Bruce Owens - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Bruce Owens
American Anthropologist, May 26, 2014
Himalaya: The Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 2006
American Ethnologist, Aug 1, 1997
come one of the most richly documented peoples in the Himalayas. With a dozen or so ethnographic ... more come one of the most richly documented peoples in the Himalayas. With a dozen or so ethnographic books available on them, what topics, one might wonder, could possibly have been left uncovered? One such topic-the epistemological constraints under which we know Sherpas-is the subject of Vincanne Adams's provocative, wide-ranging, perceptive, analytically original, and sometimes perplexing book. Adams starts from the premise that tourists, trekkers, mountaineers, and anthropologists share a common quest: the holy grail of authenticity. They all hope to find (and usually think they have found) the true Sherpas hidden behind whatever modern facades may shield them from us. Crucial to Adams's project is understanding the desires (the word appears four times in the first paragraph) of both Sherpas and Westerners as they engage each other-hence the book's subtitle, An Ethnography of Himalayan Encounters. The results of these encounters are ambiguous, since Sherpas need to be both "like" Westerners (trustworthy, brave, and loyal, so the latter will admire and bond with them) and "unlike" them (poor, unhealthy, uneducated, so they will receive money, clinics, scholarships, and so on from them). Where does this authenticity lie? It appears neither in us nor in them, but somewhere in the irreconcilable gap between "out there" (discovered through "othering") and "in ourselves" (discovered by examining our own desires and power). Moreover, the boundaries between these two venues are blurred, because all social relationships (not just between Sherpas and Westerners, but also between Sherpas and deities, as well as among Sherpas) are transitory, impermanent, and fluctuating. Finding authenticity is not merely problematic; it is impossible, since it turns out that authentic Sherpas do not exist at all. Or rather, they do exist, and they are all equally authentic, but only because they are all "virtual" as well as "real" Sherpas-a reading consistent with their own subjective Buddhist ontology. That is why the ethnography is about encounters rather than Sherpas (and not simply because of the truism that we can only know them through encounters). The hard part is to locate "truths" in these encounters, where truth is made impermanent by the seduction through which Sherpas (in touch with themselves and with higher orders of spirituality) become known to Westerners, and Westerners (generally inauthentic and materially minded) come to know themselves through authentic Sherpas. Sherpas are seduced by this Western othering of themselves, but their mimesis is always partial because their well-being demands that they remain traditional in ways that Westerners can "fix." So Sherpas come to resemble Western perceptions of them, but these perceptions have already been transformed by Sherpa perceptions of the Western gaze. Sherpa identity, thus embedded in an interreflecting series of multiple, shifting encounters, is therefore elusive. It is all done with mirrors. The notion of virtual ethnic "identity" (taken as self-evident, it roughly seems to mean "culture" in the meaningful sense) is original, stimulating, and problematic. Things like houses and prayer wheels are (like Adams's book) presumably not virtual,
The Journal of Asian Studies, 2021
… , the Journal of the Association for …, 1997
American Ethnologist, 2012
American Anthropologist, 1996
American Anthropologist, 2007
American Anthropologist, 1995
Sadhus are Hindu holy men. After forsaking family, village, and caste, each serves and learns fro... more Sadhus are Hindu holy men. After forsaking family, village, and caste, each serves and learns from a guru. Then, in a ritual death, he is initiated into amonastic order, taking a new name, vowing celibacy, poverty, mendicancy, and rejection of the world and its pleasures, and submitting himself to a regimen of yogic exercises and meditation, ritual directed to the chosen deity, and study of religious texts. While some of the older sadhus reside permanently in m a t h (monasteries) or amy2wz.s (religious centers), younger sadhus spend several months a year traveling, many attending local religious festivals and important pilgrimage places. Robert Gross was initiated into the Ramanandi Vairagis, the largest sect in India He spent more than three years, between December 1969 and February 1973, combining the roles of ethnographer and neophyte holy man, spealung in Hindi without the aid of an interpreter. Despite the reticence of the sadhus who rejected his ethnographic project as "worldly" and not directed to his spiritual progress, Gross gained a vast knowledge. A Vaisnavite devoted to the incarnation of the god Vishnu as King h a , Gross also learned a good deal about Saivite (dedicated to the god Shiva) sects and about the intricate organization of sadhus into various categories and orders.
