UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Sherpa Intercultural Experiences in Himalayan Mountaineering: A Pragmatic Phenomenological Perspective Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/46b987r2 Author Oh, Young Hoon Publication Date 2016 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ 4.0 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Sherpa Intercultural Experiences in Himalayan Mountaineering: A Pragmatic Phenomenological Perspective A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Young Hoon Oh June 2016 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Sally Ness, Co-Chairperson Dr. Paul Ryer, Co-Chairperson Dr. Derick Fay Copyright by Young Hoon Oh 2016 The Dissertation of Young Hoon Oh is approved: Committee Co-Chairperson Committee Co-Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The conventions of the acknowledgment cannot do justice to the personal debts incurred throughout the work in a project such as this one. A number of people have directly affected this dissertation, but none more than my adviser Dr. Sally Ness, who from the outset encouraged me in my work, provided me with many details and suggestions for research, and carefully read the manuscript multiple times. This dissertation would never have become what it now is without her invaluable support. I am also grateful to another co-chairperson of the dissertation, Dr. Paul Ryer, whose perceptive criticism, kind encouragement, and willing assistance helped bring it to a successful conclusion. I wish also to record my appreciation to Dr. Derick Fay, who carefully read the manuscript and offered constructive criticism of my work as it progressed. Dr. T. S. Harvey was also helpful in formulating my project when it was in an initial stage. I further acquired intellectual as well as psychological support from Dr. Jim Fisher, whose decades-long research on Sherpa is incomparable. Furthermore, I benefited greatly from consistent assistance by the staff at the University of California, Riverside, including Janet Moores and other staff at the Library, who actively helped me to reach out publications across the world, and Janise Roselle, Richard Hunt, Hillary Jenks, and Daniel Ante-Contreras, among others, at the Graduate Writing Center whose excellent consultations and efficient assistance helped me to polish the manuscript. I am also grateful to Dean Joseph Childers and to the Graduate Division, who generously supported my research with a Graduate Research Fellowship. iv The research described herein was not subject to human subjects research review prior to data collection. However, research permission was obtained from the following two governmental institutions: the Department of Information, Ministry of Information and Communications, the Government of Nepal, and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Nepal. I am also indebted to my remarkable cohort of graduate students in anthropology at the University of California, Riverside, including Shahab Malik, Stephen James, Bada Choi, Andrew Turner, and Celia Tuchman-Rosta, among many others. In company with them, I learned to what extent collaborative efforts can better the experience in writing a dissertation. It is also a particular pleasure to acknowledge my debt to members of the College of Agriculture Life Science Alpine Club at Seoul National University, including Jung- Seop Hyun, Jaran Lee (Ku), Kenny (Kwang-Han) Kim, Sang-Bong Han, Seung-Ku Lee, Nam-In Cho, Kuk-Jeon Ahn, Tae-Kyeong Kwon, Seong-Gyo Jeong, Seon-Yong Lee, Nak-Pil Chang, Gil-Haeng Heo, Jong-Wuk Wu, Yun-Seop Seo, Jin-Se Jeong, Jeong- Hwan Seo, and Chang-Geun Lee, among many others. Their institutional, monetary, physical, and psychological support made this research possible. Moreover, the research was further supported by those in wider circles of Korean mountaineers, including Chang-Ho Kim, Ki-Seok Seo, Jin-Seong Kim, Il-Jin Lim, Pil-Seok Han, Jin-Seok Kim, Purna Jeon, Su-Seok Park, In-Jeong Lee, Gi-Sun Choi, Bong-Ha Park, Young-Ho Heo, Ha-Il Hong, Ok-Seon Hong, and Ji-Hyeon Kim, among others. Many other Koreans also lent their unsparing support to my project, and I am pleased to name Kang-Hyun Ahn, v Jae-Cheon Choi, Yong-Keun Kim, Jun Heo, and Chang-Bin Park as heartily supportive of my research in multiple ways. During my stay in Nepal in particular, I was privileged to receive diverse help and assistance from Koreans including Young-Min Kim of Korean Air, Kyeong-Hak Lee of Korean Reinsurance, and Yunmi Seo of SEA, among others. The support that I received from Nepalis is special because they willingly helped and cared about me despite having little relationship with me previously. After two years of working with them, I have no hesitance