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Willem van Spengen

1949 – 2013
historical geography
Tibet, Himalaya region

Curriculum vitae

1949born in Weesp
1970BA in human geography, Free University of Amsterdam
1973MA in development geography, Free University of Amsterdam
1976-1984lecturer in the department of geography, Free University in Amsterdam
1992PhD in human geography under the supervision of A.W. Macdonald (Paris) and G.A. de Bruijne, University of Amsterdam
1985-2003lecturer in human geography, University of Amsterdam
2003voluntary retirement
2013died in Weesp on May 19

Sources

  • McKay, Alex and John Bray, “Obituary: Willem (“Wim”) van Spengen (1949-2013),” Himalaya, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies 33,1 (2014): 123-126.
  • Emilia Roza Sulek, John Bray and Alex McKay, “Wim van Spengen’s Worlds,” Introduction to Trade, travel and the Tibetan Border Worlds: Essays in honour of Wim van Spengen (1949-2013), The Tibet Journal 39,1 Special Issue (2014): 3-11.

Selected publications on Tibet and Nepal

1985 “Dry farming families in Dharmapuri District: a case study from the Northern Thally Block.” The Indian Geographical Journal 60: 117-132.
1987 “The Nyishangba of Manang: geographical perspectives on the rise of Nepalese trading community.” Kailash 13,3/4: 131-277.
1988 & M. Put, “A comparative analysis of cereal production and consumption patterns in Semi-Arid India.” Journal of Rural Studies 4,4: 377-388.
“Jules Sion (1879-1940).” Geographers. Biobibliographical Studies 12: 159-165.
1992 Tibetan border worlds: a geo-historical analysis of trade and traders, s.l.: s.n. – PhD thesis University of Amsterdam; also published London 2000.
1993 “Géographie Politique, Géographie Historique Braudelienne et Régionalité du Tibet.” Géographie et Cultures 7 (automne): 55-74.
1995 “The geo-history of long-distance trade in Tibet 1850-1950.” The Tibet Journal 20,2: 18-63.
1998 “On the geographical and material contextuality of Tibetan pilgrimage.” In: Alex McKay (ed.), Pilgrimage in Tibet, Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, pp. 35-51.
2000 Tibetan border worlds: a geo-historical analysis of trade and traders, London-New York: Kegan Paul. – Also appeared as PhD thesis University of Amsterdam, 1992.
2002 “Frontier history of Southern Kham: banditry and war in the multi-ethnic fringe lands of Chatring, Mili, and Gyethang, 1890-1940.” In: Khams pa Histories: Visions of People, Place and Authority. PIATS 2000: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 , Leiden-Boston-Köln, pp. 7-29.
2004 “Ways of knowing Tibetan peoples and landscapes.” Himalaya 24,1/2: 95-111.
Review article of: Clint Rogers, Secrets of Manang: the story behind the phenomenal rise of Nepal’s famed business community, Kathmandu: Mandala 2004. Himalaya 24,1/2: 114-116.
2006 “Chone and Thewu: territoriality, local power, and political control on the southern Gansu-Tibetan frontier. 1880-1940.” In: P. Christiaan Klieger (ed.), Tibetan borderlands: PIATS 2003: Tibetan studies: proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003. Leiden-Boston, Mass.: Brill (Brill’s Tibetan studies library 10,2), pp. 209-230.
2007 “Gyarong Frontier Society in the light of older European travel literature.” Zentralasiatische Studien 36: 81-103.
2009 & Lama Jabb (eds), Studies in the history of Eastern Tibet: PIATS 2006: Proceedings of the Eleventh Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Königswinter 2006 , 2009, 262 p. (Beiträge zur Zentralasienforschung 17).
& Lama Jabb, Introduction.” In: ibidem, pp. 7-18.
“Early pentecostal missionary activity along the Sino-Tibetan border: the P.M.U. 1912-1924.” In: ibidem, pp. 133-177.
2010 “Frontier history of southern Kham: banditry and war in the multi-ethnic fringe lands of Chatring, Mili and Gyethang, 1890-1940.” In: Lawrence Epstein (ed.), Khams pa histories: visions of people, place and authority, Kathmandu: Vajra Publications, pp. 7-29. – This edition licensed by Brill for sale in South Asia only.
2013 “The geo-history of long-distance trade in Tibet 1850-1950.” In: Gray Tuttle and Kurtis Schaeffer (eds), The Tibetan history reader, New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 491-522.