Local knowledge and elements of long-lasting world-views and ethics come together in the changing livelyhoods of the nomads, who perceive environmental and social changes, explain them and adapt to them.
Interesting topics of a project in cultural anthropology could be: Analysing the relationships of humans and non-humans in the oral tradition fo the Gesar epic, understanding the Tibetan nomad’s account of more-than-human health, following their observations concerning Yak health and changes in the soil and biodiversity of the soil on which the Yaks graze.
The project should contribute to the TransTiP’s project area “Environmental Humanities as multispecies conversations”, which will shed light on livelihood strategies, on intra- and inter-household dynamics of the rural population on the TP, on gender-specific roles, and the role of education by addressing the following questions: How have local residents observed, understood and coped with climate-related changes? How has this effected risk management strategies? Ultimately, we plan to contribute to sustainable management and policy making.
The preliminary work conducted by H1 provides an overview of current livelihood of Tibetan pastoralists. This project can offer H1 a better and in-depth understanding the relation between the decline of yak milk production and grassland’s political ecology.
Chinese partners from Tibet University will explore the impact of climate change on family and community life and human health, by conducting surveys of nomads at Lake Namco and intensive literature research. As both researches share common interests in the human dimension of climate change, this will contribute to a holistic understanding of human-environment relation on the Tibetan Plateau.
Prof. Dr. Bettina Wahrig, TU Braunschweig
Prof. Dr. Antje Schwalb, TU Braunschweig
Dr. Ciren Yangzong, Tibet University