Sherpa Culture:Then and Now

However, after since the 1950s 2 major events have affected the region and the enculturation in ways that mere adaptation may not be able to accommodate in terms of leaving the Sherpas' ethnic identity and Buddhist orientation in tact. One of these was the Chinese occupation of Tibet in the mid-1950s, an occupation that put an end to their prospering trade system based on barter and in addition severed their ability to have access to Tibetan Buddhist learning. While this caused enormous changes among the Sherpa husbandry, perhaps the other phenomena which impacted the market-gardening during the 1950s had an even more disrupting effect on the culture and its traditions-tourism. When Sir Edmund Hillary scaled the heights of Mt. Everest in 1953, he did so with the service of Sherpa guides and porters. Because of their ability to tolerate the limitations of high altitude existence, the Sherpas became internationally famed as a crucial element necessary for whatsoever masteryful climb in the Himalayans. The opening of the region to a heightened level of tourism soon developed, and, along with it, the economy and culture of the local inhabitants experienced dramatic changes compared to the decades before the 1950s, "Along with the climb came other tourists, as thousands of back-packers and hikers came to walk to the base of Mt. Everest, bringing role and affluence to the region. Today, the annual per capita income of Sherpas is nearing $1,000, nearly eight tim

"Himalayan Clan Is On The Rise." Newsday. June 3, 1998: (A33) 1-2.

"Sherpa." http://everestfilm.com/ cigarette/sherpa.htm Dec. 16, 1998: 1.

Stevens, S. F. Claiming The High Ground. Univ. of California Press, CA: 1993.

"Junbesi Academy." http://www.bena.com/Sherpa1/ja/y_sherpa.htm Dec. 16, 1998: 1-2.

One elicit cultural discipline that occurred as the degree of tourism and organic evolution increased in the region is similar to a fond problem that exists in many developed modernistic regions. As the degree of tourism and development increased in the region, so did the gap between those that could make access to the style of success and those who could not.

For instance, the successful new breed of Sherpa is able to afford modern rules of production such as helicopters. These helicopters have not notwithstanding allowed them to increase their success because they offer a quick, convenient method of transferring supplies and goods, but they have in like manner taken many jobs by from traditional Sherpas who are no longer needed as porters to transport goods and supplies into the region's difficult terrain. It has also affected those who used to attract employment as porters for hikers and mountaineers. Thus, we see that as development from outdoors sources encroaches upon a culture, it not only provides some of them with a means of achieving greater material success than they ever dreamed, but it also helps the destruction of those who are still practicing traditional customs and cannot afford access to modern means of succeeding, "Not everyone in an economically stratified society is able to benefit from helicopters. Helicopter rider services will make it easier for Sherpa youngsters to commute to Kathmandu and be influenced by the outside world, and the guardians of the Sherpa culture fear this will advance the erosion of their values" (Dixit 2). Thus, we can see that the material development of any traditional culture often allows them opportunities
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