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The book presents a unique and vivid reflection on Bhutan's trajectories of change, through a lively, systematic, conceptual, theoretical, and methodological introduction to life in this Himalayan region.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction
- 2: Castles of Eternity
- 3: Visual Arts and Visualisations
- 4: Tapestry of Beliefs and Faith
- 5: The Governance of Nation
- 6: Apex of Power
- 7: Troops of Fierce Deities
- 8: Monks and Monasteries
- 9: The Timeless Guru
About the author
Karma Ura is the president of the Centre for Bhutan Studies (CBS) and GNH Research. He completed his MA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at Magdalen College, University of Oxford, an M.Phil. in Economics at the University of Edinburgh, and a Ph.D. in Nagoya University, Japan. An eminent scholar, he has held many international roles, in the Global Council of World Happiness, Earth Justice Working Group, and International Buddhist Federation.
Summary
The process of modernization has brought discontinuities in collective memory. This volume and its prequel provide an act of collective remembrance, knitting together many voices and stories. It shows the readers a world of the past before modernization began in the 1960s. Volume 2 covers the monumental architecture of dzongs (castles) and administration of the country, authority and power, cosmological concepts and beliefs, religions and rites, visualization and meditation, visual arts, and folk drama that affected the daily life of the people. Some chapters also dwell on monastic life and monkhood, and Guru Rinpoche's imprints on the land and its people.
Additional text
Seldom is such a span of human motifs treated with both affectionate familiarity and scholarly precision. The Unremembered Nation truly will re-member Bhutan in the minds of generations that never knew it that way, and may strike the imagination of those planning ahead.