in calling them my brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, especially the two families in Nishar and Nurbuchaaur: in Nishar, Ang Temba Sherpa, Ang Doma Sherpa, Tendi Sherpa, Lakpa Sherpa, “Maili,” “Kanchhi,” and “Sanu;” in Nurbuchaaur, “Gaka,” Mingma Sherpa, Dawa Sherpa, “Saila,” Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, and “Kancha” Pasang Sherpa. Numerous other Nepalis also gave their unsparing hands to me, including “Kancha” Pasang Sherpa (Tashigaun), “Kancha” Pasang Sherpa (Nabagaun), Ngaa Tenji Sherpa, Sanu Sherpa, Pemba Sherpa (Seven Summit Treks), Nivesh Karki, Pasang Sherpa (Eleven Diamond), Chandra Kamal Tamang, and Ang Dorjee Sherpa (Villa Everest), among many others. Beyond conducting research and writing, consecutively climbing high mountain peaks requires a combination of motivation, commitment, perseverance, courage, pluck, serendipity, and luck. By no means am I a particularly heroic figure. I merely note that my Christian faith essentially grounded me throughout all this process. The constant prayers and psychological support from members of the Inland Jubilee Church, including Rev. Heung-Rok Lee, Jeong-Suk Lee, and Rev. Hun-Hyeon Yun, among others, vi incomparably nourished me, literally and figuratively. Finally, my parents, Jae-Suk Oh and Ye-Han Lee, have provided unparalleled physical and emotional care and wished God’s mercy for me at all times. My sincerest gratitude belongs to them. vii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Sherpa Intercultural Experiences in Himalayan Mountaineering: A Pragmatic Phenomenological Perspective by Young Hoon Oh Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Anthropology University of California, Riverside, June 2016 Dr. Sally NEss, Co-Chairperson Dr. Paul RyEr, Co-Chairperson Sherpas occupy the key position in contemporary Himalayan mountaineering and related tourism industries across the Himalayan chain. Once engaged merely in carrying loads, they now guide clients and organize expeditions. The transformation has left many foreign mountaineers and commentators disoriented. This is largely due to differences in the characteristic ways in which the Sherpas experience the sport, ways different from those of Western mountaineers, Korean mountaineers, and other Nepalis. The dissertation investigates these distinctive ways of experiencing mountaineering. It is based on nine Korean mountaineering expeditions undertaken following the Sherpas and twenty-five months of ethnographic research, which moved between Kathmandu, South Korea, and Sherpa villages in Walung in northeastern Nepal. By comparing with Western and Korean mountaineers’ understanding of Himalayan mountaineering, it examines how Sherpas take participation in the tourism industry as their vocation, encounter foreign visitors, and deal with global impacts the country is facing. It also proposes an original viii theoretical framework that analyzes experience without committing to “anthromanticism” or the eurocentric assumption of human nature as discrete mind, body, and community. The dissertation employs a pragmatic phenomenological perspective, which sheds light on ethico-onto-epistemologies or “cosmic dispositions” in relation to the observer’s perspective. The Sherpas’ cosmic disposition is threefold: individualist collectivism, tantric monism, and open-closed chronology. They regard participation in Himalayan mountaineering as their ethnic vocation and venue for social gathering. Though economic interest is important, the collective appreciation relies on the manner of social relationships. Unlike Western or Korean ideal approach to Himalayan mountaineering, moreover, their understanding considers concrete dimensions of the tourism industry. The Sherpas have increasingly made use of the global nexus with their characteristic ease in the face of unknown and uncertain future. Because the dispositions become distinctive only in relation to others, it also suggests Taoist idealism, Buddhist dualism, and Confucian hierarchy for Korean cosmic disposition as manifested by contemporary Korean mountaineers’ experiences. The pragmatic phenomenological perspective provides a non-eurocentric approach to the transnational, cosmopolitan, and globalizing encounters that take place in the Himalayas. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. Introduction………...……………………...…………………………………..1 1.1 Theoretical Orientation: The Cosmic Disposition and the Pragmatic Phenomenological Perspective…..…………………………………………….…2 1.1.1 The Cosmic World: Relativity of Distinctiveness in Global-Local Experience……..…….………………………………..............................3 1.1.2 The Cosmic Disposition: A Relational Approach........................................6