The Lobas of Monthang: Loba ethnography and tourism as development

摘要

This dissertation presents an ethnographic study of the Lobas, the people of Lo Monthang, in northwestern Nepal. It describes the environmental, historical, social, cultural, religious and economic aspects of Loba life. The Lobas inhabit an extremely harsh environment in which they subsist utilizing agriculture, animal husbandry and trade. In the winter, about 60% of the population migrates south to the warmer areas of Nepal and India where they engage in trade.;Their land was closed to outsiders until 1992 when the first tourists arrived. This work examines the conceptual discourse in tourism study and its application to tourism in Lo Monthang particularly the impact of tourism on the environment, economy and socio-cultural aspect of Loba society.;I apply a Hindu-Buddhist model of the Indrajala based on the philosophical concept of pratityasamutpada as a more comprehensive approach to the study of tourism. The basic premise of this concept is that all phenomenon are interconnected and interdependent and must be considered in totality.