Mark Turin
Himalayan region, in particular Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and cultural Tibet
Thangmi
Curriculum vitae
1973 | born in London |
1995 | BA and then MA Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University |
1996-2000 | PhD student fellowship, CNWS and VTW, Leiden University |
teacher of Nepali language, Amsterdam and lecturing on fieldwork methodology at Leiden | |
2000-2002 | research assistant, Department of Social Anthropology, Cambridge University |
2002-2004 | post-doctoral fellow, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University |
2005 | visiting scientist, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu |
2006 | PhD linguistics under the supervision of G. van Driem, Leiden University |
2006 | associate member, Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (May-August) |
2006 | senior visiting scholar and project director, Gangtok, Sikkim, India, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (September-December) |
2007 | post-doc researcher, Institut für Linguistik, Leipzig University (January-April) |
2007-2008 | chief, translation and interpretation unit & senior Nepali-English interpreter, United Nations Mission in Nepal (May 2007-May 2008) |
2008 | visiting fellow, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University (July-December) |
2009-present | research associate, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology College Fellow, Hughes Hall, Cambridge University |
2011-present | lecturer and associate research scientist, South Asian Studies, Yale University |
Special activities and positions
- Co-founder and director of the Digital Himalaya Project, 2000-present
- Director of the World Oral Literature Project
- Principal interpreter and advisor on a one-month field contract during Nepal’s People’s Movement as part of a UN-sponsored international human rights monitoring mission, April 2006
- Consultant in the UN Development Programme on the Tibet Development and Poverty Alleviation Programme, November 2005
- Consultant on the Nepal Education For All (EFA) proposal, September 2003
- Reader of over 130 invited lectures, seminar presentations and conference papers delivered in English, Dutch, Nepali and Thangmi at scholarly and other venues in Europe, North America and Asia
- Member of editorial board & reviews editor of European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, 2002-
- Member of editorial board of Himalayan Linguistics, 2001-2010
- Member of editorial board of the Bulletin of Tibetology, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangkok, Sikkim, 2003-
- Presenter of a new, three-part BBC radio series on language endangerment and policy entitled Our Language in Your Hands
Sources
- personal page, Yale University
Selected publications
Turin’s publications written in the period when he worked in the Netherlands up to his doctorate (1996-2006), are included. Book reviews published in academic journals ( Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Contemporary South Asia, Asian Studies Review, Himalayan Linguistics, Studies in Nepali History and Society, European Bulletin of Himalayan Research , etc.) are not included.
1997 “Too many stars and not enough sky: language and ethnicity among the Thakali of Nepal.” Contributions to Nepalese Studies 24,2: 187-199.
1998 “The Thangmi verbal agreement system and the Kiranti connection.” BSOAS 61,3: 476-491.
1999 “The Chenchu of the Indian Deccan.” In: Richard Lee and Richard Daly (eds), Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 252-256.
– “Whence Thangmi? Historical ethnography and comparative morphology.” In: Yogendra Prasad Yadava and Warren G. Glover (eds), Topics in Nepalese linguistics, Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy, pp. 451-477.
– “By way of incest and the golden deer: how the Thangmi came to be and the pitfalls of oral history.” Journal of Nepalese Studies 3,1: 13-19.
2000 “Learning Nepali the SOAS way.” Contributions to Nepalese Studies 26,1: 171-182.
– “Shared words, shared history? The case of Thangmi and late classical Newar.” Journal of Newar Studies 3(1999/2000): 9-17.
– “Time for a true population census: the case of the miscounted Thangmi.” Nagarik (Citizen) 2,4: 14-19.
– “The changing face of language and linguistics in Nepal: some thoughts on Thangmi.” Janajati: Journal of Nationalities of Nepal 2,1: 49-62.
2001 & Sara Shneiderman, “Preliminary etymological notes on Thangmi clan names and indigenous explanations of their provenance.” Journal of Nepalese Literature, Art and Culture 3,2(2000), pp. 69-83.
– & René Baptist Huysmans, Nepali voor beginners (in Dutch), manuscript used for teaching Nepali at the India Instituut.
2002 “Call me uncle: an outsider’s experience of Nepali kinship.” Contributions to Nepalese Studies 28,2 (July 2001): 277-283.
