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Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh
The swiftly evolving socioeconomic life of Ladakh, whose people struggle to balance growth and technology with cultural values, offers crucial lessons in sustainable development. This gripping portrait of the western Himalayan land known as “Little Tibet” moves from the author’s first visit to idyllic, nonindustrial Ladakh in 1974 to the present, tracking profound changes as the region was opened to foreign tourists, Western goods and technologies, and pressures for economic growth. These changes in turn brought generational conflict, unemployment, inflation, environmental damage, and threats to the traditional way of life.
Appalled by these negative impacts, the author helped establish the Ladakh Project (later renamed the International Society for Ecology and Culture) to seek sustainable solutions that preserve cultural integrity and environmental health, while addressing the Ladakhis’ hunger for modernization. This model undertaking effectively combines educational programs for all social levels with the design, demonstration, and promotion of appropriate technologies such as solar heating and small-scale hydro power.
Examining how modernization changes the way people live and think, Norberg-Hodge challenges us to redefine our concepts of “development” and “progress.” Above all, Ancient Futures stresses the need to carry traditional wisdom into the future—our urgent task as a global community.
Appalled by these negative impacts, the author helped establish the Ladakh Project (later renamed the International Society for Ecology and Culture) to seek sustainable solutions that preserve cultural integrity and environmental health, while addressing the Ladakhis’ hunger for modernization. This model undertaking effectively combines educational programs for all social levels with the design, demonstration, and promotion of appropriate technologies such as solar heating and small-scale hydro power.
Examining how modernization changes the way people live and think, Norberg-Hodge challenges us to redefine our concepts of “development” and “progress.” Above all, Ancient Futures stresses the need to carry traditional wisdom into the future—our urgent task as a global community.
238 pages, Paperback
First published September 24, 1991
83 people are currently reading
1480 people want to read
About the author
Helena Norberg-Hodge
24 books39 followersHelena Norberg-Hodge is a pioneer of the worldwide localization movement, and recipient of the 'Alternative Nobel Prize', the Goi Peace Prize and the Arthur Morgan Award.
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March 10, 2021An interesting book, above all a very personal book, although it was published in 1991 some of the environmental issues she discusses are still only slowly emerging in public discourse. This is bad for the planet but if you can pardon the levity, it means that the text remains fresh.
The author spent parts of many years in Ladakh - a high altitude plateau above Kashmir. At first she was compiling a dictionary of the Ladakh language, later she was collecting folk songs and at one point she was doing some sociological studies, but eventually she gets involved in development, or as she terms it 'anti-development' work in the region, attempting to ameliorate the social changes that she observed over the years that she spent in the region. This book is the result of her experiences.
It is divided into three parts. The first is a description of Ladakh as she found it, the second part deals with the changes that she saw, while the third part broadens out and is a consideration of development , and the relationship between the developed and not developed? not so developed? ripe for exploitation ? parts of the world with a chapter on the anti-development works that she does/did. Overall the book is about 40% Ladakh and 60% the wrongs and inequities of Development - the latter seen from a personal standpoint without much interest into the drivers of inequitable development.
I was naturally attracted by the title of the book, this is my perspective, I am after all eagerly waiting for a return to the Bronze Age after all.
This is a book which is written in several modes or registers, the first part is a general introduction to Ladakh and is reminiscent of anthropology, but with a sense of Paradise Lost. The Ladakh she describes was a traditional agricultural subsistence economy, with extended families. The region is at high altitude and very arid, wood is a scarce resource, the main fuel was animal manure which members of the family would spend the summers collecting from the summer pastures. There was some trade conducted through the only town in the region for salt, tea, metals and precious stones (but it was unclear quite what people were trading for these goods. The winters were long, and the aim was store as much food and fuel in the summer to sit out the winter in large thick walled farm houses. Village life was strongly co-operative - as survival was a struggle and it was unclear whose help you might need one day.
Much of what she described would remind readers in many places of their own peasant ancestors, though in this case the inhabitants were Buddhist and the population growth was limited through polygamy, polyandry and as a last resort monasticism, just as Lattimore described in neighbouring Tibet in the Inner Asian Frontiers of China. Controlling population was critically important because of the aridity of the reason, fields were carefully irrigated, human manure was used as the main fertiliser.
The second and third parts are different in tone, far more polemical and as much about life in the developed world as they are about Ladakh, here she is very personal and critical of the developed world as a model of development. I found what she had to say interesting and emotionally and sentimentally I am in her camp, or far closer to it than what she opposes, but perhaps precisely because of that I would have welcomed some footnotes or references. For instance she says that she saw a Ladakhi child doing school-work about the the Illiad and explains this as India using bastardised versions of US curricula , which get further bastardised in transmission to the states of India. From a literary point of view this repeats her oft repeated view that development provides the undeveloped world with a second class and second hand version of services which even in the developed world are not sustainable and cause a rich and fascinating variety of social and psychological problems. As a reader it resonates on a common sense level in that a child in Ladakh learning the Iliad seems silly - English has its own epic poems; teaching the Illiad seems a poor way to teach English, while if the idea is to teach ancient epics both India and Buddhism have their own ancient texts which would be culturally more approachable, maybe even relevant - at the same time I was watching John Berger's 1970s tv series Ways of Seeing which you can see at your leisure on various video sharing online websites, and that reminded me of the concept of Alienation. Although Norberg-Hodge does not explicitly say so, implicitly she describes a process whereby the Ladakh people are alienated from their own environment and culture, indeed they insidiously alienate themselves because the itch of the new has got beneath the skin of many of them and led them to believe in the modern and the idol of Progress, for Norberg-Hodge not only is the baby thrown out with the bathwater, but the Veblen's invidious comparison comes into play. The Ladakh are not white, blond (or blonde) and do not necessarily come from nuclear families, therefore they will always find themselves falling short against the standards they are learning to internalise from advertising and mass media, this she sees as causing anger and frustration and psychological problem such as are familiar to those of us who live in the most materially prosperous parts of the world.
