Mark Turin
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View article: Building a Multilingual Republic
Building a Multilingual Republic Open
This contribution is an edited version of a wide-ranging conversation between linguistic anthropologist and past co-editor of HIMALAYA, Mark Turin, and Lava Deo Awasthi, the first Chairperson of Nepal’s Language Commission. In the course o…
View article: Climing Up, Thinking With, Feeling Through: Ritual, Spirituality and Ecoscience in Northwestern Nepal
Climing Up, Thinking With, Feeling Through: Ritual, Spirituality and Ecoscience in Northwestern Nepal Open
This paper examines local knowledge, perceptions, and responses to changing climes in the Trans-Himalayan region of Dolpa in Nepal. Rooted within the environmental humanities and shaped by emerging understandings of faith-based ecospiritua…
View article: Language improves health and wellbeing in Indigenous communities: A scoping review
Language improves health and wellbeing in Indigenous communities: A scoping review Open
Introduction: Indigenous languages in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States are endangered due to colonial policies which promote English language dominance. While Indigenous communities know the importance of language for t…
View article: Linguistic vitality improves health and wellbeing in Indigenous communities: a scoping review
Linguistic vitality improves health and wellbeing in Indigenous communities: a scoping review Open
Introduction While Indigenous communities have long recognized the importance of their languages for their wellbeing, this topic has only recently received attention in scholarship, research and public policy. This scoping review synthesiz…
View article: Da / མདའ། / 箭
Da / མདའ། / 箭 Open
This chapter explicates the arrow, or da in Tibetan, an object with both religious and cultural significance in Tibetan society. The narration covers the origin and growth of bamboo, the knowledge required for selecting and transporting ba…
View article: Jikten Chakluk / འཇག་རན་ཆགས་ག། / 成世说
Jikten Chakluk / འཇག་རན་ཆགས་ག། / 成世说 Open
This chapter adapts content from Tibetan Buddhist classics to depict the destruction and formation of both the world and sentient beings, with a particular focus on gods and humans. The narration elucidates the structure of Buddhist cosmol…
View article: Rübel / རས་སལ། / 龟说
Rübel / རས་སལ། / 龟说 Open
This chapter delves into Rübel, a tortoise-shaped deity that appears in both Bon and Buddhist traditions. It provides a detailed account of Rübel’s life and residence in the sea, followed by how Mañjuśrī tamed Rübel and transformed it into…
View article: Shépa
Shépa Open
Shépa: ‘explanation’ or ‘elucidation’ in Tibetan. A form of oral poetry sung antiphonally in a question-and-answer style. This book contains a unique collection of Tibetan oral narrations and songs known as Shépa, as these have been perfor…
View article: Zhanglu and Tsalu / ཞང་ག་དང་ཚ་ག། / 送亲辞和迎亲辞
Zhanglu and Tsalu / ཞང་ག་དང་ཚ་ག། / 送亲辞和迎亲辞 Open
This chapter consists of ‘Zhanglu’ and ‘Tsalu’, also known as the ‘Song of the Wife Giver’ and ‘Song of the Wife Taker’, that are performed on wedding days. The lyrics focus on the series of actions taken by the groom to receive the bride …
View article: Lönpo Garchen / བན་པ་མགར་ཆན། / 大臣噶尔东赞
Lönpo Garchen / བན་པ་མགར་ཆན། / 大臣噶尔东赞 Open
‘Lönpo Garchen’ provides a unique description of the most famous marriage in Tibetan history. With major characters and their relations with Buddhism introduced, this chapter illustrates how Songtsen Gampo’s Minister, Gar Tongtsen, trekked…
View article: Khyung / ཁང་། / 鹏
Khyung / ཁང་། / 鹏 Open
This chapter elaborates on the miraculous bird-like deity known to Tibetans as Khyung. Following a description of the creation of the universe from the Bon and Buddhist perspectives, this chapter covers the birth, appearance, food, form an…
View article: Chémar / ཕ་མར། / 切玛
Chémar / ཕ་མར། / 切玛 Open
This chapter provides a detailed description of chémar, the auspicious offering reserved for important rituals, ceremonies, and celebrations in all Tibetan communities. The narration illustrates the shape of chémar and the elements that co…
View article: Introduction / སན་གང་ག་གཏམ། / 导论
Introduction / སན་གང་ག་གཏམ། / 导论 Open
Shépa is an encyclopaedic collection of antiphonal songs that have been practiced by the Choné people, a Tibetan subgroup residing in Gansu Province of northwest China, for centuries. This collection details Tibetan cosmology, geography, h…
