Andreas Gruschke (April 16, 1960 in Tengen-Blumenfeld – January 30, 2018) was a German author, photographer and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

researcher. His scientific background was that of a

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

, Sinologist and

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

. He received a 1990 M.A. at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, and a Ph.D. in 2009 at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

. From 1987, Gruschke worked as a free-lance

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and picture-journalist with the main topics

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

, Silk Road and East Asia. He held lectures and seminars at his hometown

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and other places. After finishing his university studies, he went on numerous research trips to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

, China,

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, yet most of them led him to the highland of Tibet. From 2004 to 2012 he worked at

, doing research on Tibetan pastoralists in eastern Tibet's Yushu area. From 2012, he was a guest professor at the Institute of Social Development and Western China Development Studies at

Sichuan University Sichuan University (SCU) is a national key public research university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is wholly funded by the Ministry of Education. SCU is one of the top universities of China, and a Class A Double First Class Univer ...

, Chengdu, China. His main research interest was the livelihood security of the rural population, namely pastoralists, in China's Tibetan areas. Gruschke published numerous books and articles mainly on Tibetan culture, among them pioneering works for

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in the East Tibetan regions

Amdo Amdo ( �am˥˥.to˥˥ ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being U-Tsang in the west and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Amdo is also the ...

and Kham. Other books and reports deal with

and the Himalayas and China, as well as two picture albums about his homeland: the

Hegau The Hegau is an extinct volcanic landscape in southern Germany extending around the industrial city of Singen (Hohentwiel), between Lake Constance in the east, the Rhine River in the south, the Danube River in the north and the Randen (mountain r ...

and the upper

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

. His most recent research was about

nomads A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

in the eastern Tibetan region of Yushu (northern Kham).

Works

* ''The Cultural Monuments of Tibet’s Outer Provinces: Amdo'', 2 vols., Bangkok 2001 * ''The Cultural Monuments of Tibet’s Outer Provinces: Kham'', 2 vols., Bangkok 2004 ff. * "Nomads Without Pastures? Globalization, Regionalization, and Livelihood Security of Nomads and Former Nomads in Northern Khams," in: Ken Bauer, Geoff Childs, Andrew Fischer, and Daniel Winkler (eds.), ''In the Shadow of the Leaping Dragon: Demography, Development, and the Environment in Tibetan Areas'', in
JIATS
4 (December 2008)
Download pdf
* ''A Vital Monastic Centre of the Jonang Tradition: The Grand Lamasery of Dzamthang'', in

* "Nomads and their Market Relations in Eastern Tibet’s Yushu Region: The Impact of Caterpillar Fungus." In: Jörg Gertel & Richard LeHeron(eds.): ''Economic Spaces of Pastoral Production and Commodity Systems. Markets and Livelihoods''. Ashgate: Farnham - Burlington 2011, pp. 211–229. *
Yushu Nomads on the Move. How can the Use of Pastoralist Resources be Sustainable?
'. In: 人文视野下的高原生态国际学术研讨会.交流材料 enwenshi Yexia De Gaoyuan Shengtai Guoji Xueshu Yantaohui. Jiaoliu Cailiaobr>The International Symposium on the Human Dimensions of Ecological Conservation on the Tibetan Plateau. Communication Materials of Conference
Xining, Qinghai, China, August 2011. pp. 138–152. * ''From Yak Herders to Yartsa Traders. Tibetan Nomads and New Market Options in Qinghai´s Yushu Region''. In
《China Tibetology》中国藏学(英文版, 2011, No. 3
pp. 95–118. * "Tibetan Pastoralists in Transition. Political Change and State Interventions in Nomad Societies." In: Hermann Kreutzmann (ed.): ''Pastoral Practices in High Asia. Agency of ‘Development’ Effected by Modernisation, Resettlement and Transformation'' (Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research). Springer: Dordrecht 2012, pp. 273–289.

References

External links

*
A. Gruschke at the THDL/ Tibetan & Himalayan Digital Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruschke, Andreas 1960 births 2018 deaths German orientalists German male non-fiction writers People from Konstanz (district)