tibet studies
 
Visual Archives of Tibet
Literature and Folklore
Women's Studies
The Arts
Occupied Tibet Studies
Tibetan History
Cartographic Studies
Urban, Settlement and Architectural Studies
 
 


 
 
Visual Archives of Tibet  
  To locate and acquire old photographs, negatives and movie footage of Tibet owned by Tibetan refugees, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Sikkimese, Ladakhis and others.  
    To acquire copies of all recent films and TV broadcasts on Tibet and Tibetans.
  To acquire photographs on all aspects of Tibetan life in exile since 1959.  
    To acquire copies of all old photographs and film footages of Tibet currently in the collection of institutions and individuals in Europe, USA, and other countries.
  To form a permanent repository of the above mentioned films and photographs where proper identification, cataloguing and scientific preservation of the collection can take place.  
    For latest developments in this programme see Visual Archives and Film Reference Library. See also some samples of photographs.
 

 
 
Literature and Folklore  
  To locate and identify all Tibetan writers.  
    To locate, identify, collect and classify all published and unpublished works of Tibetan writers.
  To identify and collect all periodicals on Tibet, or those in the Tibetan language, emanating from Tibet and China.  
    To eventually publish the collected works of Tibetan scholars-in-exile in uniform editions.
  To collect and publish rare and obscure tracts on Tibetan folklore, with emphasis on gnomic literature, and stories focusing on nature and the environment.  
    To collect and published oral and written materials on Tibetan erotica.
  To collect all works from other languages translated into Tibetan.  
    To collect works by Tibetan writers in foreign languages.
  To locate and collect literary criticisms on Tibetan literature by foreigners.  
    To collect writings emanating from small but widespread literary groups of Tibetan writers and poets in Tibet China. These groups are refereed to by their members as "salons".
  To encourage and publish contemporary poetry, short stories, novels and plays.  
    NOTE: To date fifty different rare and hitherto unpublished works of folk-lore and stories have been made available to the Institute. The Institute has already built up a collection of written works on Tibetan erotica and a collection of unpublished works of seven lay writers from the 18th to the 20th century.
  For latest developments in this programme see our journal Jangzhon, our publications under the Tibetan Literature Series and Poetry Series. See also the First National Conference of Tibetan Writers and the First Seminar on Tibetan Literature.  
   

 

 

 
 
Women's Studies  
  To research the history, position and role of women in Tibetan society.  
    To compile and publish a Biographical Series on Tibetan Women.
  To compile and publish collected and/or selected works by Tibetan women.  
    To conduct studies into traditional child-birth and child-rearing practises in Tibet.
  To research and study the history, position and role of nunneries in Tibet, and to prepare a directory of the same.  
    To publish a journal on the Tibetan Women's issues and studies.
  NOTE: Fifteen volumes of the Biographical Series of tibetans Women and twenty-five volumes of collected works by women writers have already been compiled by independent scholars and made available to the Institute. The Institute has also obtain the full-time services of a nun-scholar from Tibet, to head this department.  
     
    For latest developments in this programme see our journal Yumtsho.
 

 
 
The Arts  
A. Thangka Studies and Preservation  
  To identify all Thangka painters trained in Tibet now living in exile.  
    To commission each of these artists three to five representative samples of their work.
  To collect the biographical details of each artist, and if possible, of his teacher, and to classify them according to their respective school of painting.  
    To collect relevant texts and documents relating to all aspects and forms of Thangkas, mural paintings, applique, embroidery, carpet design,etc., and to research any and all references on these in scriptural and historical works.
  To locate and published obscure but valuable treatises and manuals, hitherto unobtainable, on iconometry, method, materials and other technical aspects of Thangka painting.  
    NOTE: Five rare treatises on iconometry, methods and materials of Thangka paintings have been made available to the Institute.
 
B. Non-Traditional and Folk Art  
  To identify all folk and modern artists inside and outside Tibet.  
    To collect samples or reproductions of their works.
  To collect biographical details of the artists and start discussions of their works.  
    For latest developments in this programme see the Paintings of Gongkar Gyatso of Lhasa and Continuum, the paintings of Karma Phuntosk. See also publications under Art Series.
 
