THE FIRST CONGRESS OF RUSSIAN ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCHERS OF THE HIMALAYA AND TIBET

Abstract

The review covers the proceedings of the 1st Congress of Russian Association of Researchers of the Himalaya and Tibet held in November 2021 in Saint-Petersburg. The Association was founded on 5 March 2019 and aims to bring together the research work of experts engaged in the study of nature and culture of the Himalayan region and the Tibetan Plateau. The Congress hosted the interdisciplinary academic conference “Russian Studies on the Himalaya and Tibet — 2021: Nature and Culture”. The total number of its participants and guests exceeded 60 academics representing research centers and educational institutions of different cities of Russia (i.e. Saint-Petersburg, Moscow, Krasnodar, Saratov, Elista, Orenburg, Arkhangelsk, Magadan), as well as of Belorussia, Uzbekistan and India. Sessions of the conference took place at the headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society, in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and in the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera). More than 30 live and online talks presented at the Conference addressed a wide range of issues relating to both the humanities (art history, religious studies, history of philosophy, ethnography, linguistics) and natural sciences (botany, zoology, genetics, physical geography, geomorphology, glaciology). Several presentations dealt with certain little-known facts from the history of Russian Indology, Buddhology and Tibetology. Most natural science papers were dedicated to Himalayan and Tibetan flora and fauna. Some talks were of a pronounced interdisciplinary nature. After the conference a special meeting was held to discuss directions of the Association’s future activity.