Sacred Himalaya in the Anthropocene

This event is co-sponsored by:
Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies
UBC Himalaya Program
UBC Department of Anthropology

Drawing from posthumanist, decolonial and Indigenous literature, this lecture considers the concept of the Anthropocene in relation to sacred Himalayan landscapes. Bringing questions raised by the species-thinking designation of the current epoch anchored in the West into discussions of Himalayan environments, the presentation opens pathways for co-production of knowledge without erasing marginalized voices.

Pasang Yangjee Sherpa, Ph.D. (2012) is an anthropologist from Nepal. Her primary research areas include human dimensions of climate change, Indigeneity, and development in the Himalayas. She is also completing a project about the Sherpa diaspora in the United States and South Asia. She is currently affiliated with the South Asia Center of the University of Washington. Previously, she was a lecturer in the department of anthropology at Penn State University and a postdoctoral fellow at The New School. She received the 2014 Senior Fellowship award from the Association of Nepal and Himalayan Studies and is a fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology.