Sunday, September 23, 2007

Does History Matter?



I’ve never posted a video on a blog before, but I’m so eager to have you hear Tsering Shakya, one of the best of the historians of 20th-century Tibet, give his carefully considered thoughts about history in general and Tibetan history writing in particular, that I’m willing to make the attempt. I’m not a modernist historian myself, as you may know, but I like to keep an open mind, and avoid stumbling over too many self-imposed boundaries. Be sure to set aside about an hour and a half, assuming your connection speed is good.

Actually, I give up on the whole video posting idea, which doesn’t seem to be working all that well for me. At times like these I wish one of my nephews was here for consultation.


Just press
HERE.


One interesting thing, among many, that Tsering Shakya says is this: It is unlikely that the scholars who produced these [history] texts [in past centuries] would have ever imagined that the existence of Tibet would be questioned. At last someone has pronounced these words of truth. I would have said “extremely unlikely.”


 
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