Armchair Academics is an independent educational video production company that specializes in making entertaining, informational video essays and mini-documentaries on social scientific topics. Our content is published on and made freely available through RU-vid, as well as the channel’s official website. Armchair Academics exists to provide general audiences - and potential or current undergraduate students in the social sciences - with easy-to-understand, entertaining videos that demonstrate how social scientists approach and answer essential questions regarding culture, religion, and society.
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The host, Alexander K. Smith, holds a PhD in the anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas from the University of Paris (EPHE - PSL) and a Master's in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies from the University of Oxford.
Check out this amazing and descriptive lecture on postcolonalism, Race and Ethnicity in cultural studies in hindi , covering important topics like History of race and ethnicity , Critical Race Theory (CRT) ,Edward Said’s Orientalism , Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s Can the subaltern speak?,Homi K. Bhabha’s Hybridity: , Stuart Hall’s "New Ethnicities": ,Ethnic Representation in Media: and other important concepts and theories ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H-xC7SXLwgM.htmlsi=FznFBkIZDg08gTXg 💕✨
Very educational video on the real story of Tibetan History. A pity I find the abdominable pronunciation of Sanskrit words and names of characters. A little preparation or consultation of aSanskrit professor would add to the authenticity of the narrative. Greeting from a Sanskrit student The Netherlands.
Hey there! Thanks for the comment -- and for the constructive criticism, as well. It's noted and I'll run Sanskrit terms and names past colleagues in the field for future episodes. Thanks for watching!
wonderful work indeed! it is quite rare in my experience to see an in depth documentary regarding tibet; the tibetan empire on youtube, but this one truly ‘hits the spot!’ :)
Hey there, thanks for posting. We cover the role of Padmasambhava as a historical figure in the second episode "The Golden Age of the Tibetan Empire" (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pDmX9kVvG44.html).
A question about the graphic design, per the modern use of the prayer wheel, the prayer wheel used today is spun clockwise with the instruction of spinning the wheel counter clockwise as incorrect, and possibly, harmful. Was the graphic animation of the spinning prayer wheel in Padmasambhava's hand a specific historic reference to a prayer wheel that was to be spun counterclockwise?
Thanks for posting! That's a great question. To be honest - and I hate to say it - but the counter-clockwise spinning here is a very frustrating mistake on my part (this is Alex, by the way, the writer/director). You're 100% correct that, normally, prayer wheels should be spun clockwise and not counterclockwise. In general, we strive for a high level of cultural fidelity in our artwork and, at the time of writing, the issue you highlighted is probably my most significant oversight as a director on the series. We tend to catch errors like that in the early stages of production. In addition to myself (MA/PhD in Tibetan studies), we work with a cultural consultant, who generally catches issues like that before they become a problem. Due to time pressures, however, we weren't able to screen the sequence for our consultant and I failed to notice the error before it was too late. In any case, thanks again for posting. It's wonderful when viewers comment on culturally-grounded elements in the artwork like that. Knowing that people are keeping on eye on the material culture of the series is great motivation for us to continue striving to produce culturally faithful artwork (within the limitations our budget, of course!).
Only thing that seems mixed up with this story is it was Nepali princess Bhrikuti who brought Buddhism & Buddha statue with her to Tibet. She also brought monks with her to teach Buddhism in her new home.
किराँत को धर्म गुरु विद्वानको भनाइ अनुसार राई लिम्बु र सुनुवारको मुधुम भित्र किराँत छैनन् भनेर घोषण गरेको पाइन्छन् । बास्तबमा घले राजाको इतिहासमा एलङ्दर ग्याल्दङ् घले लाई उधोली र उभोलिमा बेलुकी मुन्दुङ्मा भेडाको साठ् बलि दिदै आएको हाम्रो पित्री संस्कार परम्परा छ। आज भोलि बागमतीमा घले तामाङ र नेवार बस्ती भएको हिसाबले पनि राजा एलम्पर घले राजा भएको अनुमान् गर्न सकिन्छ । गण्डकी प्रदेश र बागमती प्रदेशमा घले राजाहरुको शासन थियो। कर्णालीमा खस्न राज्री थियो। पुर्बमा किराँत राज्य थियो।
Critical theory influenced teaching for pre university pupils has been a complete disaster. A student needs to learn the knowledge and skills first in a disciplined environment before they can then apply a meaningful critique. It is for universities not schools. The schools need to teach them the basics first and these traditional methods work very well. Children are chaotic and need structure in order to mature into psychologically stable adults who are then capable of learning complex philosophical concepts without losing their minds to unhinged ideology. Leaning to run before one can walk never was a good Idea.
