Aspects of Nepalese Traditions: Proceedings of a Seminar Held under the Auspices of Tribhuvan University Research Division and the German Research Council, March 1990.

• Author: Wilke, Annette

To study and preserve the unique cultural diversity of Nepal and to document the rapid changes brought on by modernization was the aim of the "Nepal Research Programme," established in 1980 by the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). The questions and findings, after ten years of research, were presented to a wider public at a conference organized by the Research Division of Tribhuvan University and the German Research Council. Based on this conference the present volume assembles a selection of the projects pursued in various fields of the humanities. The richly illustrated articles reflect well the aim of the Research Programme, namely, "multiplicity rather than concentration" (p. ix). Some of them are short research reports, but most are detailed studies in a specific field. Apart from the new material presented, the volume is remarkable in two ways. Firstly, it documents the close cooperation between German and Nepalese scholars. Almost every article by a German scholar is commented upon by a Nepalese colleague (ranging from summaries, questions, supplementary informations, to harsh critique). Secondly, the volume starts with a critical self-estimation of scholarship in the domain of a foreign culture. The introduction by B. Kolver (pp. ix-xx) addresses fundamental problems like "scientific neo-colonialism" (p. xii). The gulf between Nepalese and foreign scholars is particularly manifest in the different resources the scholars draw on. While the German researchers have generous material endowments at their disposal, the Nepalese have naturally a familiarity with the culture, in regard to which "the foreign researcher comes with a heavy deficit which even years of work can at best compensate in part" (p. xiii). Such discrepancies are reflected in some of the comments. This is certainly one of the many reasons the book is worth reading.

The first three articles are devoted to environmental studies. W. Haffner, "Sufficient Harvest-yields Despite Low Soil Fertility" (pp. 1-14), commented upon by H. Gurung (pp. 15-16), deals with the skillful adaptation of the mountain farmers of Gorkha, who mitigate unfavorable ecological factors to a considerable extent by their traditional agricultural techniques. According to Haffner the international organizations' denial of investments due to non-profitability is very one-sided, since the mountainous areas are the "traditional and cultural centre" for the Nepalese (p. 13). The...