She makes many points and perhaps a better way to express my reaction to this book would have been through an explosion of spoilers . I liked her perspective that single age school classes push the idea of competition on to the children, while mixed aged children are more likely to help each other and co-operate. In her view in the traditional economy men and women all did the same kinds of tasks, while in the new wage economy men, women's labour became ignored (it does not figure in national statistics) therefore the advent of a cash economy devalues women (and the elderly and young who all are involved in subsistence agriculture) thus creating new kinds of prejudice and discrimination , all our agricultural revolutions will show you similar patterns, I wonder how far Norberg-Hodge's work can protect a culture from the flashy attractions of the modern world with it's asbestos, and pesticides and other things that we are clever enough to invent but probably not wise enough to be trusted to use safely?
I wondered a bit about Norberg-Hodge herself, tardy research revealed that she writes for The Ecologist and Resilience
The author spent parts of many years in Ladakh - a high altitude plateau above Kashmir. At first she was compiling a dictionary of the Ladakh language, later she was collecting folk songs and at one point she was doing some sociological studies, but eventually she gets involved in development, or as she terms it 'anti-development' work in the region, attempting to ameliorate the social changes that she observed over the years that she spent in the region. This book is the result of her experiences.
It is divided into three parts. The first is a description of Ladakh as she found it, the second part deals with the changes that she saw, while the third part broadens out and is a consideration of development , and the relationship between the developed and not developed? not so developed? ripe for exploitation ? parts of the world with a chapter on the anti-development works that she does/did. Overall the book is about 40% Ladakh and 60% the wrongs and inequities of Development - the latter seen from a personal standpoint without much interest into the drivers of inequitable development.
I was naturally attracted by the title of the book, this is my perspective, I am after all eagerly waiting for a return to the Bronze Age after all.
This is a book which is written in several modes or registers, the first part is a general introduction to Ladakh and is reminiscent of anthropology, but with a sense of Paradise Lost. The Ladakh she describes was a traditional agricultural subsistence economy, with extended families. The region is at high altitude and very arid, wood is a scarce resource, the main fuel was animal manure which members of the family would spend the summers collecting from the summer pastures. There was some trade conducted through the only town in the region for salt, tea, metals and precious stones (but it was unclear quite what people were trading for these goods. The winters were long, and the aim was store as much food and fuel in the summer to sit out the winter in large thick walled farm houses. Village life was strongly co-operative - as survival was a struggle and it was unclear whose help you might need one day.
Much of what she described would remind readers in many places of their own peasant ancestors, though in this case the inhabitants were Buddhist and the population growth was limited through polygamy, polyandry and as a last resort monasticism, just as Lattimore described in neighbouring Tibet in the Inner Asian Frontiers of China. Controlling population was critically important because of the aridity of the reason, fields were carefully irrigated, human manure was used as the main fertiliser.
The second and third parts are different in tone, far more polemical and as much about life in the developed world as they are about Ladakh, here she is very personal and critical of the developed world as a model of development. I found what she had to say interesting and emotionally and sentimentally I am in her camp, or far closer to it than what she opposes, but perhaps precisely because of that I would have welcomed some footnotes or references. For instance she says that she saw a Ladakhi child doing school-work about the the Illiad and explains this as India using bastardised versions of US curricula , which get further bastardised in transmission to the states of India. From a literary point of view this repeats her oft repeated view that development provides the undeveloped world with a second class and second hand version of services which even in the developed world are not sustainable and cause a rich and fascinating variety of social and psychological problems. As a reader it resonates on a common sense level in that a child in Ladakh learning the Iliad seems silly - English has its own epic poems; teaching the Illiad seems a poor way to teach English, while if the idea is to teach ancient epics both India and Buddhism have their own ancient texts which would be culturally more approachable, maybe even relevant - at the same time I was watching John Berger's 1970s tv series Ways of Seeing which you can see at your leisure on various video sharing online websites, and that reminded me of the concept of Alienation. Although Norberg-Hodge does not explicitly say so, implicitly she describes a process whereby the Ladakh people are alienated from their own environment and culture, indeed they insidiously alienate themselves because the itch of the new has got beneath the skin of many of them and led them to believe in the modern and the idol of Progress, for Norberg-Hodge not only is the baby thrown out with the bathwater, but the Veblen's invidious comparison comes into play. The Ladakh are not white, blond (or blonde) and do not necessarily come from nuclear families, therefore they will always find themselves falling short against the standards they are learning to internalise from advertising and mass media, this she sees as causing anger and frustration and psychological problem such as are familiar to those of us who live in the most materially prosperous parts of the world.
She makes many points and perhaps a better way to express my reaction to this book would have been through an explosion of spoilers . I liked her perspective that single age school classes push the idea of competition on to the children, while mixed aged children are more likely to help each other and co-operate. In her view in the traditional economy men and women all did the same kinds of tasks, while in the new wage economy men, women's labour became ignored (it does not figure in national statistics) therefore the advent of a cash economy devalues women (and the elderly and young who all are involved in subsistence agriculture) thus creating new kinds of prejudice and discrimination , all our agricultural revolutions will show you similar patterns, I wonder how far Norberg-Hodge's work can protect a culture from the flashy attractions of the modern world with it's asbestos, and pesticides and other things that we are clever enough to invent but probably not wise enough to be trusted to use safely?
I wondered a bit about Norberg-Hodge herself, tardy research revealed that she writes for The Ecologist and Resilience
December 21, 2014
I fell in love with the Ladakhi way of life in the first part of this book. It was so elating to read about a place where "there is neither waste nor pollution, a society in which crime is virtually nonexistent, communities are healthy and strong, and a teenage boy is never embarrassed to be gentle and affectionate with his mother or grandmother." As I read about the wonderful dwellings that were both beautiful and perfectly suited to the environment, the way families naturally helped each other in working each other's fields and sharing in respective joys and sorrows, how the people made everything they needed with their own hands, reused every scrap, their food and clothing was by its very nature organic and unpolluted and despite (or, because) of all this hard work they had plenty of leisure time, integrated between the generations and were healthy and strong well into their old age... one thought was running through my head: "I've finally found a utopia!"
