Melvyn Goldstein and the Nomads of Western Tibet

Melvyn Goldstein, a social anthropologist at Case Western Reserve University and an expert on Tibet, has spent the last 24 years studying the nomads and farmers of Western Tibet, a people who live in one of the world’s harshest environments at altitudes between 15,200 to 17,200 feet.

I visited this area in 1993 with my father and brother and asked Professor Goldstein how the nomads’ lives had changed over the last 17 years. His answer: “They’ve changed tremendously in some ways. Many now ride motorcycles instead of horses, but they’re a great success story because, like us, they’re picking and choosing what they want from modernity—and in their view, the essence of their unique way of life is still intact.”

Goldstein, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, will present a history about the survival of these nomads’ way of life in the face of powerful economic, political and socio-cultural changes, and he’ll address their prospects for the future.