Organizer: Matthew Kapstein, University of Chicago
Chair: E. Gene Smith, Wisdom Publications
Discussants: Janet Gyasto, Amherst College; Matthew Kapstein, University of Chicago; Per Kværne, University of Oslo; Lopen Karma Phuntsho, Oxford University; Françoise Pommaret
Dr. Michael Aris, of St. Anthony’s College, Oxford, was a figure of unique stature in the field of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies. His scholarship opened new vistas on many aspects of the cultural history of Bhutan and Tibet, and beyond this he sought to nurture the field as a whole. He was the moving force behind the foundation of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, now the preeminent venue for communication among Tibetanists worldwide. Dr. Aris also considerably influenced Tibetan Studies in the United States, both through his many friendships among scholars here, and owing to his appointment in 1990–1992 as Visiting Professor of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies at Harvard University, an appointment which helped to form Harvard’s current Tibetan Studies program.
The roundtable session seeks to recall Dr. Aris’s manifold contributions to our field by asking several of those who knew him to address particular areas among his interests, and the manner in which his work especially influenced our own. The session will thus be both a memorial and an opportunity for reflection upon the state of the field as a whole. Among the panelists, Janet Gyatso will discuss Dr. Aris’s work on local Himalayan culture, Matthew Kapstein the problem of revelatory "treasures" (gter-ma), Per Kværne materials on the iconography of the Bon religion, Lopen Karma Phuntsho religion in Bhutan, and Françoise Pommaret the early historiography of Bhutan. E. Gene Smith, as Chair, will introduce Dr. Aris’s life and work overall.