HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies Volume 2 Number 2 Himalayan Research Bulletin, Article 8 Monsoon 1982 1982 Research Projects Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya Recommended Citation . 1982. Research Projects. HIMALAYA 2(2). Available at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya/vol2/iss2/8 This Research Article is brought to you for free and open access by the DigitalCommons@Macalester College at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. m. RESEARCH PROJECTS * Music and Ritual in Nepal Researcher: Ter Ellingson (Ethnomusicology, University of Washington, Seattle) Project: A National Endowment for the Humanities Grant will support Elling~on's comparative study of music and ritual in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and Japan. This study, "Intercultural Continuity in Buddhist Music," is a continuation of his previous work on Tibetan music in Nepal and Buddhist chanting in Thailand. The basic rationale for the project is . that Buddhist music is a large-scale intercultural artistic tradition, exerting influence on music and the arts throughout the regions of Asia touched by Buddhism. Research in Nepal will focus on the Vajracharya traditions in the .Kathmandu Valley as the last surviving representative of a Sanskrit language canonical tradition and an artistically rich variant of the ritually oriented Mantrayana tradition. Ellingson will be in Nepal from July-December 1982, followed by short comparative research trips . to India, then approximately five months working with Theravada Tradition in Sri Lanka, and a somewhat shorter period of study in the East Asian Mahayana traditions in Japan. *Household Dynamics and Fertility in Nepal Researcher: Nancy Levine (University of California, Los Angeles) Project: The proposed research is concerned with intrasocietal and intersocietal variation in fertility among three ethnic groups - Nepalis, Tibetans and Buras - in Humla, a district in northwestern Nepal. The assumption underlying the research is that households are flexible, task-oriented units which respond in systematic ways to external constraints. Anthropological models of household dynamics and household decision-making will be used to focus on how external, economic constraints in combination with cultural norms and social structure affect households and their fertility, and how ·this, in turn, affects rates of population growth. Specific hypotheses to be tested derive from a preliminary study in Humla carried out during 1973-75, which demonstrated the utility of the household framework for analysis. Primary data sources for this research will be gathered during fifteen months of fieldwork and will include basic ethnographic surveys of social structure and household systems, collection of vital statistics, censuses and formal interviews on the topics of household circumstances and demographic events over time. This will permit cross-sectional and retrospective analyses of the interrelations between economy, household and fertility. Conceived in broader terms, the research will provide a test case for assumptions about social structure and population variables, one which is relevant for the study of other rural, peasant societies. -9- *Regmi Research, Kathmandu Resear cher: M.C. Regmi (Kathmandu) Project: Mahesh Chandra Regmi r epor t s that Regmi Research Limited has a number of regular publications of interest to specialists on Nepal (see publication news). In addition, he reports the completion of a manuscript entitled, The State and Economic Surplus: Production, Trade, and Resource- Mobilization in Early NineteeRth- Century Nepal. He describes its contents as follows: "The first Chapter of this study describes the geogr aphical, histor ical, and political b ackground t o the state's resource- m obilization policies in early nineteenth century Nepal before the commencement of Rana rule, while Chapter IT presents a broad outline of those policies. Chapter m examines the gener al nature of the Gorkhali state and administration in so far as they pertained t o the implementation of those policies. Chapters IV and V describe the general pattern of pr)mary production, as well as of handicrafts and manufactures. Questions relating to the ownership and control of nature resources (land, f orests, and mines) that determined the institutional frame work within which the production system operated are discussed in Chapter VI. Chapter vn contains a description of the general pattern of regional and export trade in both primary commodities and handicrafts and manufactures. Having thus sketched the general pattern of