The Journal of Asian Studies, 1994
Orientalistische Literaturzeitung
Himalaya the Journal of the Association For Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 2011
Himalaya the Journal of the Association For Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 1997
Book Reviews Todd Lewis serves as editor of the book review section of the HRB. As in other areas... more Book Reviews Todd Lewis serves as editor of the book review section of the HRB. As in other areas of the journal, we are depending upon members to participate in the process: contact the editor if you wish to suggest a title or to sign on to review a specific publication. And please remember to have your press forward a copy of your book to the bulletin.
Ethnos, 1999
... objects and/or their meanings amount to struggles because processes of com-modification have ... more ... objects and/or their meanings amount to struggles because processes of com-modification have (if I ... By virtue of their having been singularized as 'col-lectibles,' they become re-commodified. ... from detached re-presentation and critique of the process of commodification itself.3 ...
Photocopied material. "Order number 9020587." Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 198... more Photocopied material. "Order number 9020587." Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1989. Bibliography: p. 350-363.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1989. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 350-363).... more Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1989. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 350-363). Microfiche.
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2014
ABSTRACT The Newar monastic compounds of the Kathmandu Valley (bāhās and bahīs) are the centres o... more ABSTRACT The Newar monastic compounds of the Kathmandu Valley (bāhās and bahīs) are the centres of what is arguably the world's oldest continuously practised form of Buddhism. This article presents a preliminary analysis of a survey that revisited these compounds 25 years after the publication of John Locke's exhaustive study in order to understand how these fundamental institutions of Newar Buddhism have been affected by the radical transformations that Nepalese society has undergone since then. It suggests that Newar practitioners of the dharma have often expressed their devotion in ways that are at once traditional and vitally innovative, transforming these compounds as well as the means through which they transform them in myriad ways. The conspicuous democratisation of sponsorship of ‘repairs’ has resulted in alterations that conform to notions of authenticity—old and new, Newar and foreign—as well as deliberate departures from tradition.
American Anthropologist, May 26, 2014
Himalaya: The Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 2006
American Ethnologist, Aug 1, 1997
come one of the most richly documented peoples in the Himalayas. With a dozen or so ethnographic ... more come one of the most richly documented peoples in the Himalayas. With a dozen or so ethnographic books available on them, what topics, one might wonder, could possibly have been left uncovered? One such topic-the epistemological constraints under which we know Sherpas-is the subject of Vincanne Adams's provocative, wide-ranging, perceptive, analytically original, and sometimes perplexing book. Adams starts from the premise that tourists, trekkers, mountaineers, and anthropologists share a common quest: the holy grail of authenticity. They all hope to find (and usually think they have found) the true Sherpas hidden behind whatever modern facades may shield them from us. Crucial to Adams's project is understanding the desires (the word appears four times in the first paragraph) of both Sherpas and Westerners as they engage each other-hence the book's subtitle, An Ethnography of Himalayan Encounters. The results of these encounters are ambiguous, since Sherpas need to be both "like" Westerners (trustworthy, brave, and loyal, so the latter will admire and bond with them) and "unlike" them (poor, unhealthy, uneducated, so they will receive money, clinics, scholarships, and so on from them). Where does this authenticity lie? It appears neither in us nor in them, but somewhere in the irreconcilable gap between "out there" (discovered through "othering") and "in ourselves" (discovered by examining our own desires and power). Moreover, the boundaries between these two venues are blurred, because all social relationships (not just between Sherpas and Westerners, but also between Sherpas and deities, as well as among Sherpas) are transitory, impermanent, and fluctuating. Finding authenticity is not merely problematic; it is impossible, since it turns out that authentic Sherpas do not exist at all. Or rather, they do exist, and they are all equally authentic, but only because they are all "virtual" as well as "real" Sherpas-a reading consistent with their own subjective Buddhist ontology. That is why the ethnography is about encounters rather than Sherpas (and not simply because of the truism that we can only know them through encounters). The hard part is to locate "truths" in these encounters, where truth is made impermanent by the seduction through which Sherpas (in touch