http://www.ladakhstudies.org/index.htmlNews from Ladakh and IALS membersenwebmaster@ladakhstudies.orgCopyright 2010 IALS Webmaster2012-04-15T13:10:08+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:20:20 +0000webmaster@ladakhstudies.orgLadakh Noticeboard2012-04-15T13:10:08+01:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/1e5e0be1d2673a6edae14046f63edbd0-82.html#unique-entry-id-82http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/1e5e0be1d2673a6edae14046f63edbd0-82.html#unique-entry-id-82SAARC Cultural Centre is pleased to announce the SAARC International Seminar on Archeology of Buddhism Recent Discoveries in South Asia (Colombo, Sri Lanka, 22-24 August 2012). For more details click here.]]>webmaster@ladakhstudies.orgMembers' News2012-03-03T09:54:30+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/ec97f88e8ed4e64a7dfbe5dd5560b57a-81.html#unique-entry-id-81http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/ec97f88e8ed4e64a7dfbe5dd5560b57a-81.html#unique-entry-id-81Pan-Asia Film Festival opening night: 9 March 2012, 8.30pm
Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BY

ONE MORE
Shivajee Chandrabhushan, India 2012, 95 mins, Hindi/Ladakhi + English subtitles

From the remote north eastern edge of India, Ladakh's first ever ice hockey team is playing a top international team and all they need is one more goal. One more... Consisting of a ragbag tea...m of unknowns, against the odds they find themselves representing their nation - and who even knew people played ice hockey in India? Under the deep blue Himalayan sky of Ladakh, ice hockey has always been a part of the lives of the people from this local mountain community.

By the multi-award winning director of "Frozen", this is a story of passion, resilience and the crossing of cultural and political boundaries, played out on the world's highest playgrounds.

Director Shivajee Chandrabhushan will be joining us for the World Premiere of the film and will take part in a Q&A with film writer and programmer Cary Rajinder Sawhney.
]]>webmaster@ladakhstudies.orgMembers' News2012-02-15T08:18:04+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/a32c758608bfe1e2a20c7b40da8e00df-80.html#unique-entry-id-80http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/a32c758608bfe1e2a20c7b40da8e00df-80.html#unique-entry-id-80IALS member Professor Rais Akhtar (raisakhtar[at]hotmail.com) has published a biographical article (download pdf) on Dr Arthur Neve (1859-1919), and would welcome feedback. Neve was based at the Mission Hospital in Kashmir but, as described in his book Thirty Years in Kashmir (1913), made a number of journeys to Ladakh. He had an excellent reputation as a doctor and Professor Akhtar’s article mentions that patients followed him “even to the Shayok” in Nubra. ]]>webmaster@ladakhstudies.orgMembers' News2012-02-13T19:39:28+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/84869a6175f7c8ebdd8764bf1a788b6f-79.html#unique-entry-id-79http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/84869a6175f7c8ebdd8764bf1a788b6f-79.html#unique-entry-id-79The funeral for Andre took place in Berlin on the 9th February. For those wanting to show their support and respect for Andre's work and his extraordinary legacy it has been suggested that well wishers make donations to Tibet Heritage Fund (THF). Please visit the THF website here.

Pimpim de Azevdeo, co-director at Tibet Heritage Fund, together with Yutaka Hirako and Sylvester Kaben, have announced that they will ensure the work of Tibet Heritage Fund continues: "The THF core team have decided to continue THF's work and to continue and honour Andre's projects and preserve Andre's memory. We will keep his beliefs alive and his presence will be with us every day and everywhere giving us the inspiration, energy and perseverance to continue our work. It will be very hard without him but we will continue to strive towards Andre's and our shared dream."

Shane Suvikapakornkul of Serindia is going to publish Andre's PhD thesis, a study of vernacular housing in Lhasa and effectively the second volume of the THF conservation inventory.

