Studies in honour of Luciano Petech. A commemoration volume 1914-2014.

The volume commemorating prof. Luciano Petech for the centennial of his birth (1914) has been edited by the same scholars who had organized the international seminar in Rome (2014) and who later on invited both those who attended the seminar and other scholars to submit their papers for the publication in the commemoration volume. As it is stated in the Foreword, the organizers’ original idea was not only to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the birth of a teacher and prominent academic – particularly one whose influential research in the field of Tibetan studies has not yet waned – but also to convene a group of scholars, both Italian and from abroad, who were linked to him either by personal or professional friendship or by common research interests, or, in the Tibetan tradition, were his direct or indirect disciples. The conference triggered lively debates which once more demonstrated the inspirational force of Petech’s scholarship. The conveners successively invited the contributors to revise and enrich their papers on the basis of the suggestions and the challenges emerged during the discussions, in order to collect the articles in a commemorative book. In the Foreword to the volume the various articles are in turn presented and described within the framework of prof. Petech’s multiple interests and vast scientific production, emphasizing the multidisciplinary character of both the commemorative volume and prof. Petech’s scientific legacy. Among the contributions included in the celebrative volume, those written by John Bray, Elena De Rossi Filibeck and (jointly) Helga Uebach and Jampa Panglung deal with issues regarding the geographical area of Ladakh, while those produced by Giorgio Milanetti and Camillo Formigatti cover cultural themes related to India and Nepal respectively. Several articles devoted to the Chinese sphere (by Mauro Crocenzi, Paolo Santangelo, Elliot Sperling) examine some of its political, cultural and historical issues. The majority of the contributions collected in the volume concern Tibet. Italian and international scholars such as Michela Clemente, Hildegard Diemberger and Tsering Dawa Sharshon (jointly), Alessandro Boesi, Amy Heller, Erberto Lo Bue, Giacomella Orofino, Donatella Rossi, Marta Sernesi, Federica Venturi, Roberto Vitali have variously contributed to the analysis of a variety of artistic, cultural, religious and historical aspects of Tibetan civilization. Oscar Nalesini’s paper deals with the reorganization of the personal archive of Luciano Petech donated to Elena De Rossi Filibeck. The volume contains also three appendixes with paintings by Livia Liverani and Nyima Dhondup and an exhibition of Italian comics on Tibet.