Presentation Ceremony

Cornell anthropologists Holmberg and March win 2021 Hillary Medal

1 September 2021 press release from Mountain Legacy

This article is adapted from the letter of nomination submitted by anthropologist Alfred Pach III.

Cornell ethnographers David Holmberg and Kathryn March to receive the 2021 Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal for remarkable service in the conservation of nature and in the equitable advancement of human welfare in mountainous regions

Both Kathryn March and her husband David Holmberg are eminent scholars, cultural anthropologists, now emeriti at Cornell University. Beginning in the 1970s they have carried out ground-breaking ethnographic research in Nepal and continued in this work for over 46 years Their early field work and publications contributed substantially to international interest in and an appreciation of the culture and history of the ethnically-diverse mountain communities of Nepal, and especially of Tamang people and culture.

The March-Holmberg legacy stands as a shining example of a lifetime commitment to scholarship, teaching and service. They have produced landmark research that has advanced intellectual understanding of human experience within diverse cultural worlds, taught US and Nepali students and supported burgeoning Nepali scholars and scholarship. They have worked in service to directly support the welfare of individuals and communities in their research area in Nepal. They have also contributed to Nepali society in general through their research, teaching and development work.

First, and noteworthy among their achievements is that they established and administered the Cornell University Abroad in Nepal Program, which became one of the most respected exchange programs in the country. From the beginning their emphasis has been on service to their hosts: Tribhuvan University, with whom they collaborated, and the Tamang communities in which they and their students carried out research and development projects. All American participants learned Nepali. Nepali graduate students were embedded within and participated in the program on a one-to-one basis, with both all expenses paid and an opportunity to participate in advanced Nepali culture and social science studies, and received training in research design and fieldwork methodology. Nepali scholars were brought to study, carry out research, and teach at Cornell. They have mentored Nepali students at Cornell and supported organizations to enhance their experience and opportunities. The net result has been a win-win, both for Nepali scholars and for American students.

Secondly, March and Holmberg have engaged in a sustained relationship with the Tamang communities in which they carried out their own research. By bringing their students and organizing treks, they created an ecotourism sector in communities where none had existed before. They have provided economic support at difficult times, including during the Maoist insurgency and the earthquake recovery period. The environmentally sound, earthquake-resistant center which March has created with a US building expert and Nepali community members is a model safe shelter that can serve in future development projects. It will also serve as a site for the development of the health, education and economic well-being of Nepali women. Working on independent projects or in collaboration with USAID, UN/FAO or Nepal’s National Planning Commision, they have brought attention to the economic and social realities of life in village Nepal.

Third, at a time when isolationist tendencies have dominated politics in their country, they built a vibrant, outward-looking program at Cornell, held public lectures and informational events featuring notables such as the ambassador of Nepal, and organized festivals (notably for the annual Dasain holiday) that brought together the larger Nepal community in Ithaca. They have also supported local institutions such as Namgyal Monastery, as the American repository and archive of His Holiness the Dala’i Lama’s and of all previous Dala’i Lamas’ collected works. This archive will serve as an international center for scholars, for the Tibetan people and their religious culture and as a site for the world recognition of Tibetan culture.

Finally, it must be said that Holmberg’s and March’s anthropological research is laser focused on the experiences, ideals and the forces which impact their focal research communities. Building a schoolhouse or a suspension bridge may make a huge difference to a poor community, but the key to change is understanding the myths, social structures, and practices that define and constrain political and economic opportunity. These anthropological parameters are in part intrinsic to the social structures that create economic and gender relations within the community itself, but they are also a function of political economic relations at a state level and in the dominant cultural and economic interactions among local social groups. Gender inequity, forced labor (even slavery), caste disparities, exploitation of migrant workers, and other impediments to social justice are not features that can be unilaterally abolished by the community itself. The history and dynamics of these issues must be clearly and widely understood and addressed in order that communities on the periphery of the wider society can manage and optimize their own opportunities. Holmberg and March have tried to lift the veil that obscures comprehension of precarious conditions and forms of exclusion, thereby revealing the profound cultural strengths and meaning of local cultural practices and expressions that prevail in a region of extraordinary natural and cultural wealth.

All in all, it is clear that Dr. March and Dr. Holmberg have made remarkable contributions to mountain communities; that these contributions are consistent with the Hillary Model of development assistance, predicated on long-term bottom-up collaboration, and also project the evolution of that vision into the more complicated context of the twenty-first century; and that broader acclaim and recognition of their work might serve to sustain and promote their projects in Nepal and at Cornell University, a legacy worthy of Sir Edmund Hillary and the mountain people he loved. It is hard to imagine candidates more deserving of the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal than Dr. Kathryn March and Dr. David Holmberg.

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If you would like to add your congratulations, reminiscences, or photos to this page, please send them to Seth Sicroff (sicroff@hillarymedal.com).