This notion was crushed by the second part, because the book is just as much about the change brought to Ladakh by international development, modelled after the Western promise of success. In reality, what it brought was poverty, pollution, isolation, crime, depression, distrust and lack.
The author writes in the epilogue: "I have become convinced that we need to decentralize our political and economic structures and broaden our approach to knowledge if we are to find our way to a more balanced and sane society." I am convinced, too. Perhaps I was a believe before I ever picked up the book and Helena Norberg-Hodge just put words to my ideals, backed up by research and first-hand experience. However, I certainly gleaned a lot of depth into the process of Westernizing and centralizing development from this keen study.
I highlighted many passages and will consider the suggested reading list for my future book adventures. Here are a few phrases that really hit home:
"Mainstream Western thinkers from Adam Smith to Freud and today's academics tend to universalize what is in fact Western or industrial experience. Explicitly or implicitly, they assume that the traits they describe are a manifestation of human nature, rather than a product of industrial culture. This tendency to generalize from Western experience becomes almost inevitable as Western culture reaches out from Europe and North America to influence all the earth's people."
"Development is all too often a euphemism for exploitation, a new colonialism. The forces of development and modernization have pulled most people away from a sure subsistence and got them to chase after an illusion, only to fall flat on their faces, materially impoverished and psychologically disoriented. A majority are turned into slum dwellers--having left the land and their local economy to end up in the shadow of an urban dream that can never be realized."
"Development planners can pretend that everyone will be able to live like a New Yorker as long as they ignore the fact that natural resources are limited. There has been a long-standing debate on this point between economists and environmentalists. Economists and technical optimists assume that we will be able to invent our way out of any resource shortage, that science will somehow stretch the earth's bounty ad infinitum. Such a view is a denial of the fact that the natural world has limits that are beyond our power to change and conveniently circumvents the need for a redistribution of wealth. A change in the global economy is not necesssary if you believe there will always be more and more to go around. The peoples of the Third World have only to get "educated" and step into the global market to one day live exactly as their big brothers in the industrialized countries."
This is a book with a very certain point of view, but rather than being a demonizing or anguished piece, it's a call to see "progress" for what it truly is and choose for yourself, perhaps joining in promoting a return to ancient values that depend on the inter-connectedness of human beings with each other and the natural world.
This notion was crushed by the second part, because the book is just as much about the change brought to Ladakh by international development, modelled after the Western promise of success. In reality, what it brought was poverty, pollution, isolation, crime, depression, distrust and lack.
The author writes in the epilogue: "I have become convinced that we need to decentralize our political and economic structures and broaden our approach to knowledge if we are to find our way to a more balanced and sane society." I am convinced, too. Perhaps I was a believe before I ever picked up the book and Helena Norberg-Hodge just put words to my ideals, backed up by research and first-hand experience. However, I certainly gleaned a lot of depth into the process of Westernizing and centralizing development from this keen study.
I highlighted many passages and will consider the suggested reading list for my future book adventures. Here are a few phrases that really hit home:
"Mainstream Western thinkers from Adam Smith to Freud and today's academics tend to universalize what is in fact Western or industrial experience. Explicitly or implicitly, they assume that the traits they describe are a manifestation of human nature, rather than a product of industrial culture. This tendency to generalize from Western experience becomes almost inevitable as Western culture reaches out from Europe and North America to influence all the earth's people."
"Development is all too often a euphemism for exploitation, a new colonialism. The forces of development and modernization have pulled most people away from a sure subsistence and got them to chase after an illusion, only to fall flat on their faces, materially impoverished and psychologically disoriented. A majority are turned into slum dwellers--having left the land and their local economy to end up in the shadow of an urban dream that can never be realized."
"Development planners can pretend that everyone will be able to live like a New Yorker as long as they ignore the fact that natural resources are limited. There has been a long-standing debate on this point between economists and environmentalists. Economists and technical optimists assume that we will be able to invent our way out of any resource shortage, that science will somehow stretch the earth's bounty ad infinitum. Such a view is a denial of the fact that the natural world has limits that are beyond our power to change and conveniently circumvents the need for a redistribution of wealth. A change in the global economy is not necesssary if you believe there will always be more and more to go around. The peoples of the Third World have only to get "educated" and step into the global market to one day live exactly as their big brothers in the industrialized countries."
This is a book with a very certain point of view, but rather than being a demonizing or anguished piece, it's a call to see "progress" for what it truly is and choose for yourself, perhaps joining in promoting a return to ancient values that depend on the inter-connectedness of human beings with each other and the natural world.
April 7, 2009
One of the most incredible surveys of this culture i have read. One of the best cultural surveys i have ever read period. She discusses the lives of these people, and also interprets development issues in a very insightful way. I go back to it and read bits over and over again.
March 21, 2008
This is a great book, would recommend to anyone interested in changing cultures. Beautifully written.
July 9, 2008
Note that the author never stayed there through the winter.
January 13, 2009
The Ladakh people, due to their harsh, remote location in Northern India, preserved their traditional sustenance economy well into the 1970s. This book is a amazing view of what life is like untouched by Western "civilization", and its made me look at so many things differently: family relationships, child rearing, food preparation, waste disposal, free time, basically everything in our lives. Is it easy to romanticize such a traditional, simple culture? Yes. Were they truely more happy than we are? Oh yes.
May 28, 2008
Published in 1991, and mostly about the 15 or so years prior, this book is still pretty relevant as cultural observations about the advantages and disadvantages of a traditional way of life getting "modernized." I'm really curious what the author would write now, after 15+ more years of development, both about the Ladakhi culture and the West's continued capitalist progress and the recent/current huge green movement.
