Creating Civil Society Space in Bhutan: When Citizens Become Responsible

Summer Edition , September 16th, 2016 Introduction Just out of college, 22-year old Meera Ghalley stands before a room full of Tshogpas (elected local officials), town council members, representatives from nearby villages, the police force and the business sector. She presents a waste management plan, using a powerpoint and pictures of the Bondey market in...

Modernisation in the Service of Cultural Preservation: Discussion on Dzongkha Continues

Summer Edition , September 16th, 2016 The Magical Secret of Phonology Linguistics is the science of language. Language science describes and analyses language phenomena in order to understand how language works. In England, Sir Isaac Newton described the phenomenon of gravity and the physics of movement with his laws of motion and gravitation. He did...

Blogging

Summer Edition , September 16th, 2016 Blogging: The Early Days The “blog” as we know it now, was started as a personal homepage by a Chicago- born student named Justin Hall in January of 1994. Credited to be the world’s first ever blog––Links.net (http://www.links.net)––it is still in existence. During its initial days a blog was...

Bhutan’s Hand-woven Textile Cultural Heritage: A New Perspective of Conservation through Cultural Industry Development

Summer Edition , September 16th, 2016 Introduction History and Current Context of Social Change in Bhutan The genesis of Bhutan’s modernisation can be attributed to the third Druk Gyalpo His Majesty Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (b.1929 – d.1972) who also initiated and instutionalised Bhutan’s Five-Year Plan (FYP) in 1961.1 The modernisation process was intensified by the...

Bhutanese Contemporary Art

Summer Edition , September 16th, 2016 A ferocious mask with fangs, punishing eyes, and a crown of skulls fills the canvas. A set of eyes, almost lost behind the mask, peer through the gaping mouth. This painting of a traditional mask, depicting a Buddhist deity, is a modern take on what is traditional. These masks...

The Spiritual Dilemma of Modernisation

Summer Edition , September 16th, 2016 Buddhist values are deeply rooted in our culture. To most Bhutanese, Buddhism and culture are probably inseparable. But times have changed and there is a somewhat obvious discrepancy between the values of Bhutan’s young generation and the values of our forefathers who emphasised devotion to the Buddha, Dharma and...

Bhutanese Health and the Health Care System: Past, Present, and Future

Summer Edition , September 16th, 2016 Introduction It can be argued that the modernisation of Bhutan started in 1961 when the first five-year plan was rolled out. However, development of the health system we know today started long before that. The first agents of change that brought western (allopathic) medicine to Bhutan were British medical...

Trash versus Treasure

Summer Edition , September 16th, 2016 In 2014, returning from a tour of the remote gewog of Lauri in Samdrup Jongkhar, I skirted the base of a village and entered a dense forest. As I admired the verdant vegetation, an incongruous sight greeted me: a hand painted notice placed atop a stick. Written in Dzongkha...

New Times, New Challenges for Bhutanese Youth

Summer Edition , September 16th, 2016 Druk Journal (DJ) talks to Lama Shenphen Zangpo (LSZ) on youth-related issues in a society in evolution DJ: Lama, we know that you are helping our youth deal with a number of problems, including drug and alcohol addiction. Would you link these problems to change and modernisation that Bhutan...

Adolescents and Youth in South Asia: A Force to Reckon With

Winter Edition , January 28th, 2016 “The future of our nation depends on the worth, capabilities and motivation of today’s youth. Therefore, I will not rest until I have given you the inspiration, knowledge and skills so that you will not only fulfill your own aspirations but be of immense worth to the nation. This...