International Seminar of Young Tibetologists

在AHRC研究工作坊计划的支持下，我提议召开首届国际青年藏学家研讨会（ISYT），为其成为一个可持续发展的国际研究协会奠定基础。这次会议和ISYT的创立，恰逢藏学研究领域的一个特别恰当的时刻。通过为早期职业研究人员和研究生提供一个合作和交流的场所，ISYT解决了藏学研究的一个关键需求。藏学是一个新兴的学术领域。传统上是学者和佛教学者的领地，这个领域的形态最近发生了变化。这在很大程度上是由于中国在20世纪80年代末向外界开放西藏，这使得研究人员有可能将更多的人类学、文化和经济方法应用于西藏研究。有了这种机会，他们更加重视对藏语的了解，以及与藏族通灵者和线人的合作。与这些发展相一致的是，藏学领域最重要的研究协会——国际藏学协会（IATS），从一群大约30位学者成长为一个拥有数百名成员的大型国际研究协会。其结果是双重的：首先，每三年举办一次的IATS研讨会现在被大量超额认购；​ISYT不仅将解决这些问题，它还将创建一个可持续的研究网络，以补充IATS。通过召开专门针对早期职业研究人员和研究生的会议，ISYT将大大缓解IATS研讨会目前因超额认购而面临的压力。更重要的是，它将为年轻一代的藏学研究人员提供一个新颖的、独立的平台，让他们分享自己的研究成果，并与志同道合的学者建立联系。首届ISYT会议将于2007年8月2-6日在牛津大学沃尔夫森学院召开。2006年8月下旬，在波恩举行的IATS第11届研讨会上，我在研究生和早期职业研究人员的会议上提出了这个地点，并得到了一致同意。这不仅是因为牛津大学位于欧洲、西藏、中国和北美学者的中心位置，还因为牛津大学是藏学研究的主要中心，有十几名研究生从事与西藏有关的研究。为了方便已经存在的非正式成员之间就ISYT会议进行沟通，并发布有关会议的公告，网页设计师将创建一个ISYT网页。虽然在第一种情况下，这个网站将促进会议组织，并将用于管理所有提交的摘要，但它也打算作为第一次ISYT会议到第二次会议的桥梁。为此，它将被扩展为一个互动网站，ISYT会员可以在上面发布他们的研究信息。会议本身除了作为学术交流的场所之外，还将主持会议，与会者将在会议上为ISYT制定管理原则，以确保它作为一个研究网络的可行性。其目的是使ISYT与IATS保持松散的联系，并在IATS研讨会不举行的年份召开会议。ISYT还将为年轻一代的学者提供在会议论文集上发表论文的机会。此外，科研组成员将作为卷编辑和同行审稿人参与出版过程。这将进一步激发成员之间的学术氛围，并加强ISYTas作为一个研究协会的地位。

With AHRC Research Workshops Scheme support, I propose to convene the first conference of the International Seminar of Young Tibetologists (ISYT), and lay its foundations as a sustainable international research association. This conference, and the creation of the ISYT, comes at a particularly opportune moment in the field of Tibetan studies. By providing a venue for collaboration and exchange for early-career researchers and postgraduate students, the ISYT addresses a crucial need in Tibetan studies.Tibetan studies is a growing academic field. Traditionally the preserve of textual scholars and scholars of Buddhism, the shape of the field has recently changed. This is due in large part to China's opening of Tibet to outsiders in the late 1980s, which made it possible to for researchers apply more anthropological, cultural and economic approaches to Tibetan studies. With this access came a greater emphasis on knowledge of spoken Tibetan, and co-operation with Tibetan collaborators and informants. In concert with these developments, the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS), the field's premier research association, grew up from a group of thirty or so scholars to become a massive international research association with hundreds of members.The result is twofold: firstly, the IATS Seminars, held every three years, are now massively oversubscribed; and secondly, a generation gap has emerged between the older generation of scholars, whose work was necessarily text-based, and the younger generation, who tend to research extensively in Tibet and China and often focus on more contemporary issues. Not only will the ISYT address these problems, it will create a sustainable research network that will complement the IATS.By convening a conference specifically intended for early-career researchers and postgraduate students, the ISYT will significantly relieve the pressure the IATS Seminars now face due to oversubscription. More importantly, it will offer the younger generation of Tibetan studies researchers a novel, independent platform for sharing their research and networking with like-minded scholars.The first conference of the ISYT will be convened 2-6 August 2007 at Wolfson College, Oxford. I proposed this location at a meeting of postgraduates and early-career researchers at the 11th Seminar of the IATS in Bonn in late August 2006, where it was met with unanimous approval. This is due not only to its central location relative to European, Tibetan, Chinese and North American scholars, but also to Oxford's status as a major centre for Tibetan studies with over a dozen postgraduates engaged in Tibet-related research.To facilitate communication about the ISYT conference between the informal membership that already exists, and to post announcements regarding the conference, a web-designer will create an ISYT webpage. While in the first instance this site will facilitate conference organisation and will be used to manage all submitted abstracts, it is intended also to serve as a bridge from the first ISYT conference to the second. To this end, it will be augmented as an interactive website where ISYT members can post information about their research.The conference itself, apart from serving as a venue for academic exchange, will also host meetings in which participants will draw up governing principles for the ISYT in order to ensure its viability as a research network. The intention is for the ISYT to be loosely affiliated with the IATS, and to convene conferences in those years when the IATS Seminar is not held.The ISYT will also offer the younger generation of scholars the opportunity to have their work published in the conference proceedings. In addition, ISTY members will be involved in the publication process as volume editors and peer reviewers. This will further stimulate a collegial atmosphere among members and strengthen the ISYTas a research association.