Ladakh Newshttp://www.ladakhstudies.org/index.htmlNews from Ladakh and IALS membersenseb@sebmankelow.comCopyright 2009 IALS Webmaster2009-12-27T09:05:50+00:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:20:20 +0000International Mountain Day Celebrated in Kashmirseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh news2009-12-27T09:05:50+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/cee601dca6f9c8c6e22eb4cc35b6d02a-19.html#unique-entry-id-19http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/cee601dca6f9c8c6e22eb4cc35b6d02a-19.html#unique-entry-id-19
The Centre for Environment Education, India, celebrated this year's International Mountain Day in Kashmir. Coinciding with the Copenhagen climate change meeting, CEE identified the impacts of climate change on the Kashmir region. A summary of activities can be downloaded here.

]]>Karakoram Knowledge Highwayseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh news2009-12-09T11:39:50+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/5cdca442eea8481c2bd1a6955fe5d2af-18.html#unique-entry-id-18http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/5cdca442eea8481c2bd1a6955fe5d2af-18.html#unique-entry-id-18
Issue 3 of the Karakoram Knowledge Highway has just been published. Click here to take a look at what is happening on the other side of the LoC.

]]>Warmer climate helping farmers at high altitude - for nowseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh news2009-12-07T22:21:15+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/d97922c525f71a87ca8138e196b1553d-17.html#unique-entry-id-17http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/d97922c525f71a87ca8138e196b1553d-17.html#unique-entry-id-17
Reported on the AlertNet Reuters website this story claims that climate change is assisting farmers in Leh to grow a wider variety of vegetables. The story also documents some interesting figures on cash-cropping, and the French NGO GERES claims that the apple cultivation belt has risen from 9,000ft to 12,000ft. For the full story click here.

]]>China objects to J&K road project, India stops workseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh news2009-11-30T19:36:43+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/c547907054069a57b2d60e83d91fb7cb-16.html#unique-entry-id-16http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/c547907054069a57b2d60e83d91fb7cb-16.html#unique-entry-id-16
Times of India story
China pressures India and stops villagers at Demchok working on an 8Km road project funded through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

]]>Cordyceps synensis seizedseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh news2009-11-24T21:13:56+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/21019a7a5eb39c9b709666d59675811c-15.html#unique-entry-id-15http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/21019a7a5eb39c9b709666d59675811c-15.html#unique-entry-id-15
Reported on the BBC South Asia website, four people have been arrested for attempting to smuggle the fungal parasite Cordyceps sinensis from Ladakh across to China. The parasite, which infects ghost moth larvae, eventually kills the caterpillar and the resulting fungal growth is highly prized in Chinese and Tibetan medicine. For more on the story click here.

]]>Papers from the 13th IALS conference in Romeseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh newsMembers' news2009-11-03T08:08:05+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/20aa500a3b8e2f6c3d492d59cda78ecc-14.html#unique-entry-id-14http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/20aa500a3b8e2f6c3d492d59cda78ecc-14.html#unique-entry-id-14

Announcement: papers from the 13th IALS conference in Rome, July 2009.

A volume of selected papers from the history and culture panels at the Rome conference has now been published under the following title.

Mountains, Monasteries and Mosques. Recent Research on Ladakh and the Western Himalaya. Edited by John Bray & Elena De Rossi Filibeck. Supplement No. 2 to Rivista degli Studi Orientali 80 (New Series). Pisa & Rome: Sapienza, Università di Roma, Dipartimento di Studi Orientali.

ISBN: 8862271883. ISBN-13: 9788862271882

The publishers have set the price at 245 Euros and the book can be ordered online at: www.libraweb.net/. It will in any case be distributed to libraries who subscribe to the Rivista degli Studi Orientali. Please also let us know if you would like to suggest publications and institutions who might be willing to review the book.

The volume is divided into two main sections and, after the introduction, the papers are arranged as follows:

Introduction

Historical encounters

Enzo Gualtiero Bargiacchi–Ippolito Desideri’s First Remarks on Ladakh.

Christian Jahoda—Spiti and Ladakh in the 17th-19th Centuries: Views from the Periphery.

Georgios T. Halkias—“Until the Feathers of the Winged Black Raven Turn White”: Sources for the Tibet-Bashahr Treaty of 1679.

Kurt Tropper— “A Thousand Maṇis in Immutable Stone”. A Donor Inscription at Nako Village (Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh).

John Bray & Tsering D. Gongkatsang—Three 19th Century Documents from Tibet and the lo phyag Mission from Leh to Lhasa.

