High-altitude Tibetan populations in the remote Himalaya: social transformation and its demographic, economic, and ecological consequences
Goldstein, M.C.
Mountain Research and Development 1(1): 5-18
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0276-4741 PMID: 12266943 DOI: 10.2307/3672943Document Number: 412033
The fragility of high mountain systems, their sensitivity to even small disturbances, and the tendency of such disturbances to be irreversible, have focused scientific and developmental attention on to the deteriorating physical environment in mountain areas such as the Himalaya. While this focus is obviously important, it has tended to obscure an equally critical dimension of the problem, namely, the social environment. Despite the remoteness and apparent traditionalism of Tibetan populations inhabiting the high mountain areas of the Himalaya, in reality, these groups have either undergone or are now undergoing a major transformation of their social structure. This paper examines the manner in which this transformation has occurred. It argues that the traditional social adaption was as fragile as the mountain environment itself and discusses the manner in which fraternal polyandry (two or more brothers sharing a wife), the traditional Tibetan marriage and family system, was an adaptation to an encapsulated environment. It then demonstrates the manner in which a variety of different exogenous influences have unintentionally de-encapsulated this environment and undermined the traditional system. Ladakh in India and Limi in northwestern Nepal are used to illustrate different stages of this process of social transformation and some of its demographic, ecological, and economic consequences.