Congratulations to Maaz Shaikh, recipient of a research grant from the Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research

Documenting the first episode of the Epic

This research grant in the category of Documentation of Oral Literature and Traditional Ecological Knowledge for his project Documentation of the Zangskari version of the epic of Gesar was from the Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research.  This granting program encourages the collection of oral literature and traditional ecological knowledge in societies around the world that were once nonliterate or continue to be oral.

Maaz’s project is covers the epic of Gesar, a cornerstone of the Zangskari oral tradition.  This oral tradition is at risk of being lost in the immediate future. This epic, along with other oral literature, is an integral part of the cultural heritage of the Zangskari people in the remote Zangskar Valley of India’s Ladakh region. The proposed project’s primary objective is to record the epic of Gesar in its entirety from a handful of the last remaining local bards, with an emphasis on both male and female narrators. Additionally, the project aims to collect the personal experiences of the community members related to the epic by training a group of Zangskari youth. The project prioritizes high-quality data collection and community empowerment by using best practices from documentary linguistics and involving community members as active researchers. It is both timely and critical, as it is focused on safeguarding the epic of Gesar. As such, it is poised to contribute to the Zangskari people and the broader fields of oral literature, anthropology, and linguistics.

Congratulations Maaz on your grant for this very interesting and valuable project!