with themselves and with higher orders of spirituality) become known to Westerners, and Westerners (generally inauthentic and materially minded) come to know themselves through authentic Sherpas. Sherpas are seduced by this Western othering of themselves, but their mimesis is always partial because their well-being demands that they remain traditional in ways that Westerners can "fix." So Sherpas come to resemble Western perceptions of them, but these perceptions have already been transformed by Sherpa perceptions of the Western gaze. Sherpa identity, thus embedded in an interreflecting series of multiple, shifting encounters, is therefore elusive. It is all done with mirrors. The notion of virtual ethnic "identity" (taken as self-evident, it roughly seems to mean "culture" in the meaningful sense) is original, stimulating, and problematic. Things like houses and prayer wheels are (like Adams's book) presumably not virtual,
The Journal of Asian Studies, 2021
… , the Journal of the Association for …, 1997
American Ethnologist, 2012
American Anthropologist, 1996
American Anthropologist, 2007
American Anthropologist, 1995
Sadhus are Hindu holy men. After forsaking family, village, and caste, each serves and learns fro... more Sadhus are Hindu holy men. After forsaking family, village, and caste, each serves and learns from a guru. Then, in a ritual death, he is initiated into amonastic order, taking a new name, vowing celibacy, poverty, mendicancy, and rejection of the world and its pleasures, and submitting himself to a regimen of yogic exercises and meditation, ritual directed to the chosen deity, and study of religious texts. While some of the older sadhus reside permanently in m a t h (monasteries) or amy2wz.s (religious centers), younger sadhus spend several months a year traveling, many attending local religious festivals and important pilgrimage places. Robert Gross was initiated into the Ramanandi Vairagis, the largest sect in India He spent more than three years, between December 1969 and February 1973, combining the roles of ethnographer and neophyte holy man, spealung in Hindi without the aid of an interpreter. Despite the reticence of the sadhus who rejected his ethnographic project as "worldly" and not directed to his spiritual progress, Gross gained a vast knowledge. A Vaisnavite devoted to the incarnation of the god Vishnu as King h a , Gross also learned a good deal about Saivite (dedicated to the god Shiva) sects and about the intricate organization of sadhus into various categories and orders.
The Journal of Asian Studies, 1994
Orientalistische Literaturzeitung
Himalaya the Journal of the Association For Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 2011
Himalaya the Journal of the Association For Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 1997
Book Reviews Todd Lewis serves as editor of the book review section of the HRB. As in other areas... more Book Reviews Todd Lewis serves as editor of the book review section of the HRB. As in other areas of the journal, we are depending upon members to participate in the process: contact the editor if you wish to suggest a title or to sign on to review a specific publication. And please remember to have your press forward a copy of your book to the bulletin.
Ethnos, 1999
... objects and/or their meanings amount to struggles because processes of com-modification have ... more ... objects and/or their meanings amount to struggles because processes of com-modification have (if I ... By virtue of their having been singularized as 'col-lectibles,' they become re-commodified. ... from detached re-presentation and critique of the process of commodification itself.3 ...
Photocopied material. "Order number 9020587." Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 198... more Photocopied material. "Order number 9020587." Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1989. Bibliography: p. 350-363.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1989. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 350-363).... more Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1989. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 350-363). Microfiche.
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2014
ABSTRACT The Newar monastic compounds of the Kathmandu Valley (bāhās and bahīs) are the centres o... more ABSTRACT The Newar monastic compounds of the Kathmandu Valley (bāhās and bahīs) are the centres of what is arguably the world's oldest continuously practised form of Buddhism. This article presents a preliminary analysis of a survey that revisited these compounds 25 years after the publication of John Locke's exhaustive study in order to understand how these fundamental institutions of Newar Buddhism have been affected by the radical transformations that Nepalese society has undergone since then. It suggests that Newar practitioners of the dharma have often expressed their devotion in ways that are at once traditional and vitally innovative, transforming these compounds as well as the means through which they transform them in myriad ways. The conspicuous democratisation of sponsorship of ‘repairs’ has resulted in alterations that conform to notions of authenticity—old and new, Newar and foreign—as well as deliberate departures from tradition.