April 21, 2013
Great book. This just shows that there might be other ways of living. The question is whether the subsistence "happy" lifestyle is really what these people want. Is it condescending to say that we can see they were happier before? Worth reading, and even more worth discussing. How can we embrace technological advances without destroying who we are?
April 22, 2014
To me this book read like yet another white person exoticsizing and romanticizing indigenous cultures. I stuck with it though hoping to find some nuggets of new ideas, but I didn't. Disappointing but I'm still glad I read it since it seems to be a 'new classic' among environmentalists.
August 13, 2021
A friend of mine quipped to me not long ago that "economics is too important to be left to economists", a statement with, I believe, a great deal to recommend it. Economists' economics, in my experience have dangerously weak foundations and poorly-considered internal structures, adding up to a dangerous mélange of self-satisfied faith-based dogma and shockingly poor critical self-reflection masquerading as a serious academic pursuit fit to guide our societies.
This was good enough perhaps for the capitalist euphoria and ignorance of the 1960s, but not for the modern world that said euphoria, ignorance (and economists) have created.
I would take my friend's statement a step further, though: not only is economics too important to be left to economists, it is too important to be left to experts.
This is not as radical an idea as it might sound. We have learned in the last decades that child-rearing is beyond experts' ken, for instance, and the late Ken Robinson demonstrated stunningly that expert-driven education is no use at all. The back and forth over nutrition, not least the long furore over sugar versus fat has increasingly demonstrated that what we eat is important enough to be taken away from experts and governed by our best instincts: junk food not so good. Whole food made yourself pretty good. Obviously.
Economics, increasingly, fits on that list. We need experts for things too big, too complex and too impersonal to be handled by individuals: consider covid-19, or climate change. Economics is none of those things, and where it has been made so by the furiously self-justifying experts—globalisation, free trade, division and specialisation of labour, international development—it has been a bad thing for real people.
Ancient Futures lays out an alternative vision rooted in a real economy, society, and place. In gentle, simple, frank prose Norberg-Hodge sketches the contours of the deeply inexpert but profoundly effective traditional Ladakhi economy, run on sustainable principles that have produced and sustained a way of life delivering health, meaning, happiness, stability and profound freedom to a highly competent and intelligent population in an incredibly hostile environment for thousands of years.
Without a single expert.
The she turns to the expert-led process of "development", which has kneecapped and bludgeoned that economy to death and delivered its people ill health, alienation, misery, uncertainty, and unsustainability in fifteen years.
It has delivered, also, total subjection to outside economies in the much-cheered-for guise of "free trade". As Norberg-Hodge powerfully observes, Ladakhis before the arrival of development were what is disparagingly known as "subsistence farmers", a term which can be directly substituted with "economically independent agents". Since development, that economic independence has been summarily annihilated and those agents made utterly dependent on systems and forces thousands of miles beyond their control—a win that lines the pockets of the experts, does nothing good for the people themselves and illustrates the real "freedom" of free trade: for the rich to pillage and exploit the poor.
David van Reybrouck brilliantly elucidated the same idea in his 2008 Congo:
Finally, Norberg-Hodge outlines her own project of counter-development in Ladakh: promulgating human-scale, responsible technologies that support rather than rupture the bonds and practices that make up the Ladakhi economy; resisting the increasing pressure of Western advertising and efforts to drag Ladakhis out of their villages and into the money economy; bringing Westerners to Ladakh, and Ladakhis to the West, to short-circuit the insidious and myopic belief that the West has it better.
The lionising of Ladakh is worthwhile and interesting, but the suspicion and deconstruction of economic expertise and the failed economics of the twentieth century that nevertheless continues to lead our societies is far more important. Most critical of all is the underlying observation that we don't need experts to tell us how to live well: echoing Wendell Berry's admonition that "the notion you have to leave a fertile land to make a living is preposterous", Norberg-Hodge reminds us that living happily, meaningfully, sustainably and prosperously is humanity's natural compulsion—and something we will have to learn how to do as the global system of industrial capitalism creaks and groans amid its slow self-generated apocalypse. More even than when it was first published in 1991, Ancient Futures is a book for our time.
This was good enough perhaps for the capitalist euphoria and ignorance of the 1960s, but not for the modern world that said euphoria, ignorance (and economists) have created.
I would take my friend's statement a step further, though: not only is economics too important to be left to economists, it is too important to be left to experts.
This is not as radical an idea as it might sound. We have learned in the last decades that child-rearing is beyond experts' ken, for instance, and the late Ken Robinson demonstrated stunningly that expert-driven education is no use at all. The back and forth over nutrition, not least the long furore over sugar versus fat has increasingly demonstrated that what we eat is important enough to be taken away from experts and governed by our best instincts: junk food not so good. Whole food made yourself pretty good. Obviously.
Economics, increasingly, fits on that list. We need experts for things too big, too complex and too impersonal to be handled by individuals: consider covid-19, or climate change. Economics is none of those things, and where it has been made so by the furiously self-justifying experts—globalisation, free trade, division and specialisation of labour, international development—it has been a bad thing for real people.
Ancient Futures lays out an alternative vision rooted in a real economy, society, and place. In gentle, simple, frank prose Norberg-Hodge sketches the contours of the deeply inexpert but profoundly effective traditional Ladakhi economy, run on sustainable principles that have produced and sustained a way of life delivering health, meaning, happiness, stability and profound freedom to a highly competent and intelligent population in an incredibly hostile environment for thousands of years.
Without a single expert.
The she turns to the expert-led process of "development", which has kneecapped and bludgeoned that economy to death and delivered its people ill health, alienation, misery, uncertainty, and unsustainability in fifteen years.
It has delivered, also, total subjection to outside economies in the much-cheered-for guise of "free trade". As Norberg-Hodge powerfully observes, Ladakhis before the arrival of development were what is disparagingly known as "subsistence farmers", a term which can be directly substituted with "economically independent agents". Since development, that economic independence has been summarily annihilated and those agents made utterly dependent on systems and forces thousands of miles beyond their control—a win that lines the pockets of the experts, does nothing good for the people themselves and illustrates the real "freedom" of free trade: for the rich to pillage and exploit the poor.
