A Concept Note of the Himalayan Conference

Communities, Ecology and Exchanges in the

Himalayas
In 1941, the pioneering scholar and iconoclast
GendunChoephel prepared to dispatch his manuscripts en
route to Sri Lanka. These manuscripts, product of his
intellectual labour of over seven years meandered on ship,
tram and yak across seas and mountains to his home in Amdo.
Within that package, it included a work that is later translated
into English as Grains of Gold: Tales of a Cosmopolitan
Traveler. Giving the geographical description of the
Himalayasin this work, GendunChoephel writes:

Taking the mountain range of the Himalayas in general to be the

"snowy region," one must consider the entire region, from
Oddiyana in the west up to the Kongpo region in the east as well
as up to Dartsedo, to belong within the sphere of a single
mountain range. Similarly, sometimes [in texts] it is said that
places such as Kiimarupa (Assam) are in the snowy region.

The conference convened by the Tibet Policy Institute will

bring scholars from the Himalayas and scholars devoted to the
study of the Himalayas to present their scholarly research on
the theme: Communities, Ecology and Exchanges in the
Himalayas.
Critical research on the Himalayas has unravelled the myth of
the Himalayas as a hermitically sealed unit in the imagination
primarily centred in British India and its imperial sphere.
Before the advent of modern states in the region, borders
moved and exchange of ideas, culture, goods and people
carried on unchecked by the topographical challenge posed by
themajestic young mountain range.
Reflecting the polity of our time and historical processes,
Himalaya is now part of various Nation states, most noticeably
the incorporation of Tibet in the People's Republic of China
after its occupation in the middle of twentieth century.
Ecologically fragile, this region is susceptible to drastic
transformationin anthropocene of human epoch. It behoves
scholars to reflect and conduct research on the transformative
impact on ecology and communities inhabiting the region
heralded by the climate change.

We invited finest scholars from the Himalayan regions of India,

Bhutan and Nepal.Scholars are requested to summit their
papers ahead of the conference and the proceedings of the
conference will be published later in an edited volume.

Submission of Papers
 Papers must be submitted by author or Co-author.
 The full paper should follow Times Roman, 12 Front size,
1.5 line space.
 Word Limit: Abstract should not exceed more than 250
words, Full Paper should not exceed more than 8000
words.
 Format of Paper must be followed by Chicago Style.
 Paper should be forwarded through e-mail:
communication@tibetpolicy.net.
 A professional bio-note of author (less than 250 word)
should be attached with Abstract.
Important Dates
 Last date for abstract submission: 15 March 2020.
 Last date for full paper submission: 15 May 2020.