Plans are underway for a commemorative event in New York in the near future, and many appreciations of Andre's huge and rich achievements can be found on his Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/andre.alexander001]]>webmaster@ladakhstudies.orgLadakh NoticeboardMembers' News2012-02-13T19:39:19+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/3fad9246ca5984463f25a9b10659d115-78.html#unique-entry-id-78http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/3fad9246ca5984463f25a9b10659d115-78.html#unique-entry-id-78We are pleased to announce that the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives has published a reprint of Ladakhi Histories. Local and Regional Perspectives (edited by John Bray) for sale and distribution on the South Asian market. The book is available from Paljor Publications and costs Rs600. The ISBN is 978-93-80359-39-7.

Ladakhi Histories contains 23 research papers, most of which were presented at the 9th, 10th and 11th IALS conferences. It draw on contributions from historians, art historians, linguists and anthropologists. Their sources include Ladakhi historical documents, comparative linguistic research, visual evidence from temple architecture and inscriptions, Mughal biographies, European travel accounts, government records, trade receipts, and local oral tradition. Taken together, the volume provides a rich view of Ladakhi history, and makes a significant contribution to the study of the wider Himalayan region.

More details are available here...]]>webmaster@ladakhstudies.orgMembers' NewsLadakh Noticeboard2012-02-13T16:42:09+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/a4687497a6430929b749e31cc24e007d-77.html#unique-entry-id-77http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/a4687497a6430929b749e31cc24e007d-77.html#unique-entry-id-77Right click on image to download for details...
]]>webmaster@ladakhstudies.orgMembers' NewsLadakh News2012-01-23T07:46:34+00:00http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/6cc9359297520c1abbc5c8b21346f294-76.html#unique-entry-id-76http://www.ladakhstudies.org/news_files/6cc9359297520c1abbc5c8b21346f294-76.html#unique-entry-id-76With great sorrow we have to report that our friend and colleague André Alexander died of a heart attack in Berlin on 21 January. He had celebrated his 47th birthday only four days earlier.

André was the co- founder of the Tibet Heritage Fund (THF), and a pioneer of the restoration of historic buildings all over Tibet and the wider Himalayan region. His early work was in Lhasa where, together with Andrew Brennan and Pimpim de Azevedo, he launched the Lhasa Archive Project in 1993 with the aim of documenting Lhasa's vernacular architecture. In 1996 he launched the THF and over the next four years worked with traditional craftsmen in Lhasa to restore and upgrade some 20 historic buildings and to train a new generation of artisans. In the 2000s he extended his range as far as Amdo, and the old city of Beijing. In 2010 he was exploring the possibility of beginning new projects in Sikkim and Bhutan.

The seeds of THF’s work in Ladakh were sown in 1995 when André met IALS founder Henry Osmaston at a conference in Graz (Austria). Henry pointed to the need to record old Leh’s historic buildings as soon as possible, as Leh was changing fast, and old buildings were disappearing all too quickly. In 2003 and 2004 a small THF team conducted a survey of Old Leh, reviewing both the state of its buildings and the social and economic conditions of the people who inhabited them. In 2006 THF and the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to preserve historic Leh. In the same period THF worked with local people to set up the Leh Old Town Initiative (LOTI), which is registered as an NGO under the India Society Act. Since then, André and his colleagues have worked on a series of restoration projects in Leh and Tsatsapuri (Alchi). Information about their work can be found at www.tibetheritagefund.org

André took part in the IALS conference in Ladakh this summer and then presided over the launch of the Central Asian Museum in the Tsa Soma garden to the west of Leh palace. The museum is an enormously impressive new building constructed with traditional techniques, and designed to celebrate Ladakh’s historic links with Central Asia. Among André’s many achievements in Ladakh, this was perhaps the crowning one.

It is particularly poignant to have to record the early death of someone who was so full of energy and had so much more to contribute. Among many people who worked with him, André was a source of both inspiration and expertise. His work will – and must – continue.
]]>