Love and Honor in the Himalayas: Coming To Know Another Culture

Contemporary Ethnography

by Ernestine McHugh

American anthropologist Ernestine McHugh arrived in the foothills of the Annapurna mountains in Nepal, and, surrounded by terraced fields, rushing streams, and rocky paths, she began one of several sojourns among the Gurung people whose ramro hawa-pani (good wind and water) not only describes the enduring bounty of their land but also reflects the climate of goodwill they seek to sustain in their community. It was in their steep Himalayan villages that McHugh came to know another culture, witnessing and learning the Buddhist appreciation for equanimity in moments of precious joy and inevitable sorrow.

Love and Honor in the Himalayas is McHugh's gripping ethnographic memoir based on research among the Gurungs conducted over a span of fourteen years. As she chronicles the events of her fieldwork, she also tells a story that admits feeling and involvement, writing of the people who housed her in the terms in which they cast their relationship with her, that of family. Welcomed to call her host Ama and become a daughter in the household, McHugh engaged in a strong network of kin and friendship. She intimately describes, with a sure sense of comedy and pathos, the family's diverse experiences of life and loss, self and personhood, hope, knowledge, and affection. In mundane as well as dramatic rituals, the Gurungs ever emphasize the importance of love and honor in everyday life, regardless of circumstances, in all human relationships. Such was the lesson learned by McHugh, who arrived a young woman facing her own hardships and came to understand—and experience—the power of their ways of being.

While it attends to a particular place and its inhabitants, Love and Honor in the Himalayas is, above all, about human possibility, about what people make of their lives. Through the compelling force of her narrative, McHugh lets her emotionally open fieldwork reveal insight into the privilege of joining a community and a culture. It is an invitation to sustain grace and kindness in the face of adversity, cultivate harmony and mutual support, and cherish life fully.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology, Asia, Ethnography, School

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 22, 2001

Reviews

[Devin]

All I know this is one of the books that made me choose my major and thus had a huge influence on me. I can't remember details except that she was highly self reflexive in that she included her own experience as part of the ethnography which I thought was very powerful and unique comparative to other ethnographies I had read.

[Jodi Rossi]

More of a travel memoir than an ethnography, but very nicely done if read as such.

[EJ Read]

Read excerpts of this for a class last year, loved it so much I had to go back and finish the whole thing.

Touching auto-ethnography that focuses on the culture studied but how anthropology changes you as a person.

Highly recommend for anyone starting to get into ethnographies because Ernestine's writing is very accesible. She also doesn't bombard with academic writing and analysis.❤️🇳🇵

[Joe Price]

A truly lovely submersion ethnography. I read this for my Anthropology class but enjoyed every word.

[Rebecca]

I had to read this for my cultural anthropology class and ended up really enjoying it.

McHugh's writing is very detailed and descriptive, it really drew me into the events she was writing about.

[Emily]

sad that it ended

[peyton glass]

a textbook i have had to read for my cultural anthropology class- hopefully i can get out of my reading slump!

[Aly Hubbard]

I had to read this for honors anth and I ate it with a spoon. About to be in my ethnography era because I need more.

[Maria Hrickova]

3.65

[Kevin]

This is a lovely ethnographic study of the complexity of sentiment, attachment and loss in Nepal. It is a great entry into anthropology for non-anthropologists, and a stimulating read with many subtle points for practicing anthropologists. It does not hit readers over the head with theoretical posturing, but instead allows the ethnographic representation to lead readers through the sorts of theoretical questions salient in Batesonian and ethnopsychological approaches.

[Joe]

I read this prior to my first trip to Nepal, and have re read it since. Most people think of Everest and the Sherpas when they think of Nepal, but there are forty languages and many ethnic groups, its cuilturally rich and diverse. The author spent time doing field research with the Gurungs of west_central nepal, and this is the result.

[Joshua Spotts]

This book was a fascinating, firsthand look into Gurung culture in Nepal.

[Ryan]

Although this is an ethnography of a village, the author's vulnerability about her own experience gives it immense emotional force. A beautiful book.

[Ivy]

Read for class
Very interesting and detailed
Learned a lot about the Gurung culture through this book. Great ethnographic memoir.