David van Reybrouck brilliantly elucidated the same idea in his 2008 Congo:
...I once spent an afternoon beside the Congo River in the old port of Boma. Swallows zigzagged across the water. Fishermen paddled out in their canoes to inspect their nets. It could have been 1890—until a huge cargo ship came sailing past. It was on its way from Matadi to the ocean. The ship rode high on the water. At the back, close to the prop, I could even see the keel. The ship was empty, completely empty. With the exception of a few spare containers, it was carrying nothing at all. I was reminded of Edmund Morel, who had watched a century earlier as the ships entered Antwerp's harbour loaded with rubber and ivory from Congo, but left again empty. To Morel the difference between riding high or low in the water was proof that the Free State was not engaged in commerce but plunder. The difference in draft I noted suggested that free trade, as roundly promulgated for decades by the prophets of the international economic institutions, could be a form of plunder as well.
Finally, Norberg-Hodge outlines her own project of counter-development in Ladakh: promulgating human-scale, responsible technologies that support rather than rupture the bonds and practices that make up the Ladakhi economy; resisting the increasing pressure of Western advertising and efforts to drag Ladakhis out of their villages and into the money economy; bringing Westerners to Ladakh, and Ladakhis to the West, to short-circuit the insidious and myopic belief that the West has it better.
The lionising of Ladakh is worthwhile and interesting, but the suspicion and deconstruction of economic expertise and the failed economics of the twentieth century that nevertheless continues to lead our societies is far more important. Most critical of all is the underlying observation that we don't need experts to tell us how to live well: echoing Wendell Berry's admonition that "the notion you have to leave a fertile land to make a living is preposterous", Norberg-Hodge reminds us that living happily, meaningfully, sustainably and prosperously is humanity's natural compulsion—and something we will have to learn how to do as the global system of industrial capitalism creaks and groans amid its slow self-generated apocalypse. More even than when it was first published in 1991, Ancient Futures is a book for our time.
February 17, 2019
When I came across the title of this book, out of curiosity I read more about the author. I being burdened with the image on an anthropologist as a westerner bringing their own set of belief systems trying to analyze the Orient through an ingrained sense of superiority.
I am glad I got past this bias and got a copy of the book. To me, Helena Norberg-Hodge is one of the finest thinkers and actors of our times. She not only makes one of the most sensitive ethnographic studies I have come across, one can see her high level of commitment by the fact that she felt she didn't have a choice but to get involved (rather than being apathetic about the changes brought by the modern sense of development). The lucidity with which she writes makes it an easy recommendation for a non-academic audience. Her narratives offer a profound and enriched understanding of the contrasting societal systems.
Being from a region in India that has recently been a center of tourist development with its three months long 'desert festival', I could painfully see the parallels in the changes brought by the monetary economy fueled by monocultural development agenda in the villages of the area over time.
This is a book I would recommend my friends and family in the blink of an eye! A must read...
I am glad I got past this bias and got a copy of the book. To me, Helena Norberg-Hodge is one of the finest thinkers and actors of our times. She not only makes one of the most sensitive ethnographic studies I have come across, one can see her high level of commitment by the fact that she felt she didn't have a choice but to get involved (rather than being apathetic about the changes brought by the modern sense of development). The lucidity with which she writes makes it an easy recommendation for a non-academic audience. Her narratives offer a profound and enriched understanding of the contrasting societal systems.
Being from a region in India that has recently been a center of tourist development with its three months long 'desert festival', I could painfully see the parallels in the changes brought by the monetary economy fueled by monocultural development agenda in the villages of the area over time.
This is a book I would recommend my friends and family in the blink of an eye! A must read...
January 1, 2021
"Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh" by Helena Norberg-Hodge is a book that explores the idea of progress, technological evolution, and the loss of community and culture that seems so essential to modernity. Norberg-Hodge, a linguist, worked with traditional communities in Ladakh, a remote region in Northern India, in the 1970s. Part One of the book documents the traditional life of the people there and how they lived a life attuned to their environments. The people were not wealthy but on the whole, they were happier, healthier, and lives more rich and fulfilling lives. Part Two documents the opening of Ladakh to modernization and the severe, deleterious effects this process had on the people and the environment. Reading this book makes you questions the very notion of modernity - is environmental, social, and cultural destruction a side effect or its main feature? It also shows the fragility of culture. The book ends on a slightly optimistic note as it shows how ordinary Ladakhis are striving to preserve much of their culture that has been lost in the march towards progress. I have an interest in anti-modern thinkers or development critique and this book is one of the main texts of both movements. The book is pretty damning it its critique and I think it should be read widely.
July 7, 2020
Thought provoking critique of globalization and how it creates artificial scarcity and induced competition. Ultimately, it was the one-dimensional perception of Western modernity that lured young Ladahki people to believe that their upbringing was primitive and that material goods will bring them happiness. It is unfortunate that the Ladakhi people did not see the stress, depression, and reality of the hedonic treadmill as evidently as the material comforts of Western society. As someone from the West, I truly envy the traditional Ladakhi lifestyle.
I now understand the immense power of ‘thirst’ and how that has created a vicious cycle of suffering around the globe. I am disappointed that a small sector of humanity is capitalizing on the spreading of ‘thirst’ and believes that profit is worth the negative impacts of globalization.
I now understand the immense power of ‘thirst’ and how that has created a vicious cycle of suffering around the globe. I am disappointed that a small sector of humanity is capitalizing on the spreading of ‘thirst’ and believes that profit is worth the negative impacts of globalization.
