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A Day in the Life of a Herder in West Sikkim
By Rashmi SinghPhotos by Jonathan Duncan Aitamaan Limbu is one of the last few sheep herders in the West Sikkim, situated in the Eastern Himalaya of India. In the year 2002-2004, when a state policy banned most grazing and pastoral herding in the protected areas of Sikkim, Aitamaan Limbu sold…
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Glimpses from a Monastic School in Zanskar
by Marta Normington In the remote Himalayan region of Zanskar, access to quality education still remains a challenging task. High mountain valleys lying further away from the main road arteries have to rely on local, often understaffed and modestly equipped schools. The regular educational migration of older children is common.…
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Elisa Read’s Travels in Ladakh and Baltistan in the 1920s and 1930s
by John Bray, James Crowden, Hugh Rayner These photographs were taken by the British missionary Elisa Henriette Read (née Messaz, 1898-1986) who served with the London-based Central Asian Mission in Northwest India between 1925 and 1945. Elisa was born in Switzerland but served as a nurse in Austria at the…
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On the Road in Rasuwa, Nepal
by Nyima Dorjee Bhotia & Phurwa Dhondup Gurung Rasuwa district has historically been a strategic Himalayan frontier where one of the two major border crossings between Nepal and the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China, is located. This route was a central locus for military campaigns on multiple occasions, and a key…
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A Bonpo Mendrup Celebration in Kathmandu, 2012: How Potency is Accomplished
by Anna Sehnalova Once every several years, the Bonpo Triten Norbutse (Khri brtan nor bu rtse) monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, enjoys a long-awaited celebration – the mendrup (Tib. sman sgrub; ‘medicinal accomplishment’) ritual, or the great ‘medicinal accomplishment.’ The last mendrup took place in December 2012 and is visually documented in this photo essay. Triten…
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Belonging and Transformation in Mustang, Nepal
by Yungdrung Tsewang, Tshering Gurung, Yeshi Gurung, Kory Thibeault, and Emily Amburgey These photographs explore the social, environmental, political, and economic transformation among communities in Mustang, Nepal—situated along the border of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. This region is home to unique high-desert ecologies, contentious geo-political histories, plural medical systems, and…
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On the Road: Commodities, Trade, and Transportation in Northwest Nepal
by Phurwa Dhondup Gurung & Nyima Dorjee Bhotia Roads have become synonymous with the idea of bikas (development) in the imagination of many Nepali people and the state. This is perhaps most dramatized in the remote district of Humla, situated in the far northwest Karnali province, and one of the last two districts…
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Shifting Valley: Kathmandu in Transition
by Indira Kumar, Kathmandu, Nepal, is at once a city and a mountain valley which is being transformed by major infrastructural changes. In many parts of this metropolis, one can sense that old and new co-exist in a kind of chaotic harmony. New high-rise buildings have begun to dominate the…
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Inheriting Winemaking: Cizhong ‘Rose Honey’ Wine Production on the Upper Mekong River in Northwest Yunnan Province, China
By Fei Sun and Brendan A. Galipeau, this photo essay describes the history and process of grape wine production in Tibetan Cizhong Village of Northwest Yunnan Province, China. It follows and documents the annual winemaking tradition in one village household, and also provides photos showing the blending of wine into everyday village…
HIMALAYA Photo Gallery 