The scientific Tibet legacy of Peter Aufschnaiter

Nearly fifty years after his death, the overwhelming majority of the scientific legacy of Peter Aufschnaiterfirst and foremost his diaries, manuscripts (in particular a substantial book manuscript about Tibet), documents, texts (in German, English and partly in Tibetan), correspondence, visual materials (photographs, sketches of maps, drawings), collected religious items and other objectsis still unknown, not researched and not published. The primary aim and principal priority of the research project is to make accessible this large body of materials through appropriate forms of publication and innovative comparative studies. These materials were generated by Peter Aufschnaiter (a skilled mountaineer, trained as a civil engineer, with a gift for languages and fascination for Tibet from his youth) in the vast majority for the purpose of later publication during his time in Tibet (19441952) and subsequently in Tibetan-speaking areas of Nepal (19521971). On the whole, these substantial original materials constitute an interrelated and coherent corpus that is unique in various regards: a) as a comprehensive cross section of Tibetan society in 19441952 and of Tibetan-speaking areas of Nepal during 19521971, b) due to their outstanding and meticulous documentation in written and visual forms and c) on account of their wealth of descriptions, insights, information, visual records and elaborate papers on a wide range of topics. The project studies these materials primarily from social anthropological and historical perspectives, in order to develop a fresh holistic image of the social history of Tibet in the mid-20 th century and overcome unfitting readings of Tibetan society.