Reply To: 26.5.2014 Ancient Futures

Reply to Maria
From Yaqi Fu

Thanks for your reflection that answered to my question very well. From your reflection, I have got a feeling that your opinion is a little different from Helena’s. You think the modern education would be much helpful to the local people. As you argued, to my understanding, the benefits would mainly lie in the theoretical knowledge which modern education can provide the local people while other kinds of tradition may not or can not. The scientific methods are also useful in solving problems like finding medicine, using resources.

However, Helena believed the Ladakh community should be cautious to the modern education and try to preserve their local culture. She thought that the modern education has no much help with the local affairs. You can receive modern education, but the knowledge from school would not help you contribute to the local community, and it alienates you from the local life.

For me, what I reflect is that modern education would help in creating facilitation in daily life, but would be hard to create or improve the relationship among people and the relationship between human and nature. What the shaman method provides is not only the cure of a disease, even it has, but a relation between nature and your body. The people in the local community can have only 4 months work but 8 months fest. Fest is not something facilitates life, but rather an enforcement or signature of relation among things and people’s life.