Voices of the Himalayas

In the last few decades, New York has become a unique linguistic microcosm of the Himalayas, with approximately 20,000 speakers of the region’s languages residing here. Once separated by vast distances and giant mountains, people from many Himalayan cultures now live in close proximity in Queens and Brooklyn. A variety of Tibetan languages can be heard across the five boroughs, including Mustangi, Sherpa, Kham, Amdo, and Ãœ-tsang varieties, among others.

Learn about Voices of the Himalayas: Language, Culture, and Belonging in Immigrant New York, a new oral history project documenting endangered Himalayan languages in a diaspora setting. The project explores the lived experiences of migration and social change among Himalayan New Yorkers, many of whom fear that their cultural identity is disappearing along with their languages.

Ross Perlin, Assistant Director of the Endangered Language Alliance, Project Coordinator Nawang Gurung Tsering, and scholar Yeshi Jigme Gangne will share stories and findings from the project and talk about the role of Tibetan languages in the modern world.

About the Speakers

Nawang Tsering Gurung is Project Coordinator of the Voices of the Himalayas and also the Executive Director of the Yulha Fund.

Ross Perlin is Assistant Director of the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA) and one of the organizers of the Voices of the Himalayas project based at ELA.

Yeshi Jigme Gangne is a Tibetan Project Manager at Google and is in the process of earning his Ph.D. in the Modern History of Tibetan and His Holiness The 13th Dalai Lama.