July 7, 2007
Helena Norbert-Hodge, recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, founded the International Society for Ecology and Culture which is a UK-US based NGO. This book profiles the lives of Ladakhi families, a primarily agriculturally-based people living in the Himalayas of north India, and most closely related to the Tibetans and Bhutanese. Norbert-Hodge's struggle is to help in the cultural preservation of Ladakhi heritage, a society that has increasingly grown vulnerable to the attractions and magnetism of a globalization which has set thousands of Western backpackers in their main city of Leh every summer. Ladakhis practice semi-organic, subsistence farming and are recognized for minimal environmental impact their lifestyle imposes.
September 24, 2020
I have read innumerable books on the Ladakh and Bhutan model of sustainable development, but would recommend this one strongly. The author appreciates that sustainable living is not intuitively understood by all - and increasingly so, as everything around us is measured by material possession and titles, rather than happiness and satisfaction.
So she gives examples from her 16 years in Leh Ladakh, to demonstrate the advantages of thinking long-term, thinking local, thinking 'happiness'. It's a great book to help one pause, be still and focus on what's important.
So she gives examples from her 16 years in Leh Ladakh, to demonstrate the advantages of thinking long-term, thinking local, thinking 'happiness'. It's a great book to help one pause, be still and focus on what's important.
April 4, 2024
Nothing is Black, Nothing is White*
In a world that often seems to insist on defining everything in terms of absolutes, "Ancient Future" by Helena Norberg-Hodge serves as a compelling reminder that reality is far more nuanced. This book isn't just a treatise; it's a vivid journey into the heart of Ladakh, painting a picture of a society at the crossroads of tradition and modernity.
Helena Norberg-Hodge's work is a testament to a life spent at the forefront of the global localization movement. As an advocate for sustaining local economies and an opponent of the destructive tides of globalization, her insights into Ladakh offer a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities that face traditional societies worldwide. Her dedication shines through her narrative, making "Ancient Future" not just a book, but a window into her soul. "The spread of industrial monoculture is a tragedy of many dimensions," she observes, emphasizing the loss inflicted upon the world with the erosion of each unique culture.
The essence of "Ancient Future" lies in its exploration of Ladakhi life, initially presented through the lens of culture. "I felt I was watching a dream of a happy, small life among the mountains," Norberg-Hodge's descriptions immerse us in a world where every interaction is imbued with respect, fairness, and a profound connection to both the environment and the community. "People work hard, but at their own rate, accompanied by laughter and song. The distinction between work and play is not rigidly defined," she notes, capturing the harmony that defines daily existence.
However, this idyllic depiction shifts dramatically as Norberg-Hodge delves into the impact of change. The encroachment of global forces introduces a discordant note into the Ladakhi way of life, unsettling centuries of equilibrium. "Large-scale environmental destruction, inflation, and unemployment are the consequences of a techno-economic dynamic," she writes, highlighting the dissonance brought about by rapid modernization.
Through the pages of "Ancient Future," I gleaned lessons that felt as timeless as they were timely. A touch of Buddhism infused the narrative, teaching me the importance of interconnectedness and the impermanence of our existence. Daily life in Ladakh, from the stories shared between generations to the communal laws that guided their actions, offered a window into a society that prioritizes harmony and respect above all. Conflict resolution, based on understanding and compassion rather than punishment, underscored the profound wisdom in their approach to living.
Despite this, the epilogue of "Ancient Future" is a testament to hope. Norberg-Hodge believes in the resilience of the Ladakhi people and, by extension, all humanity, to navigate the complexities of this era. She proposes that within the shades of gray that dominate our world, there is room for optimism and growth. "It is said that the universe is like an endless river... Everything is in movement, inextricably intertwined," reflecting on the dynamic and interconnected nature of existence.
"Ancient Future" closes on an optimistic note, underscoring the idea that while the challenges of globalization and cultural preservation are daunting, they are not insurmountable. "There is still hope," Norberg-Hodge reminds us, urging us to see beyond the binary. In the rich tapestry of human experience, "nothing is black, nothing is white." It's a powerful call to embrace the complexity of our world, to find balance and beauty in the nuanced interplay of light and shadow that shapes our shared future.
*The subject "Nothing is Black, Nothing is White" is derived from Helena Norberg-Hodge's "Ancient Future," embodying the book's exploration of the intricate balance between cultural preservation and modernization.
In a world that often seems to insist on defining everything in terms of absolutes, "Ancient Future" by Helena Norberg-Hodge serves as a compelling reminder that reality is far more nuanced. This book isn't just a treatise; it's a vivid journey into the heart of Ladakh, painting a picture of a society at the crossroads of tradition and modernity.
Helena Norberg-Hodge's work is a testament to a life spent at the forefront of the global localization movement. As an advocate for sustaining local economies and an opponent of the destructive tides of globalization, her insights into Ladakh offer a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities that face traditional societies worldwide. Her dedication shines through her narrative, making "Ancient Future" not just a book, but a window into her soul. "The spread of industrial monoculture is a tragedy of many dimensions," she observes, emphasizing the loss inflicted upon the world with the erosion of each unique culture.
The essence of "Ancient Future" lies in its exploration of Ladakhi life, initially presented through the lens of culture. "I felt I was watching a dream of a happy, small life among the mountains," Norberg-Hodge's descriptions immerse us in a world where every interaction is imbued with respect, fairness, and a profound connection to both the environment and the community. "People work hard, but at their own rate, accompanied by laughter and song. The distinction between work and play is not rigidly defined," she notes, capturing the harmony that defines daily existence.
However, this idyllic depiction shifts dramatically as Norberg-Hodge delves into the impact of change. The encroachment of global forces introduces a discordant note into the Ladakhi way of life, unsettling centuries of equilibrium. "Large-scale environmental destruction, inflation, and unemployment are the consequences of a techno-economic dynamic," she writes, highlighting the dissonance brought about by rapid modernization.
Through the pages of "Ancient Future," I gleaned lessons that felt as timeless as they were timely. A touch of Buddhism infused the narrative, teaching me the importance of interconnectedness and the impermanence of our existence. Daily life in Ladakh, from the stories shared between generations to the communal laws that guided their actions, offered a window into a society that prioritizes harmony and respect above all. Conflict resolution, based on understanding and compassion rather than punishment, underscored the profound wisdom in their approach to living.
