Tigers of the Snow and Other Virtual Sherpas

"Adams's book promises to be a provocative if not controversial contribution to the field of Himalayan Studies; it should also stir debate among those concerned with ethnography, cultural studies, [and] identity construction."

Autorentext
Vincanne Adams

Klappentext
Sherpas are portrayed by Westerners as heroic mountain guides, or "tigers of the snow," as Buddhist adepts, and as a people in touch with intimate ways of life that seem no longer available in the Western world. In this book, Vincanne Adams explores how attempts to characterize an "authentic" Sherpa are complicated by Western fascination with Sherpas and by the Sherpas' desires to live up to Western portrayals of them. Noting that diplomatic aides at world summit meetings go by the name "Sherpa," as do a van in the U.K. built for rough terrain and a software product from Silicon Valley, Adams examines the "authenticating" effects of this mobile signifier on a community of Himalayan Sherpas who live at the base of Mount Everest, Nepal, and its "deauthenticating" effects on anthropological representation. This book speaks not only to anthropologists concerned with ethnographic portrayals of Otherness but also to those working in cultural studies who are concerned with ethnographically grounded analyses of representations. Throughout Adams illustrates how one might undertake an ethnography of transnationally produced subjects by using the notion of "virtual" identities. In a manner informed by both Buddhism and shamanism, virtual Sherpas are always both real and distilled reflections of the desires that produce them.

Zusammenfassung
Explores how attempts to characterize an 'authentic' Sherpa are complicated by Western fascination with Sherpas and by the Sherpas' desires to live up to Western portrayals of them. This book illustrates how one might undertake an ethnography of transnationally produced subjects by using the notion of 'virtual' identities.

Inhalt
List of IllustrationsAcknowlegmentsOrthographic NoteIntroduction: Lament for Pasang3Ch. 1Sherpas in Mirrors39Ch. 2Making Modern Sherpas79Ch. 3Buddhist Sherpas as Others121Ch. 4The Intimacy of Shamanic Sherpas171Ch. 5Seduction and Simulative Power in the Himalayas: Staying Sherpa206Conclusion: Virtual Sherpas in Circulation233Appendix A Khentse Rinpoche Lecture, Tengboche, 1987243Appendix B Exerpts from "The Stages of Repelling Demons Based on the Heart Sutra, the Summary of the Vast, Intermediate, and Condensed Mothers"247Appendix C Musings on Textuality and Truth251Appendix D Production/Seduction257Notes263Glossary of Sherpa Terms283Bibliography289Index299

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