History
The College of Language and Culture Studies was established in 1961 after the late third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck’s concerns of losing Bhutan’s traditional knowledge. It later became an institution to preserve and promote Bhutanese language and culture. The College retains its focus on Bhutanese culture and history through research and imparting knowledge to youth. To meet the expectation of the College, the Centre for History and Culture was established in 2011 to carry out research on features and events related to the history and culture in Bhutan. The major initiative of the centre thus far is building the data base of Bhutan Cultural Atlas. The Bhutan Cultural Atlas is a project supported by CNRS, UNESCO, and has completed documenting historical temples, sacred sites, and other unique cultures of communities in two dzongkhags (Bumthang and Trongsa) and Zhemgang is under way.
However, the centre’s name was changed to Bhutan and Himalayan Research Centre to extend scholarship beyond Bhutan and include Himalaya to it in 2017. BHRC is aiming to create an interdisciplinary network of research, teaching, and networking on Bhutan and the Himalayas. College of Language and Culture Studies has unique research strengths in the study of Bhutan and Himalayas due to the diverse courses that we offer which circles around the Bhutan and Himalayan studies. Today we offer courses related to Culture, History, Religion, Buddhism, Philosophy, Anthropology, Linguistics, Sociology, Art and Music and so on. We invite guest speakers for lecturers on Bhutan and Himalayan culture, Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy, Buddhist art and iconography, Bhutan and Himalayan history and politics. We also look forward to conduct faculty seminars and host visiting scholars. Besides BHRC is also dedicated to document Bhutan’s culture and traditions that are losing with the change of time. To do so BHRC uses the latest technologies to document data properly in audio, visual and written forms.
Bhutan’s rich cultural heritage stands out uniquely in the world today and reflects the rich customs, traditions and social values of the people. BHRC attempts to make CLCS the best resource centre not only in Bhutanese History and Culture but including Himalayan Studies too. So that international researchers, scholars and learners can also access and make good use of these resources.
Objectives
To built an interdisciplinary network of research, teaching, and networking on Bhutan and Himalayas
Document Bhutan’s unique culture and traditions that are losing with time.
Facilitate and foster collaborative research with universities and institutions both nationally and internationally.