Meet My Country: Bhutan, With Kunga Tenzin Dorji (Supe)
08/08/21 • 32 min
Journalist and Musician Kunga Tenzin Dorji, known as Supe, talks about his homeland Bhutan – the landlocked country located in the Eastern Himalayas. Until the 1960s, the kingdom of Bhutan was isolated from the rest of the world. When Bhutan started to open up, it did not modernize blindly, as Supe points out. The tiny nation wedged between India and China was able to preserve its national identity, which remains visible in the country’s cultural heritage, and in its political and socio-economic systems.
Your host: Denise Staubli, Program Manager, Asia Society Switzerland
Moderator: Simona Grano, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Taiwan Studies Project at the University of Zurich (UZH)
Speaker: Kunga Tenzin Dorji (Supe), freelance journalist and musician
Production: Denise Staubli
Show Notes
- Phobjikha Valley – a spectacular wide valley in Bhutan at an elevation of 3’000 meters, where you also find the very endangered black-necked cranes
- Ema Datshi – the national dish of Bhutan
- Anthony Bourdains’ series Parts Unknown on Bhutan, who gives a good assessment of Bhutan
- The History of Bhutan, by Karma Phuntsho
- So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas, by Barbara Crossette, for a better understanding of geopolitics of Bhutan
- The Circle of Karma, by Kunzang Choden, fiction and quite revealing about Bhutan’s society and culture
- Asia Society Switzerland webcast A Closer Look at Bhutan with Kunga Tenzin Dorji and Dr. Simona Grano, July 1, 2021
Journalist and Musician Kunga Tenzin Dorji, known as Supe, talks about his homeland Bhutan – the landlocked country located in the Eastern Himalayas. Until the 1960s, the kingdom of Bhutan was isolated from the rest of the world. When Bhutan started to open up, it did not modernize blindly, as Supe points out. The tiny nation wedged between India and China was able to preserve its national identity, which remains visible in the country’s cultural heritage, and in its political and socio-economic systems.
Your host: Denise Staubli, Program Manager, Asia Society Switzerland
Moderator: Simona Grano, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Taiwan Studies Project at the University of Zurich (UZH)
Speaker: Kunga Tenzin Dorji (Supe), freelance journalist and musician
Production: Denise Staubli
Show Notes
- Phobjikha Valley – a spectacular wide valley in Bhutan at an elevation of 3’000 meters, where you also find the very endangered black-necked cranes
- Ema Datshi – the national dish of Bhutan
- Anthony Bourdains’ series Parts Unknown on Bhutan, who gives a good assessment of Bhutan
- The History of Bhutan, by Karma Phuntsho
- So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas, by Barbara Crossette, for a better understanding of geopolitics of Bhutan
- The Circle of Karma, by Kunzang Choden, fiction and quite revealing about Bhutan’s society and culture
- Asia Society Switzerland webcast A Closer Look at Bhutan with Kunga Tenzin Dorji and Dr. Simona Grano, July 1, 2021
Previous Episode
Meet My Country: Announcement
Our second podcast season "Meet My Country" is out. In this season, you will learn about a new Asian country in each edition from the perspective of leading local voices.
Next Episode
Meet My Country: Sri Lanka, With Bhavani Fonseka and Ambika Satkunanathan
Human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseka and human rights advocate Ambika Satkunanathan talk about their homeland Sri Lanka – the island nation just off the southeastern coast of India. Sri Lanka boasts a large, well-educated population, great economic potential, a history of democracy, and popular tourist attractions. At the same time, the country has been marred by political violence since its independence in 1948, and the current government’s stand on human rights and governance has come under the close watch of the United Nations yet again.
3:48 Background information on Sri Lanka
6:00 Bhavani and Ambika’s views on Sri Lanka, and its big brother India
10:30 The post-war situation in Sri Lanka
16:41 Sri Lanka’s government and its domestic and foreign politics
28:21 Bhavani and Ambika’s recommendations for places to visit and food to try
Your host: Denise Staubli, Program Manager, Asia Society Switzerland
Moderator: Nico Luchsinger, Executive Director Asia Society Switzerland
Speakers:
Bhavani Fonseka, Senior Researcher and Attorney at Law with the Centre for Policy Alternatives
Ambika Satkunanathan, Open Society Fellow and former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
Production: Denise Staubli
Show Notes
Watalappam – dessert made by Muslim community in Sri Lanka
Hoppers – a staple of Sri Lankan cuisine that can come in many forms
Sri Lanka’s Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour. A Critique of Promises Made and Present Trends, 2021, Report by Center for Policy Alternatives
Emblematic Cases Expose the Long Road to Justice in Sri Lanka, February 2021, by Bhavani Fonseka
The long wait for justice, August 2020, by Bhavani Fonseka
Surviving War and Victimhood: Women and Tamil Nationalism, March 2021, The Wire, by Ambika Satkunanathan
Fading Sri Lankan Hopes for Justice Rest on U.N. Rights Council, 24 February 2021, New York Times, by Ambika Satkunanathan
Is Sri Lanka's government failing to heal the nation?, February 2021, DW News, Interview with Ambika Satkunanathan
Die srilankische Diasporain der Schweiz, 2007, by Joëlle Moret, Denise Efionayi, Fabienne Stants; Bundesamt für Migration BFM
Asia Society Switzerland webcast A Closer Look at Sri Lanka with Bhavani Fonseka and Ambika Satkunanathan, May 6, 2021
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