C. Music and Performing Arts  
  To locate contemporary Tibetan composers and compile a directory of their works.  
    To locate and publish all unpublished Lhamo libretti, modern plays, and scripts of other performing traditions, most of which have never been published.
  To encourage research projects into specific dance and performing traditions that existed in Tibet in remote localities and in danger of being lost.  
    Tibetan culture and history is inextricably bound up in its many song traditions. The Institute will encourage and facilitate research into the many songs of traditions of Tibet. For example: drinking songs, songs concerned with various ceremonies and stages of a wedding, various tunes and singing styles of Avalokiteshvara mantra, the Gur songs of yogis like Milarepa, Bon songs cycles, Gesar epic singers and songs.
 

 
 
Occupied Tibet Studies  
  To study Chinese political and programmes in Tibet since 1949.  
    To study the various administrative divisions of Tibet (TAR, Qinghai, Gansu, Szechuan and Yunnan).
  To study Tibetan resistance in all its many forms against Chinese occupation forces.  
    To research the persecution and killings of Tibetans, and the location, size and other particulars of various labour camps throughout Tibet.
  For latest developments in this programme see the conference Sea of Inhumanity, the seminar Tibet in the Post Deng Era, the exhibition Shadow Tibet, and publications under the Occupied Tibet Series.  
 

 
 
Tibetan History  
  To research the histories of different principalities: eg. Nangchen, Lhathong, Lingtsang, Amdo Chone, Chagla etc.  
    To research the local histories of districts, towns, nomadic tribes etc.
  To research the genealogies of historically important and also obscure but interesting families.  
    NOTE: Most studies of Tibetan history has to date tended to focus on Central Tibet. While delving deeper into specialised areas of history relating to Central tibet, the Institute will give emphasis to the research and publications of the histories of other areas of Tibet, and also periods and aspects of Tibetan history not usually dealt with.

Ten volumes of hitherto unpublished works on the above subjects have been made available to the Institute.

  See Lungta, journal of Tibetan History and Culture.  
 

 
 
Cartographic Studies  
  To collect works and references, traditional and contemporary, relating to the geography and cartography of Tibet..  
    To facilitate a study of Chinese mapping programmes in Tibet.
  To conduct wide ranging interviews with older Tibetans on the place-names and related information regarding their native village, towns, monasteries, districts and provinces.  
    To publish a range of maps of Tibet, both historical and contemporary, local, regional and national.
  To publish atlases of Tibet for various educational and informative purposes.  
   

Though primarily scientific, this project has also been conceived with the purpose of removing much of the vagueness and confusion in Tibetan political direction by providing the fundamental information resource on which our leaders, intellectuals and people could chart the future course of Tibetan history; a purpose effectively conveyed in the following observation:
 

"In the history of colonial invasion, maps are always first drawn by the victors, since maps are always instruments of conquest; once projected, they are then implemented. Geography is therefore the art of war but can also be the art of resistance if there is a counter-map and a counter strategy."

Edward W. Said
"The Politics of Dispossession; The Struggle for Palestinian Self-Determination 1969-1944"

 
    For latest developments see our maps. We have also managed to collect a few hundred maps and atlases relating to Tibet and its neighbours and have begun cataloguing them in a special Cartographic database.
 

 
 
Urban, Settlement and Architectural Studies  
  To study the growth, evolution,layout etc. of towns, village and nomadic settlement in Tibet.  
    To make records, with photographs, measured drawings, etc., of settlements layouts, lay and monastic architecture. Obtain details of the use and occupation history of individual buildings.
  To make records of techniques and decorative art etc. used in monastic and lay architecture and their mutual influences.  
    To interview retired and practising craftsmen, builders etc. on techniques employed, employment conditions, contracts, payment, employers etc.
  To study administrative divisions of towns and neighbouring settlements, taxation and legal apparatus, relations between differing racial communities.  
    To study markets and trade routes. Details of individual markets and fairs, their catchment areas and economics. Shorts and long distance trade routes, the traders and urban service industries (innkeepers, farriers etc.), commodities traded.
  To collect interviews and written accounts from town dwellers, traders, officials and aristocrat on their lives, urban conditions etc.  
    NOTE: Despite the destruction of architecture in Tibet during the past forty years a great deal survives in Tibetan towns and settlements, mainly due to neglect. However this is now under threat from 'development' and over 'restoration'. Examples are the recent demolition of the aristocrat's residences in Lhasa's Barkor and the destruction of auxiliary buildings on the South East corner of Rongbo monastery, Rebkong, in 1986 by a road building programme.
  In 1992 AMI commissioned two monographs on Tibetan architecture, one of Southern Kham and another one of Lhasa from traditional experts on the subject. Both these works have been completed and are waiting funding for publication.