TREKKING TO TENGBOCHE: Sherpas and the Tourist Challenge

Abstract

The rapid increase in tourism and trekking in eastern Nepal is challenging the social identity of the Sherpas. This must be seen in the wider context of Sherpa history, and how cultural schemata mediated contradictons and external challenges in the past. In particular, the Sherpa custom of yangdzi provides a schema that best situates Sherpa society in relation to modern challenges.