Sherpas’ Cultural Identity, Essay Example

The contemporary world is characterised by the diversity of cultural specifics conditioned by historical and geographic distinctiveness of the regions. However, with each decade the dominance of the Western lifestyle and the advancement of technologies make world a small place where different cultures influence one another. In this regard, the Western culture has a significant strength in changing smaller ethno-cultural communities of those few places on the Earth that remained relatively hidden and out of reach of the direct Western influence. The top of the world, the Mount Everest and the indigenous population of this region Sherpa people are not an exception. The aim of this paper is to outline how the mountaineering has changed Sherpa culture in the last 90 years of Western influence and what the implications of these changes are. It will be also mentioned whether this culture gained more or lost more by profiting from Everest. In this regard, the issue is analysed from economic, cultural and existential perspectives.

In terms of the economic perspective, mountaineering has brought capitalistic relations into Sherpa culture that was previously characterised by a feudal system of servitude. In this regard, before the fundamental economic and political changes after 1950s, when mountaineering began to gain its business shape in Sherpa life, Sherpa community was divided into two categories: a few rich families and the rest of population that worked on their lands and manufacturing shops of those rich families (Miller 18). The community was closed from the outside impact, except for the young workers who left their villages in order to support families by their work in India, mainly Darjeeling (Miller 19). These workers could support their families, but in order to come home they had to pay the local authority families in order to be cleansed from the outside influence:

“He had to remain outside his village and present gifts (usually money) to the Lumbardar  and Chokidar, who would then call Lamas (Buddhist monks) to “cleanse” the returnee” (Miller 18).

With the introduction of mountaineering as a profession into Sherpa practice, the community gained the sense of economic independence. People no longer had to work on rich families’ land and did not have to travel all the way to India in order to support their relatives (Miller 20). Thus, the positive aspect of the mountaineering was that is destroyed the feudal system of the Sherpa community and introduced capitalist relations. Furthermore, the growth of financial well-being and the strengthening of the Western influence resulted in the improvement of quality of life among the local population, which was achieved by building new schools, hospitals and even airport closer close to the local communities of Sherpa (Zuckerman, and Padoan 53). Thus, the main significance was that the quality of life of Sherpa people has increased with the mountaineering.

On the other hand, the negative aspect particularly in the recent decades is that Sherpa communities became depended on the mountaineering as the only source of providing for their families except for leaving the region. In this regard, with becoming part of the global economy, Sherpa people stopped being self-sustaining in their life cycle. In this regard, unlike before, the local communities stopped making their own clothes from the materials they were making themselves; they no longer make their own distinctive pottery or house decorations (Zuckerman, and Padoan 42). This change does not only mean that their original cultural traditions become forgotten by the new generations, but also that if Sherpa people do not earn money by climbing mountains or mountaineering and tourism-related fields, then people cannot survive in their own communities.

For instance, just as any other contemporary family, Sherpa people want to give the best possible education to their children and they need money to do it. If the bread-bringer dies during the climbing, the family has to hope for the support of the elder male in the wider family, since patriarchate still dominates in Sherpa society (Miller19). Thus, it can be concluded that due to the isolated location of the Sherpa community, although mountaineering resulted in the improvement of the quality of life and inclusion of the Sherpa people into the globalised world, it did not give full freedom to these people only substitute the dependency of feudal system into dependency of a capitalist one, with a consequent loss of their self-sustainability as a closed community.

In terms of strictly ethno-cultural characteristics, Sherpa people began to adopt foreign styles in their everyday life. In this regard, the traditional hand-made clothes were substituted by ready-made outfits of the global brands. The everyday household practices are improved by electricity and central heating facilities. In this regard, the comfort of life and sanitary norms were improved contributing to a higher life expectancy among the local population (Miller 18). The advancement of the new technologies made it possible for people to stay in touch with their families via mobile phones and Facebook even when they are up in the mountains (Zuckerman, and Padoan 85). Thus, it can be argued that new technologies contribute to the improvement of the convenience of Sherpa life.

On the other hand, it has a ruinous influence on the ethno-cultural identity of the community. Since Sherpa is a very small ethnic group of no more than 160,000 people around the world, being exposed to the globalised world, it begins to lose its ethno-cultural identity. In this regard, the problem is not just the change of clothes from traditional to the Western style, but in gradual forgetting of the traditions of ancestors and their knowledge (Zuckerman, and Padoan 113). Facebook is good for communication, but it is no source of findings one’s origins or understanding one’s identity. Furthermore, with a further education and impact of the Western culture, many people have left the region and travelled abroad. The biggest Sherpa community is now in the USA, particularly in New York (Zuckerman, and Padoan 126).

