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UID:438@harvard-yenching.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260422T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260422T130000
DTSTAMP:20260331T223234Z
URL:https://www.harvard-yenching.org/events/what-does-it-mean-to-write-one
 self-in-tibetan-autobiographical-tradition-the-amazing-life-of-guru-chowan
 g/
SUMMARY:What Does It Mean to “Write Oneself” in Tibetan Autobiographica
 l Tradition: The Amazing Life of Guru Chowang
DESCRIPTION:This talk examines what it means to “write oneself” in the 
 Tibetan autobiographical tradition through the case of the thirteenth-cent
 ury treasure revealer Guru Chowang (1212–1270). Challenging the view tha
 t autobiography is a uniquely Western genre\, it shows that Tibetan rang r
 nam (autobiography) developed as a distinct form of life writing at an ear
 ly period.\n\nFocusing on Guru Chowang’s corpus\, the talk argues that t
 he autobiographical “self” is a multi-layered construct shaped by karm
 ic continuity\, visionary experience\, institutional lineage\, and ongoing
  contestation. Dream narratives play a central role in this process: throu
 gh encounters with sacred figures\, prophetic validation\, and subsequent 
 verification\, they function as key mechanisms for legitimizing religious 
 authority.\n\nThe talk also highlights the linguistic significance of thes
 e materials. Guru Chowang’s dream narratives provide a rich corpus for s
 tudying evidentiality in Tibetan—that is\, how language encodes sources 
 of information such as direct experience\, hearsay\, and inference. By com
 bining literary and linguistic analysis\, this study offers new perspectiv
 es on Tibetan autobiography and contributes to broader cross-cultural disc
 ussions of selfhood\, authority\, and the role of language in representing
  experience.
CATEGORIES:Visiting Scholar Talks
LOCATION:Common Room (#136)\, 2 Divinity Avenue\, Cambridge\, MA\, United S
 tates
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