpa, Ph.D, was born in a mixed farming family belonging to the Traktho clan in the remote village of Thameteng in Solukhumbu District, Nepal. His parents herded yaks, grew potato and bartered salt. In 1963, Lhakpa Norbu received the opportunity to go to school when Sir Edmund Hillary opened the first school in his village. He studied national park management in New Zealand and joined the Government of Nepal to become a Park warden in 1980. While with the Government he spent twenty years planning, developing and managing protected areas in Nepal. He completed a Masters degree in Forest Resources under a Fulbright scholarship in 1988. He became the first person from the Sherpa community to receive a doctoral degree when he completed a Ph.D in 1999 from the University of Washington, USA. He joined The Mountain Institute in 2000 to work in the Tibet Autonomous Region ( China ) as an international expert and assisted with environmental capacity building, rural development and cultural restoration in the Qomolangma nature Preserve. Presently, he is working as a Director of the Himalayan program of the Mountain institute . His current focus is on conserving mountain environment and culture Particularly endangered languages. He has produced a Sherpa language dictionary and a documentary film on Beyul: the hidden valleys of the Himalaya..
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