This
anthropological project started in 1968 when Alan Macfarlane and his
then wife Gill spent 15 months in Nepal, most of the time was spent
in the Gurung village of Thak, north of Pokhara. Since then a number
of others have been involved in the project, in particular Sarah Harrison,
who has visited Thak on some 15 occasions with him since 1986. Over
the years the project has been funded by the London-Cornell Project,
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Renaissance Trust, and
the University of Cambridge.
The
materials collected include notes, diaries, censuses, genealogies, inventories,
land surveys, 3000 field photographs, approx. 120 hours of moving film
(to 2002). Also some of the manuscripts and photographs of Bernard Pignède
(deceased) among the Gurungs and the manuscripts of tours in Nepal by
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf.
So
far the work has led to
a book, a translation and edition of another book on the Gurungs and a
number of articles.
It
is intended to gradually put selections of the material onto the web site.
Here are three preliminary selections:
The
cultivation and importance of rice in a mountain village
Witchcraft
and healing
[To
appear soon: fieldwork in a Gurung village]