This Saturday, Portland State will host a day-long symposium called “Tibetan People and Landscapes” to bring together individuals interested in Tibet.The event will showcase the work and knowledge of various scholars and advocates of the region.
The event is sponsored by PSU, the Oregon Consortium for Asian Studies, the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, the Mazamas and the Himalayan Research Bulletin, a publication put out by the PSU geography department. The HRB publishes information on scholarly and research interest in all fields relevant to the Himalayan areas of Asia.
Activities start at 9:30 a.m. and run through the evening. Lectures will dominate most of the day, followed by a photography exhibit and a film.
Registration is $10 at the door and includes admission to all events.
Two lecture sessions highlighting various Tibetan topics will run from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Hoffman Hall. Session I runs from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and features lectures about “Tibet’s Religions,” “Tibetan Identity” and “Music of the Tibetan Diaspora” by professors from PSU, Marylhurst College, the University of Oregon and Stanford University.
Session II runs from 2 to 5 p.m. and features lectures about “Tibetan Pilgrimage,” “Environmental Issues of the Tibetan Plateau,” “Landscape, Land use, Global Climate and Tibet” and “A Treatise on the Yak” by professors from the Naropa Institute, the Earth Island Institude, UC Berkeley and PSU.
Following the lectures, a photography exhibit and reception will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.in the Urban Planning and Affairs Gallery, located at 506 S.W. Mill on the second floor. Over 150 photographs were submitted to the photography exhibit from all over the world, from locations as varied as Scandanavia, India, China and Russia.
Staff from the geography department chose the best of those submitted, and around three dozen will be on display in the “Tibetan Peoples and Landscapes” exhibit. Attendees can vote for their favorite photo and submit bids. All proceeds will go to the Himalayan Research Bulletin’s tax-deductible fund drive in support of Tibetans and Himalayans in the Northwest.
Activities for the day will wrap up with a film screening of “Himalayan Herders” at 8 p.m. in Hoffman Hall. The film is a documentary produced by a team of anthropologists who have lived in the same Himalayan village since 1970.
The documentary details the village and how it has changed in the face of tourism. The movie is 76 minutes long and will be followed by a discussion with filmmakers John and Naomi Bishop.
For more information or to register, contact the Himalayan Research Bulletin at (503) 725-8312, hrb@pdx.edu, Cramer 424.