Arik Moran—“A Project of Imperial Importance”: Palampur Fair and the Kangra Tea Industry, 1867-79.

Abdul Ghani Sheikh—The Traditions of Sufism in Ladakh.

Shahzad Bashir— Nūrbakhshīs in the History of Kashmir, Ladakh, and Baltistan: A Critical View on Persian and Urdu Sources.

Cultural continuities and change

Pascale Dollfus – Who are ‘Those of the Black Castle’? Discussing the Past of a Nomadic Group Inhabiting the Southeastern Edge of Ladakh.

Elena De Rossi Filibeck— Wedding Songs from Wam le.

Erberto Lo Bue – Notes on Sky-burial in Indian, Chinese and Nepalese Tibet.

Poul Pedersen –Traditionalism and Cosmopolitanism in the Life of a Modern Ladakhi: Abdul Wahid Radhu and Marco Pallis.

Martin A. Mills—Charting the Shugden Interdiction in the Ladakh Himalaya.

Petra Maurer – Sa bdag and Tortoise. A Survey of the Tradition of Geomancy in Ladakh.

Sonam Wangchok – Sacred Landscapes in the Nubra valley.

]]>Cultural Diplomacy in East Asia: A Forum for Young Leaders (CDEA) seb@sebmankelow.comLadakh Noticeboard2009-10-01T11:08:43+01:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/ec2bf974988e72462551406a2009b50d-13.html#unique-entry-id-13http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/ec2bf974988e72462551406a2009b50d-13.html#unique-entry-id-13

Announcing the week-long seminar for “Cultural Diplomacy in East Asia: A Forum for Young Leaders (CDEA).”
Berlin, 6th-10th October, 2009


CDEA was developed to encourage and rise to the challenge to keep up to date with the emerging economies of East Asian countries via cultural diplomacy. CDEA is an active network of young leaders interested in supporting and strengthening relations within the Asian continent and between Asia and other regions. For organizational purposes, by East Asia we are referring to countries east of Afghanistan. Important information about the seminar can be found here.

The weeklong seminar will be conducted in English and is open to anyone who has an interest in or passion for Asian music, culture, art, politics, migration, language, economics and international relations. The panel discussions, workshops and lectures will be held at various locations around Berlin, such as the Auswärtiges Amt (German Foreign Office), Bundestag, ICD Haus and various embassies. The seminar involves many respected and prominent speakers including our key speakers,

Dr. Hermann Scheer, SPD
Datuk Sulong, Malaysian Ambassador to Germany
Mr. Jacky Foo, Singaporean Ambassador
Mr. David Chan, Taiwanese Embassy Representative
Ms. Miyoshi, Cultural Attache of Japanese Embassy
Ms. Sun-ju Choi, Head of Asian Films Festival
Mr. Odbayar, Secretary of Mongolian Embassy
Dr. Enzo Weber, Professor of Economics Regensburg Uni
Dr Yu-Demski, Head of Confucius Institute Berlin
Ms. Lizza May David, Filippino Film Director and Womens' Right Activist
Ms. Nathali Van Looy, China's Policy Specialist
Mr. Shahid Riaz, Head of German-Pakistani Association

The Cultural Diplomacy in East Asia forum is now open for applications.


Link to the program brochure:

]]>Minutes of General Meetingseb@sebmankelow.comMembers' news2009-08-29T22:49:38+01:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/bc29ae87e5a38b3139f40bdb6c4ba0e2-12.html#unique-entry-id-12http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/bc29ae87e5a38b3139f40bdb6c4ba0e2-12.html#unique-entry-id-12
Minutes of the IALS General Meeting held on 18th July 2009 are now available for download.

IALS General Meeting Minutes 2009 (MS Word)

IALS General Meeting Minutes 2009 (pdf)]]>Notice to Members of Biennial General Meetingseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh NoticeboardMembers' news2009-06-29T09:02:42+01:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/b7770143828ea72babdc779417ca035a-11.html#unique-entry-id-11http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/b7770143828ea72babdc779417ca035a-11.html#unique-entry-id-11

Dear IALS member,

IALS GENERAL MEETING

As you know, the General Meetings of the IALS take place every two years at our biennial conferences. The next conference is to take place on 16th to 19th July in Leh, and Monisha Ahmed and the local committee have been working very hard to get everything ready. I look forward to meeting both old friends and new members there – while also being conscious that not everyone will be able to make it.