– “Ethnonyms and other-nyms: linguistic anthropology among the Thangmi of Nepal.” In: Katia Buffetrille and Hildegard Diemberger (eds), Territory and identity in Tibet and the Himalayas, Leiden (Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 2,9), pp. 253-270.
2003 & Tej Ratna Kansakar (eds), Themes in Himalayan languages and Linguistics, Kathmandu: South Asia Institute (SAI) Heidelberg and Tribhuvan University.
– & Patricia East et al. (eds), The Gauri Shankar trekking area (including Rolwaling) – a cultural tour book, Kathmandu: Eco Himal and Mandala Book Point.
– “Ethnobotanical notes on Thangmi plant names and their medicinal and ritual uses.” Contributions to Nepalese Studies 30,1: 19-52.
– “A geolinguistic analysis of historical writings on the Thangmi people and language of Nepal.” Geolinguistics 29: 71-92.
2004 & Bir Bahadur Thami, Nepali – Thami – English Dictionary, Kathmandu: Martin Chautari.
– & Corneille Jest et al. (eds), Kesar Lall: a homage on the occasion of his Buraa Janko, Kathmandu: Marina.
– “Newar-Thangmi lexical correspondences and the linguistic classification of Thangmi.” Journal of Asian and African Studies (JAAS) 68: 97-120.
– “The phonology of Thangmi: a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal.” Journal of Asian and African Studies (JAAS) 67: 63-103.
– “Current ethnolinguistic concerns among the overlooked Thangmi of Nepal.” In: Leonard Ashley and Wayne Finke (eds), Language and identity, Jamaica-New York: Cummings & Hathaway, pp. 409-422.
– & Sara Shneiderman, “The path to Jan Sarkar in Dolakha district: towards an ethnography of the Maoist movement.” In: Michael Hutt (ed.), Himalayan “People’s War’: Nepal’s Maoist rebellion, London: Hurst & Co., pp. 79-111.
– “Thangmi kinship terminology in comparative perspective.” In: Anju Saxena (ed.), Himalayan languages: past and present, trends in linguistics, Berlin-New York (Mouton Studies and Monographs 149), pp. 101-139.
– & Sara Shneiderman, “Thangmi, Thami, Thani? Remembering a forgotten people.” In: Niko Bacinte Smarika, Darjeeling: Indian Thami Welfare Association, pp. 82-100.
– Et al. (eds), Nepali-English and English-Nepali Glossary, 2nd edition, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
– Editorial assistance to: Banu Oja and Shambhu Oja, Nepali: a beginner’s primer, conversation and grammar, 3rd edition, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
2005 “Language endangerment and linguistic rights in the Himalayas: a case study from Nepal.” Mountain Research and Development (MRD) 25,1: 4-9.
– “The morphophonology of Thangmi: a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal.” In: Yogendra Yadava et al. (eds), Contemporary issues in Nepalese linguistics, Kathmandu: Linguistic Society of Nepal, pp. 267-284.
– & Alan Macfarlane and Sarah Harrison, “Anthropological and other ancestors: notes on setting up a visual archive of the discipline.” Anthropology News 46,9: 21-22.
2006 Grammar of Thangmi with an ethnolinguistic introduction to the speakers and their culture, 2 volumes, Leiden
– & Sara Shneiderman, “Revisiting ethnography, recognizing a forgotten people: the Thangmi of Nepal and India.” Studies in Nepali History and Society (SINHAS) 11,1: 97-181.
– & Sara Shneiderman, “Seeking the tribe: ethnopolitics in Darjeeling and Sikkim.” Himal Southasian 18,5: 54-58.
– “Rethinking Tibeto-Burman: linguistic identities and classifications in the Himalayan periphery.” In: P. Christiaan Klieger (ed.), Tibetan Borderlands, Leiden: Brill (Tibetan Studies Library 10,2), pp. 35-48.
– “Minority language policies and politics in Nepal.” In: Anju Saxena and Lars Borin (eds), Lesser-known languages of South Asia: status and policies, case studies and applications of information technology, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 61-72.
2011 & Bettina Zeisler (eds), Himalayan languages and linguistics: studies in phonology, semantics, morphology and syntax, Leiden (Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 5).
2012 Grammar of Thangmi with an ethnolinguistic introduction to the speakers and their culture, 2 volumes, Leiden (Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library, Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region, 5/6).