Nepal: Tibetan and Himalayan Peoples

Faculty and Staff

Matthew Akester, Lecturer and Faculty Advisor
Matthew is a translator of classical and modern literary Tibetan with 25 years of fieldwork experience as an independent researcher throughout the Tibetan world. His discipline is history, both religious and political history, which corresponds with the program’s double specialization. Matthew's special interests include the history of Lhasa, the life and times of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, historical geography of central Tibet, and history and memoir in occupied Tibet. His published book-length translations include The Life of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo by Jamgon Kongtrul (Shechen Publications 2012); Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule by Tubten Khetsun (Columbia University Press 2008, Penguin India 2009); and The Temples of Lhasa (with Andre Alexander, Serindia Publications 2005). In addition, he has worked as active consultant and contributor for the Tibet Information Network, Human Rights Watch, Tibet Heritage Fund, and Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center; as translator, editor, and advisor for countless publications on Tibet in English, French, and Tibetan; and as lecturer on contemporary Tibet for student programs including SIT in Nepal and India.

Tenzin Choezom (“Tenchoe”), Program Assistant
Tenchoe la was born and raised in Bouddha, the"little Tibet" in Kathmandu, Nepal. For the last five years she has worked as a media researcher, interviewing Tibetans coming from Tibet about their use of foreign media and about the restrictions on and impact of foreign media within Tibet. She also transcribed the interviews and translated them into English. Tenchoe la did her schooling from Srongtsen School and Namgyal Higher Secondary School, the two prime Tibetan schools in Kathmandu. Her bachelor's degree is in computer application from Kathmandu College, a branch of Purbanchal University, Biratnagar. There she got the chance to emerge from her close-knit Tibetan community and really mix with all kinds of Nepalese. Tenchoe la is currently pursuing her business studies master's. She has developed many travel websites for trips to Bhutan, Tibet, India, and Nepal. An animal lover and a Buddhist from her heart, she takes enormous interest in Buddhist philosophy and dialectics. She is deeply connected to her Tibetan roots and keeps herself updated on everything concerning Tibet, Tibetan issues, and Tibetans.

Tsering Dolker ("Dolker"), Program Assistant
Dolker la was born in Nepal and did her schooling in Lahoul and Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, North India. Visually almost surreal, Spiti is a spectacular desert mountain valley surrounded by rugged Himalayan peaks. Spiti, “middle land” in Tibetan, is between India and Tibet. Like Ladakh, the region belongs to a greater west Tibetan cultural sphere. At school, Dolker la studied Hindi, Tibetan, and Sanskrit and is fluent in the local Spiti dialect. She completed her science schooling in Kathmandu, then went to Bangalore, South India, for medical training. She worked as a volunteer teacher in Spiti for one year and then as a science teacher at Mount Kailash secondary school, Nepal, for two years. She is also a member of the Lions Club, Kathmandu. Dolker la is particularly interested in programs promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS in remote areas and in popular education about environmental issues such as global warming, organic farming, solar energy, and the conservation of our nonrenewable resources.

The SIT Tibetan and Himalayan Peoples program is also lucky to be supported by the following individuals:

Pasang Rinzi Sherpa, Office and Finance Manager
Ang Nima Sherpa, House Manager
LhakpaTenzing Sherpa, Cook
Jangmu Sherpa, Housekeeper

Isabelle Onians, PhD, Academic Director
Isabelle Onians received her doctorate in oriental studies from the University of Oxford (2002). She first came to Kathmandu in 1990 to work as a volunteer teacher in a Tibetan monastery school and returned in 1992–1993 to study Tibetan (and Sanskrit) at Tribhuvan University.

Isabelle’s own research and professional experience have always centered on the study of classical philosophical, religious, and literary texts. But her textual scholarship has been undertaken in the context of ongoing intense exposure to and interaction with contemporary cultures, people, politics, and landscapes, principally along the Himalayas, both to the north, in the Tibetan regions and neighboring areas, and in South Asia. It is in fact a noteworthy feature of the civilizations of both Tibet and the Indian subcontinent that their textual traditions continue to have a dynamic existence in the life of the individual and of society. Her dissertation examined a particular and infamous apparent paradox in historical Tantric Buddhism, using both Indian and Tibetan sources.

Isabelle has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at the Universities of Oxford and London and at Mahidol University in Bangkok. She has made research and lecturing trips to a large number of institutions across the world, including leading a Royal Geographical Society Oxford University expedition to the Tibetan plateau, in collaboration with the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences, Lhasa.

Hubert Decleer, Senior Faculty Advisor
A Belgian national, Mr. Decleer received his MA in oriental philosophy and history from the University of Louvain, Belgium, and his BA in history and European literature from the Regent School in Ghent. He has pursued classical Tibetan and Buddhist studies under a number of tutors in Kathmandu. Mr. Decleer has worked as a fine arts apprentice, art critic, language instructor, and translator and has lectured for the SIT Nepal: Development and Social Change program. He was the academic director for the Tibetan and Himalayan Studies program from its inception in the fall of 1987 until the spring of 2001.

Tenzin Youdon, Dharamsala Office Program Assistant
Tenzin la was born and raised in Dharamsala, India, and has been working with SIT students ever since she can remember: her family has hosted SIT students for over 15 years. She went to TCV (Tibetan Children’s Village) for school and then graduated with a BA in English literature from Delhi University. After working briefly in the Indian capital, she participated in different research programs in Dharamsala, such as Professor Melvyn Goldstein's Oral History Project. Tenzin has also coordinated the Miss Tibet beauty pageant for the last 5 years and hosted the event twice. She completed her MA in history from Himachal University and has been working with the SIT Tibetan studies program as program assistant since spring 2007.

Thupten Tsering, Language Instructor and Homestay Coordinator
Thupten Tsering was born in Tibet. Throughout his childhood, he studied at the Tibetan Children's Village School in Dharamsala, India. Thupten graduated with a BA in Tibetan from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS) in Sarnath, Varanasi, India. He subsequently worked for many years at HIMS (Himalayan International Model Higher Secondary School), one of Nepal's private schools, as a Tibetan teacher. Since 2009, Thupten has worked as a Tibetan language instructor for the SIT Tibetan studies program. In 2011, he additionally assumed the role of homestay coordinator.