This year we have a number of important issues to discuss at the General Meeting, and we are therefore sending this advance note both to registered conference participants and to as many members as possible for whom we have e-mail addresses at hand. We will also bring the agenda to the attention of as many of our Ladakh members – with or without e-mails – as we can.

The most important issues – as discussed in this note - are: the revision of the IALS constitution; election of officers; and plans for the next conference in 2011.

We will also need to review our publications strategy, and the running of the IALS generally. If you have any particular agenda items, please could you let Monisha Ahmed know.

IALS constitution
At the last conference in Rome, we discussed the draft of a proposed IALS constitution which had been drafted by Martin Mills. We adopted the draft on an interim basis.

However, there were a number of issues on which we did not reach a final consensus. We therefore agreed to return to the discussion at the next conference in Ladakh, when more Ladakhi members would be present, and to make amendments as necessary. I now attach a revised draft (click to download), which has benefited from further revisions by Janet Rizvi, and has been reviewed by the Executive Committee.

The most important issue that we left unresolved in Rome was the role and status of the Advisory Committee. As you will see, the draft proposes that the Advisory Committee should now be an elected body whose members are elected on a rotating basis. 

We would like to propose that these revisions should be ratified at the General Meeting, which will take place from 7-8pm on Saturday 18th July (the venue has not yet been decided but will be mentioned in your colloquium program when you register and pick up your folder).  I would therefore be grateful if you could look at the draft carefully. If you have any suggestions for further amendments, please could you send them either to Monisha or to myself JNBray1957@yahoo.co.uk.

Download Draft of Revised Constitution

Election of officers
At the Rome conference, members elected the current Executive Committee for a single two-year term, pending further revisions of the constitution.

Once the constitution has been agreed, we therefore need to proceed to fresh elections for all officers of the Association – both the Executive Committee and the Advisory committee.

If you wish to suggest someone for one of these posts, please could you send your nomination (having secured the candidate’s permission) to Francesca Merritt either by e-mail to Francesca@merrittf.fsnet.co.uk, or by hand to either the Omasi-la Hotel or Tashi Morup’s office (at the Hemis Compound in Zangsti).

The deadline for nominations is the 8 pm on the evening of Friday 17th July, the day before the General Meeting.

In future, the constitution will require advance notice of candidates for election 60 days before the next General Meeting. We will need to apply this rule from the next conference onwards if this provision is confirmed.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee consists of five positions: the President, the Secretary, the Editor, the Treasurer, and a new position – the Ladakh Liaison Officer.

Treasurer

I wish to draw particular attention to the post of Treasurer.

After many years’ faithful service, Francesca Merritt wishes to retire as the IALS treasurer.  We have greatly benefited from Francesca’s quiet and self-effacing efficiency. I personally am immensely grateful for her support, and I am sure that the same is true of all her many friends and colleagues in the IALS.

We are therefore now seeking a successor with the administrative skills to maintain the IALS’s subscription and membership database, and to keep the IALS accounts. One practical consideration is that the IALS main bank account is in the UK, and it would therefore be easier if Francesca’s successor is based there. For further details of what is involved, please contact Francesca herself at Francesca@merrittf.fsnet.co.uk and please let her know if you are interested in the post.

If, for any reason, we cannot appoint a Treasurer at the next General Meeting, the Executive Committee may need to make an interim appointment and then seek ratification at the next conference.

Advisory Committee
We propose that the existing Advisory Committee should dissolve once the revised constitution is ratified. We then need to proceed to the election of new members.

As you will see from the draft, the constitution provides for a combination of Ladakhi and ‘international’ members representing a cross-section of academic disciplines. 

The constitution also provides for a rotating membership and re-election of the Advisory Committee, i.e. a third of the membership is to resign and seek re-election at each conference.  Since we are now beginning the process for the first time, we suggest that members who are elected at the Leh conference should draw lots to determine four members who shall resign their membership after two years, four members who shall resign their membership after four years, and four who shall complete their six-year term.

Next conference
At the Rome conference, Martin Mills kindly offered to host the 2011 conference at the University of Aberdeen, and he has now confirmed this proposal. At the meeting, we will need to confirm acceptance. We should also discuss at least two other related matters.

The first is the date: Martin suggests early September (as with the 2001 conference in Oxford and the 2007 conference in Rome). No timing is perfect for everyone, but we hope that this works for most people.

The other issue concerns the themes or panels. As with previous IALS conferences, we expect to cover a broad interdisciplinary range of topics. However, as Martin points out, it may be easier to raise funds if we can identify a number of specific themes in advance.