The danger of relocation for the small ethnicities like Sherpa is their complete assimilation into the local community and the loss of their ethno-cultural identity. This is not only the matter of inter-ethnic marriages and transformation of the cultural value systems, but also a simple elimination of such crucial features of ethnic identity as a language (Zuckerman, and Padoan 65). The finding of the research into contemporary Sherpa language use demonstrate that the current Sherpa population speaks English mostly due to the internet and the mountaineering that requires working with foreigners that mostly speak English.

It can be argued that speaking other languages is inevitable in the globalised world. However, for a small ethnicity like Sherpa small steps towards assimilation and adoption of the Western lifestyle might cost them their ethno-cultural identity (Zuckerman, and Padoan 76). In this regard, one of the strongest means that still holds the local community together irrespective of the Western influence is Buddhist religion. In this regard, irrespective of the new values that are brought by the Western culture, Sherpa remain strict followers of Buddhist rituals in all aspects of their life, from birth, marriage, to funeral (Miller 20). The following of Buddhist rituals and values of reincarnation, humility and peacefulness helped Sherpa people to survive the severe conditions of the mountainous environment. On the other hand, with gradual adaptation to the capitalist necessities of life and mountaineering profession, Buddhist beliefs of Sherpa also begin to evolve. In this regard, while it used to be considered sinful and unholy to climb Everest; now, it is viewed as a mere means of Sherpa’s survival in the globalised world. The next step was travelling abroad and adoption of different religions that resulted in the transformation of the original culture.

Thus, in terms of the cultural identity, mountaineering had a negative influence on the preservation of the ethno-cultural self-identification. Consequently, in a long run, it can be expected that without systematic attempts to preserve and spear ethno-cultural values, this distinctive ethnic community will assimilate in the dominant Western culture (Zuckerman, and Padoan 116). In this regard, although it may seem that assimilation is a positive phenomenon for globalisation and movement of capital and labour, in terms of ethno-cultural inheritance, it destroys cultural diversity and uniqueness of historically conditioned knowledge carrier by different tribes and ethnic groups around the world. The destruction of a single ethno-cultural identity harms the human history and diversity of perspectives on life (Miller 19).

Finally, in terms of existential perspective, although mountaineering and the impact of the Western culture has improved the quality of life in the Sherpa communities, it has also endangered the survival of this ethnic group (Brown). Since mountaineering is the main profession available in the area, the local climbers have no other option but to approach this profession. The problem is that irrespective of the quality of expedition, the equipment given to Sherpa and the majority of dangers rest upon Sherpa guides who rope the path for the tourists. Consequently, under the conditions of severe and unpredictable mountains, irrespective of the quality of Sherpa’s skills, deaths are still common:

“Sherpas working on Everest normally don’t die en masse. Apart from their darkest season 1922, 1970, and now, 2014, the darkest of all – they tend to perish one by one, casualties of crevasse falls, avalanches, and altitude sickness. Some have simply disappeared on the mountain, never to be seen again” (Brown).

In this regard, this way or the other the mountaineering profession takes lives of Sherpa climbers, who seldom live long enough in order to raise their own children. Consequently, in order to earn money for their children’s future, which is often hoped to be not related to mountaineering and abroad, endangers lives of men who commit to it, decreasing their life expectancy due to the immediate or long-term implications of constant climbing like altitude sickness (Brown).

Overall, from all mentioned above, it can be concluded that irrespective of the incuse of the Sherpa people into globalised world with all its benefits to the quality of life and capitalist independence, mountaineering had more negative implications for the Sherpa culture. In this regard, for the promise of the improvement of life, gradually Sherpa people are losing their ethno-cultural identity and belonging to the region they originated. By leaving their home, they assimilate into other culture and in a long-term perspective will lose their ethno-cultural identity.

On the other hand, staying at home without any other perspectives for life but mountaineering endangers the very survival of Sherpa people, since strong men die young because of this profession. Thus, both alternatives have negative implications for Sherpa people. However, they could not remain isolated from the rest of the world forever, and how this ethnic group will survive on this world largely depends on them and their ability to preserve their ethno-cultural identity.

Works Cited

Brown, C. “Sherpas: The Invisible Men of Everest.” National Geographic, 26 April 2014. Web. 6 April 2015.

Miller, R. “High altitude Mountaineering, Cash Economy, and the Sherpa.” Himalayan Research Bulletin, 17.2 (1997): 17-22. Print.

Zuckerman, P. and Padoan, A.  Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2’s deadliest Day. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. 2012. Print.