essay
Recruitment to monasticism among the Sherpas
Personality and the cultural construction of society: papers in honor of Melford E. Spiro • Tuscaloosa • Published In 1990 • Pages: 254-274, 359-392
By: Paul, Robert A..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this paper, Paul uses a Freudian generative model of psyche and culture, one expounded in his book 'The Tibetan Symbolic World' (1982), to explain the recruitment pattern of Sherpa monks. According to Paul the transition between junior and senior males is fraught with anxiety. Without the early development of a strong ego, this transition is often aborted. According to his survey, many monks came from homes in which either the father or mother had died or left home. He argues that without the presence of mature adult in the home to support the full development of a child's ego, the child is unable to make the transition to a sexually mature adult during adolescence and instead opts out for a life of celibacy and monkhood.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Information sources listed in other works
- Personality development
- Shamans and psychotherapists
- Eschatology
- Magicians and diviners
- Prophets and ascetics
- Ethnopsychology
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Sherpa
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2004
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 2002
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- not specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Solu-Khumba region, Nepal
- NotesAdditional notes
- Robert A. Paul
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 359-389)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 89032993
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Sherpa (Nepalese people)