View article: An Open-Access Toolkit for Collaborative, Community-Informed Dictionaries
An Open-Access Toolkit for Collaborative, Community-Informed Dictionaries Open
In this article, we discuss the development of a relational lexicography framework and an open-access toolkit for collaborative, community-informed dictionaries. We explain how the relational lexicography toolkit supports envisioning, deve…
View article: Swargajyoti Gohain, Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands: Culture, politics, place
Swargajyoti Gohain, Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands: Culture, politics, place Open
The people of Monyul, a Tibetan Buddhist cultural region in west Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India, hold aspirations for local autonomy. In this sophisticated monograph, anthropologist Swargajyoti Gohain explores the many textures of Monp…
View article: Indigenous Lexicography: A Review of Recent Dictionaries and Works Relating to Lexicography
Indigenous Lexicography: A Review of Recent Dictionaries and Works Relating to Lexicography Open
In this review essay, we compare five recent publications relating to dictionary work with Indigenous languages. The review covers three dictionaries, one monograph about lexicography in service of Indigenous language revitalization and th…
View article: Tichurong (Nepal) - Language Snapshot
Tichurong (Nepal) - Language Snapshot Open
Tichurong is an unwritten Tibeto-Burman language spoken by approximately 2,700 people across eighteen villages in the Tichurong valley in the northwestern district of Dolpa in Nepal. It is also known as Poike, Poinke, Rongke, and Tichurong…
View article: Teaching Indigenous Language Revitalization over Zoom
Teaching Indigenous Language Revitalization over Zoom Open
In this teaching reflection, co-authored by an instructor and a teaching assistant, we consider some of the unanticipated openings for deeper engagement that the “pivot” to online teaching provided as we planned and then delivered an intro…
View article: Rádios Indígenas: Brazil’s Indigenous Language Broadcasting Landscape
Rádios Indígenas: Brazil’s Indigenous Language Broadcasting Landscape Open
This article offers a critical review of Brazil's Indigenous language broadcasting landscape, from traditional analogue transmission to podcasts and online radio. The study introduces Brazil's Indigenous linguistic diversity and locates th…
View article: Language Contact in Nepal: A study on language use and attitudes, by Bhim L Gautam
Language Contact in Nepal: A study on language use and attitudes, by Bhim L Gautam Open
Finally, a readable and mainstream introduction to the very complex topic of language contact in Nepal. Drawing on his earlier published work and on the harmonised results of a 15-year mixed methods study, Bhim Lal Gautam presents both qua…
View article: Recognizing Authority and Respecting Expertise in Language Work
Recognizing Authority and Respecting Expertise in Language Work Open
2021. Mark Turin. “Recognizing Authority and Respecting Expertise in Language Work.” In “Rethinking Pseudonyms in Ethnography,” edited by Carole McGranahan and Erica Weiss, American Ethnologist website, 13 December 2021.
View article: Literacy
Literacy Open
Literacy is a linguistic innovation characterised by the encoding and decoding of language into a system of visual signs whose relevance to daily life in most societies cannot be overstated. Understood to be both a technology and a social …
View article: From Orality to Open: Innovations in Multimedia Monograph Publishing in the Humanities
From Orality to Open: Innovations in Multimedia Monograph Publishing in the Humanities Open
This article shares the story of the purpose and methods of the World Oral Literature series, an open access monograph series supported, hosted, and published by Open Book Publishers. The publication series emerged as a response to the inc…
View article: Materials for the Study of Gurung Pe, by Simon Strickland
Materials for the Study of Gurung Pe, by Simon Strickland Open
Volumes 86 and 87 of the Harvard Oriental Series form a magnum opus in the truest sense, the culmination of decades of research and granular analysis by anthropologist Simon Strickland. The Series was established in 1891 by Henry Clarke Wa…