Despite this, the epilogue of "Ancient Future" is a testament to hope. Norberg-Hodge believes in the resilience of the Ladakhi people and, by extension, all humanity, to navigate the complexities of this era. She proposes that within the shades of gray that dominate our world, there is room for optimism and growth. "It is said that the universe is like an endless river... Everything is in movement, inextricably intertwined," reflecting on the dynamic and interconnected nature of existence.
"Ancient Future" closes on an optimistic note, underscoring the idea that while the challenges of globalization and cultural preservation are daunting, they are not insurmountable. "There is still hope," Norberg-Hodge reminds us, urging us to see beyond the binary. In the rich tapestry of human experience, "nothing is black, nothing is white." It's a powerful call to embrace the complexity of our world, to find balance and beauty in the nuanced interplay of light and shadow that shapes our shared future.
*The subject "Nothing is Black, Nothing is White" is derived from Helena Norberg-Hodge's "Ancient Future," embodying the book's exploration of the intricate balance between cultural preservation and modernization.
July 23, 2016
In a way, this book is really two books in one. In the first section -- about 2/3s of the book -- Norberg-Hodge does a very good job describing traditional Ladakhi society. Everything from gender relations, so child-rearing, to work, to farming, to medical and spiritual aspects is covered. She knows whereof what she writes, having lived in Ladakh for over 15 years. Her 'findings' are primarily personal observation-based -- anecdotal -- however, as this is not an scientific work based on studies. That is not necessarily a criticism, as she makes the point several times that observation can give a more whole view than segmenting via focused studies. Margaret Mead would probably agree. At any rate, her observations are intertwined with comparisons to modern, Western society, what she calls the globalized, consumer-based 'monoculture' of our world. This is really the main thrust of her treatise: that the steamroller onslaught of Western 'progress' with its singular purpose to create ever-more consumer markets buying ever-more (generally unneeded) gadgets, gizmos, crappy food (think Coke) displaces, stresses, and fragments traditional societies. She maintains that it -- the monoculture -- does the same within modern society as well and we just chalk it up as the price of progress. Much of this is explored in her last two chapters plus the afterword which was written 15 years after the original text. She makes very good, convincing arguments. The problem, of course, is when she gets to solutions. (Solutions are always tricky!) Some might call them utopian. Many are ideals of course but that is not a bad thing in my mind. Working for/towards an ideal can be personally rewarding AND can make a difference, though not always in the way one expected, nor at the magnitude one hoped for. Regardless, it is better than falling into a state of cyclic cynicism. I read a Confucius quote recently that summed it up quite nicely: It is better to light one candle, than rail against the darkness. Norberg-Hodge continues to light candles via this book and her non-profit organizations in Ladakh, whether they will hold back the darkness only time will tell.
September 12, 2020
The author painted the life of the Ladakh people that seemed to chronicle their life prior to being FORCED by the CCP to move from their country side to more 'modern' accommodations. I am not sure if the author was romanticizing their way of life or if the CCP were acting out of a selfish desire to take over this region. I suspect that it was all an act. It is quite possible that the CCP told the world at that time that they were "saving these people from poverty", but given all we now now, it is more likely that the CCP's true purpose was more to expand it's borders.
Regardless, this book struck a cord in me. Maybe because I love the environment so much, but I think it is more than that. It held up a mirror to my own beliefs....these people had so little but still they had more than most in terms of a very strong bond, their own culture, there own way of cultivating land, their own way of sheltering themselves and feeding themselves. They had no modern diseases and very little need for a doctor. They were spiritual. And had a crud but sufficient understanding of everything needed to build a society...agriculture, architecture, education, medicine, entertainment, etc...without the influence of the outside world. They seemed to figure it all out for themselves. They really seemed to have everything they needed. No one was alone, without shelter, clothes or food or medical attention. It angered me that the CCP forced them to move and forced upon them their way of life without any regard to the lives, connections, and homes they lost. I cried at the end of this book because I felt this represented the loss of communities and societies that are being gobbled up without any regard to their value. These people's lives were dismissed...they were canceled. And most of the world does not even know they existed.....how many others have WE lost that were not recorded? How many more are we losing now?
Okay I am rambling. I recommend this book if you are interested in learning about a lost culture.
If anything it may make you wonder why people call tearing down a community or destroying land "progress".
Regardless, this book struck a cord in me. Maybe because I love the environment so much, but I think it is more than that. It held up a mirror to my own beliefs....these people had so little but still they had more than most in terms of a very strong bond, their own culture, there own way of cultivating land, their own way of sheltering themselves and feeding themselves. They had no modern diseases and very little need for a doctor. They were spiritual. And had a crud but sufficient understanding of everything needed to build a society...agriculture, architecture, education, medicine, entertainment, etc...without the influence of the outside world. They seemed to figure it all out for themselves. They really seemed to have everything they needed. No one was alone, without shelter, clothes or food or medical attention. It angered me that the CCP forced them to move and forced upon them their way of life without any regard to the lives, connections, and homes they lost. I cried at the end of this book because I felt this represented the loss of communities and societies that are being gobbled up without any regard to their value. These people's lives were dismissed...they were canceled. And most of the world does not even know they existed.....how many others have WE lost that were not recorded? How many more are we losing now?
Okay I am rambling. I recommend this book if you are interested in learning about a lost culture.
If anything it may make you wonder why people call tearing down a community or destroying land "progress".
November 25, 2019
pious hopes
The first half, describing the traditional life of the Himalayan Ladahki people, is very absorbing as such first-hand accounts usually are. The contrasting second part is a bit of a lecture about the terribleness of modern life, combined with the usual pious hopes that things are starting to change for the better. This is nearly 30 years ago and, for community and sustainability, things have changed immeasurably for the worse in that time. They remain of interest only to a lunatic fringe who will never have power to change anything. Through years of being talked about but not acted on, the very ideas have become debased - and prostituted to adverts for mobile phones and cars.