production and trade in nineteenth­ century Nepal, the book next deals with the taxation of production (Chapter vm), commercial taxation (Chapter IX), and personal obligations (Chapter X) as the main s ystems under which economic surplus from private an act of exchange. Chapters XI and xn discuss the different systems through which the state garner ed the surplus through the process of exchange: compulsory procurement, monopoly trade, and state trading. An attempt has been made in the final chapter t o draw some broad conclusions on the nature of production, exchange, and resource-mobilization policies in early nineteenth- century Nepal." M. C. Regmi is now engagned in new research on "Revenue and Taxation in Nepal, 1846-1901." These new contributions succeed Regmi's landmark publications on importance to all scholarship in Nepal: Land Tenure and Taxation in Nepal (Berkeley, 1963- 1968); A Study in Nepali Economic History, 1969- 1846 (New Delhi: Manjusri Publishing House, 1971 and 1978); Landownership in Nepal (Berkeley: Univer sity of California Press, 1976); and Thatched Huts and Stucco Palaces: Peasants and Landlords in 19th Century Nepal (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1971). *Centre of Himalayan Studies, Ranchi, India Researcher: M. Jha (Ranchi Univer sity) - 10- Project: M. Jha, Professor-in-Charge of the Department of Anthropology, Ranchi University, r eports a Centre of Himalayan Studies was formed there in 1980. In March of 1981, they organized a seminar on Himalayan Studies which has since been published. Dr. Jha further reports that they are planning a national workshop on "Himalayan Ecology, Economy, and Religion" at Naintal, Uttar Pradesh. Dr. Jha is now engaged in a comparative study of villages in t he .Kathmandu valley and the Terai. This research succeeds two decades of research activity in the Himalayas. Dr. Jha's publications include the following of interest to Himalayan specialists: The Sacred Complex of Janakpur (Nepal) (United Publishers, Allahabed, 1971); Aspects of a Great Traditional City in Nepal (Kishor Vidyaniketan, Varanasi, 1978); Transactions of the Centre of Himalayan Studies (edited jointly, 1982). *Research News from the Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Indera Singh, Head of the Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, reports that they have been engaged in anthropological studies of Cis-Himalayan people for the past three decades. They have recently completed a project on "Impact of Technological and Economic Development Programmes on Biocultural Heritage of Gaddis and Pangwalas Population Groups of Himachal Pradesh" and they are now engaged in a project on the "Impact of Human Activities in Eco-systems and Vice­ Versa with Reference to Sikkim Himalayas." *Himalayan Studies in Japan There are several centers for Himalayan studies in Japan. One of the major research centers is at the Institute for the Studies of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (21 -51-4 Nishigahara, Kitaku, Tokyo 114). Professor H. Kitamura, director and linguist at the Institute, along with Professors Shigerti Iijima and Hiroshi Ishi, and Yuiji Yamamoto have conducted field research in Nepal and India. Their works have been published in Monumenta Serindica, Journal of Asian African Studies, and other publications. Recent publications by the Institute faculty include: Changing Aspect of Modern Nepal by Shigeru Iijima (editor); Newari Lexicon by Mantaro Hashimoto (editor ); Glo Skad: A Tibetan Dialect in the Nepal Himalayas by H. Kitamura (editor); and Social Structure and the Change in a Newari Village by H. Ishii. Dr. Shigeru Iijima is spending Fall 1981 at the University of Kentucky on a Fulbright grant. Along with P.P. Karan he is completing a book on Environment, Ecology and Man in the Himalaya, and preparing several research reports and maps based on field research in the area. At the National Museum of Ethnology (1 -41 Yamado-Ogawa, Suita City 565, Pref. Osaka) Professor T. Sasaki along with other scholars have conducted research in geography, anthropology, mater ial culture, linguistics, and musicology of the Himalayan area. Their works have appeared in the Journal of Ethnological Studies - 11 - and other publications. Professor J. Kawakita of the Institute for Human Technology, Tsukuba University (1-1 Tennodai, Sakuramura, Niiharugun, Pre£. Ibaragi 300-31) is one of the pioneers of modern Himalayan studies in Japan. His principal works in English are Peoples of Nepal Himalaya, and The Hill Magars and their Neighbours, Tokai University Press, 1974. Professor C. Nakane, the Director and anthropologist at the Institute of