With all good wishes,

John Bray
]]>Raising the profile of Ladakh's greenhousesseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh news2009-06-21T20:45:11+01:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/67ec557ed1810ab0ff93dfa9dee562ff-10.html#unique-entry-id-10http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/67ec557ed1810ab0ff93dfa9dee562ff-10.html#unique-entry-id-10
The work of French NGO GRERES has been recognised at the International Energy Awards earlier this month. For more details read this article on the SciDev.net website. The construction of 600 greenhouses, each costing USD 600 to build, are now providing an estimated 50,000 Ladakhis with access to vegetables in winter.]]>14th IALS Colloquium programmeseb@sebmankelow.comMembers' newsLadakh Noticeboard2009-06-13T15:12:52+01:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/ebcc67fea4b3a43b46556b37bd4d3db3-9.html#unique-entry-id-9http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/ebcc67fea4b3a43b46556b37bd4d3db3-9.html#unique-entry-id-9

Tentative programme for the 14th IALS Colloquium.

14th IALS colloquium - Tentative Program Click to download ]]>Tibet Heritage Fund's Ladakh Projectseb@sebmankelow.comMembers' news2009-06-03T15:49:22+01:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/8a71b2ef66eb50add59472134c7ae120-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/8a71b2ef66eb50add59472134c7ae120-8.html#unique-entry-id-8Neil Howard would like to bring to the attention of members the Tibet Heritage Fund's Ladakh Project. The rock carving information is of particular interest, documenting the discovery, renovation and successful relocation of a 2.5 meter high Avalokiteshvara stele.]]>Election resultsseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh news2009-05-31T20:17:38+01:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/26764972b04f0291c5261660ff4ad722-7.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/26764972b04f0291c5261660ff4ad722-7.html#unique-entry-id-7here.]]>Seminar on Regional Historyseb@sebmankelow.comMembers' news2009-05-31T20:11:42+01:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/3b06efaac6a2e3cff218a36ac4ec7c0a-6.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/3b06efaac6a2e3cff218a36ac4ec7c0a-6.html#unique-entry-id-6A seminar was held at Jammu University on May 29th/30th on Writing Regional History and Histography of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. For more on the presentations and contributors click here to read the Daily Excelsior report.

]]>Ladakh hockey team to represent Indiaseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh news2009-03-13T18:16:06+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/6387e41598c3c41f80ad721fc683ada7-5.html#unique-entry-id-5http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/6387e41598c3c41f80ad721fc683ada7-5.html#unique-entry-id-5Ice hockey players from Ladakh are representing India in the forthcoming IIHF Challenge cup of Asia, scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi. More on the story can be found here, and there is currently an image of the team in front of India Gate on the BBC South Asia homepage.

We wish the team the best of luck on the international stage!]]>Leh is targeted for agricultural fundingseb@sebmankelow.comLadakh news2009-03-03T15:54:00+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/4c7522131b2c804a4a442308fa0bb3db-4.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/4c7522131b2c804a4a442308fa0bb3db-4.html#unique-entry-id-4Reported on the REACH Ladakh site, Leh District has been awarded funding for agricultural development through India’s Comprehensive District Agricultural Plan (CDAP). With a projected annual release of 15 crore the Plan offers a lot of promise to farmers in the region. The scheme’s focus on mechanisation may well offer the growing number of labour-short households significant assistance. It will however be interesting to see how CDAP initiatives cope with limiting factors such as irrigation water, a resource that is already deficient in many areas.

]]>Colloquium venueseb@sebmankelow.comMembers' newsLadakh newsLadakh Noticeboard2009-02-25T19:46:27+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/e043fd78f0b64bbb05a9c772a0adddde-3.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/e043fd78f0b64bbb05a9c772a0adddde-3.html#unique-entry-id-3

14th IALS Colloquium 16th - 19th July, 2009

We are pleased to announce that the venues for the 14th IALS Colloquium will be the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies campus in Choglamsar and the Dragon Hotel, Leh. For information on presenting at the colloquium, registration and suggested accommodation please visit our Future Colloquia pages.

]]>archivingseb@sebmankelow.comMembers' news2008-12-28T23:19:37+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/f6b0b3ecf46bff2f535b17f622302e65-2.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.ladakhstudies.org/archive2009_files/f6b0b3ecf46bff2f535b17f622302e65-2.html#unique-entry-id-2
The RSS feed has been switched to this News & Noticeboard file (hopefully). If you find that you are no longer on the RSS feed then please reselect the RSS link in the margin.

best wishes for 2009

IALS Webmaster.]]>