Cultural Mapping Project
Machik’s Cultural Mapping Project (CMP) is a unique and innovative program in Tibet that creates a cross-cultural service learning program that maps local Tibetan culture. CMP centers the knowledge and creativity of rural Tibetan youth in Tibet and invites American and Chinese peers to co-create a culturally defined map of local Tibetan communities.
A primary goal of CMP was to create a tri-lingual resource of teaching materials that could be integrated into the curriculum of schools in Tibet, providing a set of Tibetan, Chinese, and English vocabulary and descriptions that are relevant to daily life in local Tibetan communities. The broader goal was to create a new and dynamic space for the students and teachers to document and celebrate local Tibetan culture and customs in a thoughtful way, with Tibetan students taking the leadership roles. Over several years, topics included sustainable communities, architecture, food ways, ethno-botany, musical traditions, livestock management, and so on.
To learn more about the three CMP notebooks that have been created, please contact [email protected]
A primary goal of CMP was to create a tri-lingual resource of teaching materials that could be integrated into the curriculum of schools in Tibet, providing a set of Tibetan, Chinese, and English vocabulary and descriptions that are relevant to daily life in local Tibetan communities. The broader goal was to create a new and dynamic space for the students and teachers to document and celebrate local Tibetan culture and customs in a thoughtful way, with Tibetan students taking the leadership roles. Over several years, topics included sustainable communities, architecture, food ways, ethno-botany, musical traditions, livestock management, and so on.
To learn more about the three CMP notebooks that have been created, please contact [email protected]
In the following post, Vidya Srinivasan, the 2012 Cultural Mapping Project Coordinator and a Sidwell Friend's School student, shares her letter to the CMP volunteers at the conclusion of the program that year.
Dear Friends,
From all of us at Machik and on the CMP Coordination Team, thank you for serving as student volunteers in the 2012 Cultural Mapping Project (CMP) and Summer Enrichment Program (SEP). Today marks the official end of CMP and, while we are sad to see you leave us, we hope that your three weeks of groundbreaking service work were educational, enriching, and fun.
When challenging circumstances led to the relocation of SEP to Kunming, you took it all in stride and dedicated yourselves to making the most of your unique opportunity to work in the Gyalthang area. For many of you, this was your first time on the Tibetan Plateau or even in PRC but you managed to forge strong bonds both within the diverse team of excellent PRC/USA student volunteers and between yourselves and the Khana community that we know will endure far past the short time you spent together. We hope that these inter-cultural and sometimes inter-linguistic friendships will endure and enrich your perspectives. Each one of you strove to be deeply thoughtful in your ethnographic research time in Khana and this is reflected not only in the wonderful insights you all shared in evening reflection sessions but also in your essays for the 2012 CMP book. In both of your presentations of your research findings, the enthusiasm that you brought to this work was clear and wonderful to behold.
We hope that you will remember this rare opportunity to work in a challenging place at a challenging time. It was a joy to see the trust and generosity of our local partners matched by your diligence and open-mindedness; it is this joint commitment that inspires Machik’s striving to make CMP a reality in every situation. We hope this global service experience as students and as teachers will stay with you for years to come. As you look back on the more nuanced understandings of rural-versus-urban, culture, education and service, we will remember the voracity with which you tackled language classes – in two different Tibetan dialects! – and your exemplary commitment to bringing your research and layout labors to fruition with the completion of the 2012 CMP book. You all have truly raised the standard for future generations of CMP volunteers.
Whether you are returning to Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, or Washington, DC, we hope that each of you will remain a part of the Machik family. Thank you for your trust, flexibility, and hard work.
Best wishes for your bright futures,
Vidya Srinivasan
2012 Cultural Mapping Project Coordinator
Dear Friends,
From all of us at Machik and on the CMP Coordination Team, thank you for serving as student volunteers in the 2012 Cultural Mapping Project (CMP) and Summer Enrichment Program (SEP). Today marks the official end of CMP and, while we are sad to see you leave us, we hope that your three weeks of groundbreaking service work were educational, enriching, and fun.
When challenging circumstances led to the relocation of SEP to Kunming, you took it all in stride and dedicated yourselves to making the most of your unique opportunity to work in the Gyalthang area. For many of you, this was your first time on the Tibetan Plateau or even in PRC but you managed to forge strong bonds both within the diverse team of excellent PRC/USA student volunteers and between yourselves and the Khana community that we know will endure far past the short time you spent together. We hope that these inter-cultural and sometimes inter-linguistic friendships will endure and enrich your perspectives. Each one of you strove to be deeply thoughtful in your ethnographic research time in Khana and this is reflected not only in the wonderful insights you all shared in evening reflection sessions but also in your essays for the 2012 CMP book. In both of your presentations of your research findings, the enthusiasm that you brought to this work was clear and wonderful to behold.
We hope that you will remember this rare opportunity to work in a challenging place at a challenging time. It was a joy to see the trust and generosity of our local partners matched by your diligence and open-mindedness; it is this joint commitment that inspires Machik’s striving to make CMP a reality in every situation. We hope this global service experience as students and as teachers will stay with you for years to come. As you look back on the more nuanced understandings of rural-versus-urban, culture, education and service, we will remember the voracity with which you tackled language classes – in two different Tibetan dialects! – and your exemplary commitment to bringing your research and layout labors to fruition with the completion of the 2012 CMP book. You all have truly raised the standard for future generations of CMP volunteers.
Whether you are returning to Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, or Washington, DC, we hope that each of you will remain a part of the Machik family. Thank you for your trust, flexibility, and hard work.
Best wishes for your bright futures,
Vidya Srinivasan
2012 Cultural Mapping Project Coordinator