EUROPEAN BULLETIN OF HIMALA VAN RESEARCH
NUMBERZ
1991
CONTENTS
EDITORlAL._ ... _ ... .3
REVIEW ARllCll
'Manyrs for democncy'; a ~yiew of recent Kathmandu publications: Manin Gaensz.le
and Richard BurShan. ... 5
AROIIVES
The Cambridge EII:pcrimcntal Videodisc Project: Alan MlCfarlane ... IS
The NepaJ German Manuscript: PrescrYlOOn Project: Franz·KarI Ehrbanl. ... 20
TOPICAL REPORTS
The study of oral tradition in Nepal: Comeille Jest ... 25
Wild
c:!:! a~e~ {7'~::M~~~~~':~~~~~.~~.i~ .. ~.~~~.~~.~.~
... 28
lI<IERVIEW
with Prof. IsvlI BanJ. the new Viee·OIancellor of the Royal Nepal Academy, followed
by lisl of CUlTellt Academy projects: Manin Gaens:z.ie ... 31
RESEARCH REPORTS
Group projects;
Gulmi and Argha·Khanci Interdisciplinary Progr.unme: Philippc Ramiret. ... 35
Nepal-Italian Joint Projecl on High.Altitide Research in the Himalayas ... 36
Oevdopmc:nt Stnltcgics fOf the Remote Mas of Nep&l ... 31
Indiyidual projects:
Anna Schmid ... , ... , ... , ... 37
Ninnal Man Tuladhar ... , ... , ... , ... 38
BOOK REVIEWS
Dol' Bahadur Bisll's FwaJism and DeW!/cpmLfIl: Annc de Sales ... 39
NEWS
Himalayan Studies at 011:(000: Gl1Iham Clllrke ... 41
IDS Workshop onlhe May 1991 General Elections in Nepal ... 44
International Symposium on Environmental & Hormonal Approacl'lcs to OmitholoSY ... 45
New appointments at TribhuYal\ University ... , ... 46
ANNOUNCEMENfS
Symposia:
The Himalayan Forum at SOAS ... 46
Sill:th Conference of the International Association of Tibetan Studies ... " ... ..46
Second International Seminar on the Tibetan bnSuage ... " ... 47
The Anthropology of Nepal: Peoples. Problems Ind Processes ... _ ... ..47
SASON Nadonlll Congress ... , ... , ... ,,, ... 47
I..adakh: HiStoty and CUntre. ... 48
2
Orcanizarions:
Association for the Ethnological Research O(TIbellnd the Countries of the Himalaya .... 41\
Natural History Satiety ofNcp.I ...•... 49
Courses:
Courses in HimaJayln Languages lIthe Campus oflnlemalional I....Mguagcs. Tribhuvon
U nivcrsiry ... _ ...•...•...•... __ ... 49
PUBUCAll0NS:
Himal.ya Enviroflment and Development: Twelve years of Rcsc:an:h ... SO
CONTRIBUTORS TO TIllS ISSUE ...•... _ ...•... 52
3
EDITORIAL
The first issue of our Bullelin was senllo Eu ropean scholar s with the request that the enclosed questi onaire be returned in or der to receive free of charge the second number, The present issue is being sent OU,1 10 133 scholars, repre
-
senting 17 diHerent countries. Addi- tional copies have been distributed to researcb institutes in Nepal and India in the hope of (!Slablishing collaborative links with the Himalayan countries themselves. [n the meantime we have begun to en lis' the support of contribut- ing editors (see below) to provide us with news an4:i ideas fr om colleagues in their respective countries. In short ,
we
are well on ou
r
way to having a viable bulletin. serving as a network for Euro- pean scholars active in research on the land and peoples of the Himalayas.
You will rin d the present issue some - what broader in scope than the fir st. We are grateful to Graham C
la
rke. Franz- Kar
l
Ehrhard, Corneille Jest, Alan Mac - farlane. Michael Torsten Much. Ulrike Muller-Baker , Philippe Ramirez. Anne de Sales and othe
rs for having helped in
ilS preparation
.
Also we wish to thank Jonathan Benthall of the Royal Anthro- pological InSli
tute
for permission to publish a ver s ion of AJan Macfarlane's report that originally appeared in
Anthropology Today. Allhough our editorial policy is to publis h only origi
-
nal articles. we intend that our section on archives become a regular feature that will eventually . when indexed. pro- vide subscribers with useful informa- ti on about wheore materialson the Hima
-
layas are Slored
.
With th is aim in mind
,
it seemed justifiable to publish a version of Alan Macfarlane 's report on the Cam ' bridge archive that mos t of o ur reader -
ship will not have seen,
As for the futur e, the rubrics that we have established in this iss ue should become standin g features in the Bulle- tin: each issue will contain a commIs- sioned review article and an inte rview, plus shorter papers of topical mterest (sent to us unsolicited by subscribers
l
There
will
also be reports on archiVes.
current research and conferences : book review s: and announce menu. Our third issue has alread y taken shape along these lines and will contain
.
among other things , a review article on recent publications on oral tradition and the first of a major two part report by Lucette Bouln ois on
the various
Hima
-
layan archives in Paris. Our fourth num-
ber will contain additionally a special indeJ on cu
rrent research and research-
ers in Europe. based on the returned question aires,
We present this brief loo k into the
fu
ture as the Bulletin enters a critical stage in which we must appeal nOt onl y for you r interest but also your support.
Th e
'seed
mone y' from the South Asia Institute
lapses with
this. our second
,
number. We aim to meet the costs of the nelltwo iss ues out or SUbscriptio n fee s, but contingency funds from the Insti
-
tute will cover any shortfall.
In short.
production of th e nell two issues is guaranteed, but only those persons who return the enclosed subscrip tI on form will receive them
. From Number 5.
to be published in Sprinll 1993 , we must be entirely sell-supporting.
As mentioned in our first issue. the
Bullelin will survive only if its existence
is
the
COllective intellectual and finan
-
cial respons ibility of all EUro pean schol-
ars engaaed in Himalayan re search
.
We
