HIMALAYA: Journeys Into the World's Greatest Mountains /  by Jonathan Duncan

New course and multimedia lecture.

The Himalayas are one of the most fascinating regions on Earth. Here we have geographic diversity ranging from the world’s tallest mountains, to lush temperate rainforests and vast arid plains. The geographic diversity is met by a rich cultural diversity whose history is told through the ancient trade routes and cities, and the temples, shrines, and villages that mark the landscape. This class will trace a series of journey’s into the Himalayas, each week exploring a new location. Through multi-media lectures, readings, and open discussion, the course will offer an intimate look into the region’s unique natural and cultural history.

The History & Future of the Great Salt Lake /  by Jonathan Duncan

New course and multimedia lecture.

The Great Salt Lake is one of the geographical wonders of the world. It is the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, and the eighth largest terminal lake on Earth. Human beings first encounter the Great Salt Lake 12,000 years ago, and for centuries various tribes lived along its shores. The lake became an icon for early European and American explorers and pioneers, from Jim Bridger to Brigham Young. Long before that the lake was a vibrant and complex ecosystem, providing essential habitat for millions of migratory birds, as well as bison, antelope, coyote, brine shrimp, and a myriad of other living things. This course will chart the Great Salt Lake’s rich natural and cultural history, and examine its uncertain future as an ecosystem, economic resource, and source of inspiration.

ZEN & the Art of Landscape Photography- Moab, Utah | March 18-21, 2024 /  by Jonathan Duncan

Zen philosophy has much to teach the Western mind about being present in the moment, paying attention, spontaneity, balance, and the interconnection of all things. Through this workshop we will hone our skills in technical photography, composition, and reading natural light, but also practice meditation exercises on light, form, and movement. My hope is we will learn to see the world around us in new ways, and develop our creative capacity to share our own unique version of reality—to tap into our inner artist. Sponsored by the University of Utah’s GoLearn program.

FINDING LADAKH /  by Jonathan Duncan

The World Discovery Programs

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Ladakh is many things. An ancient mountain kingdom in a far corner of the Himalayas, it has long served as a crossroads and entrepot between the cultures of India, China, and Central Asia. This is a place where traditional Tibetan culture continues to flourish. Where the Chang Pa, the nomadic herders of the high plateaus, sustain a way of existing on the land that goes back thousands of years. Ladakh is a place where sand dunes soar unexpectedly amongst the world’s greatest mountains; where dazzling turquoise lakes are worshipped on isolated, windswept plains; where one may still be invited to meditate with a reclusive monk in a cliffside shrine. There is a deep well of history here. In the 1970s, when the region was finally opened up to western travelers, it became a magnet for all variety of academic research. Ladakh came to represent a model of a localized, sustainable society, and a culture that had maintained a living connection to the traditions of the past. Ladakh today is a land in transition and undergoing a rapid and tumultuous awakening to the modern world. One still feels grounded in a rich and meaningful history here, but there is also a sense of time catching up—and a gust in the winds of change.

THE SPIRIT OF HIGH PLACES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH /  by Jonathan Duncan

PRESS RELEASE: Special Zoom Event Sponsored by the University of Utah’s Go Learn program.

This presentation will take you through many of the world’s greatest mountain ranges and explores the ways that human beings have related to these landscapes throughout history. These are enduring stories of meaning and purpose, of people’s aspirations and their sense of what is sacred. Jonathan Duncan has spent over twenty years exploring and documenting the world’s high and wild places. His journeys have taken him throughout the Himalayas, to the Patagonian Andes, the Alaska Range, Antarctica, and the Buddhist mountains of China. Jonathan serves as the adjunct professor of Adventure Media & Photography at Westminster College, and teaches courses on the Sacred Mountains of the World and the Himalayan Geography through the Osher Institute at the University of Utah. He recently released a new photographic ebook—The Spirit of High Places.

THE LAST SHEPHERD /  by Jonathan Duncan

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Last autumn, before all the craziness of 2020, I spent a month traveling through Sikkim in the Indian Himalayas. I was fortunate enough on this trip to meet a young Indian Ph.D student doing her research on the waning days of nomadic herding in the Himalayas. Together we ventured into the forest to document a day in the life of the last goat herders in Sikkim. Our photo-essay just got published in the Himalayan Journal.

Aitamaan Limboo is one of the last sheep herders in the Himalayan region of Sikkim. In 2002, when a state policy banned most grazing and pastoral herding in the protected areas of Sikkim, Mr. Limboo sold his cattle and buffalo herd. The state continued to grant a few permits to herd goats in the region, so Mr. Limboo then took up a herd of sheep and goats. This is a photo essay exploring a day in the life of one of the last shepherds of Sikkim.

In spending any significant time with someone continuing to live a pastoral existence, one is struck by the considerable social, ecological, and political stress they live under. Livestock rearing requires a day and night effort. It also requires a deep knowledge of the natural systems that can only be acquired through years of direct experience living with your animals on the land. Mr. Limboo knows the seasons, the contours of the landscape, the various grasses, and above all, his animals. The hope for this article is to provide a record of a vanishing way of life—and to record a bit of the collected wisdom passed down from generations of people who have lived a pastoral existence in the forests and grasslands of the Himalayas. READ MORE