Interestingly the Dalai Lama, writing the Foreword, dissociates himself from the anti-development message (and there's the rub: whatever people in rich countries think about development, people in poor countries overwhelmingly want it). Instead he says that the learning should not be only one way. But that's not how the world works: successful paradigms don't learn from other paradigms, they conquer and devour like an introduced species. We may daydream about lost wholeness and harmony but Western culture will always be about the Bottom Line, and will trample anything that genuinely threatens it. The modern world is not going to get back into the bottle, and we just have to deal with it. At best a book like this can only keep alive the idea of other possibilities.
The first half, describing the traditional life of the Himalayan Ladahki people, is very absorbing as such first-hand accounts usually are. The contrasting second part is a bit of a lecture about the terribleness of modern life, combined with the usual pious hopes that things are starting to change for the better. This is nearly 30 years ago and, for community and sustainability, things have changed immeasurably for the worse in that time. They remain of interest only to a lunatic fringe who will never have power to change anything. Through years of being talked about but not acted on, the very ideas have become debased - and prostituted to adverts for mobile phones and cars.
Interestingly the Dalai Lama, writing the Foreword, dissociates himself from the anti-development message (and there's the rub: whatever people in rich countries think about development, people in poor countries overwhelmingly want it). Instead he says that the learning should not be only one way. But that's not how the world works: successful paradigms don't learn from other paradigms, they conquer and devour like an introduced species. We may daydream about lost wholeness and harmony but Western culture will always be about the Bottom Line, and will trample anything that genuinely threatens it. The modern world is not going to get back into the bottle, and we just have to deal with it. At best a book like this can only keep alive the idea of other possibilities.
August 11, 2018
An extremely insightful book about Little Tibet. The author systematically progresses from describing the Ladakhi culture, economy and the Ladakhi way of life to shedding light on how a self sustained economy has undergone rapid transformation with the advent of modernisation and development.
I wouldn't hesitate in stating how beautifully the author has described and articulated the scenic beauty of Ladakh, it's rich cultural tradition and it's people, so much so, that my urge to travel to Ladakh and Leh has taken root only after I started reading this, and seems to be growing in intensity with each passing day.
Helena's work here compels us to reconsider our obsession and preoccupation with development and modernization, for she argues that the one directional, eurocentric idea of progress is but just one of the many other different ways of living our lives. Charting the course of change in the Ladakhi society as a result of such 'development', the book ends on a hopeful note, putting forth some better, ecologically sustainable ways (here, specifically initiatives undertaken in Ladakh itself) of striving towards progress and betterment.
I wouldn't hesitate in stating how beautifully the author has described and articulated the scenic beauty of Ladakh, it's rich cultural tradition and it's people, so much so, that my urge to travel to Ladakh and Leh has taken root only after I started reading this, and seems to be growing in intensity with each passing day.
Helena's work here compels us to reconsider our obsession and preoccupation with development and modernization, for she argues that the one directional, eurocentric idea of progress is but just one of the many other different ways of living our lives. Charting the course of change in the Ladakhi society as a result of such 'development', the book ends on a hopeful note, putting forth some better, ecologically sustainable ways (here, specifically initiatives undertaken in Ladakh itself) of striving towards progress and betterment.
March 16, 2024
I wouldn't agree with everything that the book has to offer, also because the author didn't really spend the winters in the region. Nonetheless the book is thorough and has made some very logical arguments. I especially found the traditional child rearing practices and the psychological changes of Ladakhis very informative. It's answered a lot of questions related with rethinking "development", and at the same time raised some more. Would recommend the book to anyone who wants to understand the changes "development" can bring about to a culture.
August 12, 2019
Ladakh - a remote place in the Himalayas - despite its rapid increase of contact with globalised world still remains a place, where community is the base, traditions are cheriched, children and elderly are a part of every day life and greatly respected. The book is a manifesto for change for our society. I personally visited Ladakh, the nomadic people high in the mountains (5000m), vitnessed their festivities (Mahakala dance in masks) and was blown away at the almosphere, welcoming of all, where babies were breastfed whenever needed and elderly seated in the first row. An inspiring society.
December 3, 2024
This was very good. What Helena does so well is reveal what ‘progress’ has lost. She is honest about the flaws so provides a realistic picture of what progress might actually be. She has some penetrating ideas. Why is it that our schools are so divided into years for instance? The modern world sacrifices a lot in the drive for ‘efficiency’. The shattering of community and the webs of society have profoundly affected not just our viewpoints and sense of self-security, but our freedom to be.
September 11, 2016
The Ladakh lived their own lives despite its harsh and quite isolated location. Many people can say they're 'uncivilized' but i think it's not appropriate. I mean, they have a lot of things that we, who are so called 'people living in civilized cultures', should learn from. We've been forgotten lots of precious things while hurrying to develop. I think it's time to slow down and look back.
February 1, 2019
A must read for those exploring the meaning and practice of sustainability. Travel to Ladakh to learn how this ingenious community survives -20 degrees and below. The book is also a good reflection on present day tourism into the region and the growing pains of the community as it adapts to rapid changes.
March 10, 2019
A beautiful and clear picture of the conventional and sustainable life style practiced in Ladakh. Reminds you of a dream you never lived.
The second part, that describes the effect of so called development on the emotional health of the people, made me reflect on my own decisions and life style.
One of the best books I have read so far.
The second part, that describes the effect of so called development on the emotional health of the people, made me reflect on my own decisions and life style.
One of the best books I have read so far.
January 19, 2018
new world and technologies encroach upon the world of our past. How this phenomenon has been destructive, but also how they yet blend together for the betterment of all society. A cultural tour de force! or something...
August 15, 2007
This book and film is so inspiring to me... beautiful.
July 19, 2017
Wish there was more historical background and contextualization.
February 6, 2018
Both amazingly beautiful and upsetting at the same time - if it was up to me i would put this book on all school curriculums
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