Far to many people i know see tibet and mongolia and the step cultures as just other asian cultures but they were as different from chinese cultures and south asian cultures as Europeans were too african and native north American cultures. Being close to someone does not mean u have to share culture with them and tibet is one of my favorite cultures to learn about because its very different than most other ancient cultures ive studied.
I’d like to see evidence that anybody on the sensible right ever said anything like “being exposed to non-Western ideas will inevitably corrupt students and destroy Western Civilization.” Without evidence of that I’ll conclude that the professors comment was a little ridiculous. What the right likely does say is that post-colonialism is a Marxist theory and therefore intent on destroying the West with, for one thing, one sided critiques that assume white people never did any good in the world (despite massive amounts of evidence to the contrary) and that non-white people never caused any harm (despite massive amounts of evidence to the contrary.)
There wasn't a Tibetan Empire whatsoever. Because the total Tibetan population in Tibet is just over 3 million at present. Probably only half a million, many hundred years ago. Just a very small kingdom ruled by monks on a big and hostile high ground at best, definitely not an empire, LOL
blimey i know this was posted a while ago but i just volunteered at my church today on a whim. i've been studying media and communication and found how humans leave 'fingerprints' in code so interesting, almost like a ghost in the machine like how religion has affected every singled culture in one way or another.... fascinating.
What about the criticism of PT from the actual left? That includes the argument that much of the writing is obscurantist (as mentioned), but more importantly, that a lot of it is in fact reactionary, wearing a cloak of radicalism but posing a threat to no one in power and liberating only a few on the subaltern side. Some tenures for the academics of colour, but nothing for the working class of any colour. See Vivek Chibber.
Why some elements of Critical Theory are a catalyst to positive social change. The theoretical underpinnings have replaced one meta narative with another. In practice critical theory will be a self-cananbalising crusade.
Hey there! Thanks so much. The character animation is done using a combination of Toon Boom Harmony and Procreate and we use After Effects for some of the Postproduction work -- adding parallax movement, for example, or motion to the elements on our maps. Thanks for posting!
Please tell all Indian Mamas to SHUT-UP as the Indians claimed that Tibet belongs to India. The Tibetians are Yellows and not Black. There are plentiful of Mountains dividing Tibet and India which has no connection at all. The Traitor Dali Lama escaped to India to arrest because the Dali Lama wants to be King of Tibet. He does not want to be under the control of China. But now Tibet is under the jurisdiction of China and the Evil Western Empire wants to create division in China. That's All.
There’s a lot of literature on Bon and the traditional Tibetan practices in pre-Buddhist eras. Kinda disappointed that was just glossed over as ‘don’t know’
I think Avatar is a colonialist film disguised as a critique. It exoticizes otherness with a series of visual clichés. And more deeply, its an example of another type of colonization, the colonization of the mind via virtuality, and the experience of reality as a visual phenomenon. It makes USA-style salvation glamourous to the world.
Alex: this is a great series! Very informative and the maps really help to explain the geographic power struggles. Compliments to your whole creative team (and its fun to hear your voice-overs again!) I have passed this on to my Buddhist friends.
Wow, this is an amazing contextual example - thank you so much!! If possible can you do a video on how to write a "thick description" and ethnographic research paper?
Hey there! Thanks so much. We'll be discussing the Kagyu and Sakya in a bit of depth next episode and then focusing on the Geluk in episode five, but we don't have the time to go into the depth that each sect deserves in this particular series. But I 100% plan on making a video in the future that focuses specifically on the origins, founders, and early history of each of the major sects (including Bon).
It was indeed! We actually cover that time period in episode two. In short, though, during the mid-to-late 8th century, the Tibetan Empire expanded as far West as Samarkand, going so far as to *briefly install a Tibetan governor in the city before they were pushed back to the Wakan Corridor by the armies of the Abbasid Caliphate. The historian Christopher Beckwith, who uses both Tibetan and Arabic-language sources, is probably still the best resource for learning about the Tibetan-Abbasid campaigns of the 8th century. I'd recommend his "The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia" as an entry-point (although it's a pretty dense read). If you're interested, you'll find a wealth of primary source material there that discusses the brief Tibetan occupation of a number of cities across modern-day (North) Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Eastern Kazakhstan. Thanks for watching!
