Sherpas: Reflections on Change in Himalayan Nepal - Softcover

Fisher, James F. F.; Hillary, Edmond

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520069412 ISBN 13: 9780520069411

Publisher: University of California Press, 1990

Synopsis

James Fisher combines the strengths of technical anthropology, literary memoir, and striking photography in this telling study of rapid social change in Himalayan Nepal. The author first visited the Sherpas of Nepal when he accompanied Sir Edmund Hilary on the Himalayan Schoolhouse Expedition of 1964. Returning to the Everest region several times during the 1970s and 1980s, he discovered that the construction of the schools had far less impact than one of the by-products of their building: a short-take-off-and-landing airstrip. By reducing the time it took to travel between Kathmandu and the Everest region from a hike of several days to a 45-minute flight, the airstrip made a rapid increase in tourism possible. Beginning with his impressions of Sherpa society in pre-tourist days, Fisher traces the trajectory of contemporary Sherpa society reeling under the impact of modern education and mass tourism, and assesses the Sherpa's concerns for their future and how they believe these problems should be and eventually will be resolved.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Drawing on elements of various genres--anthropological monograph, literary memoir, and photojournalism--James Fisher has devised this multivocal format to trace the impact of modern education and mass tourism on contemporary Sherpa society and to present and assess the Sherpas; views of their collective future.

About the Author:

James F. Fisher is Professor of Anthropology at Carleton College and the author of Trans-Himalayan Traders: Economy, Society, and Culture in Northwest Nepal (California, 1986).

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0520069412
• ISBN 13: 9780520069411
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248