TASHI DELEK — WELCOME

Hi.
I’m Pasang.

Sherpa scholar from Pharak in northeastern Nepal. Anthropologist, researcher, educator — studying how we live in the midst of dying.

Sherpa scholar from the Mount Everest region

I am an Assistant Professor of Lifeways in Indigenous Asia at the University of British Columbia. I have been studying human dimensions of climate change and Indigeneity in the high Himalayas for the past two decades.

I believe that our sustainability as a Sherpa people in the wake of climate change depends on keeping our songs and stories about people, places and things alive for the next generation.

My research projects apply multidisciplinary approaches to exploring the possibilities of collective survival on warming planet. My research, writing and pedagogy are guided by the question: How do we live in the midst of dying?

I consider plural epistemologies a necessity—not a choice—in addressing contemporary human problems.

My current collaborative projects include: Knowledge Justice Collective, Biodegradable Blessings and Ecologies of Care.

A complete list of my publications can be found here.

Latest work

ALL PUBLICATIONS ↗

2026

READ ↗

Indigenous Peoples' Leadership in Environmental Science Assessments

The Routledge Handbook of Values and Science

2026

READ ↗

Melting Ice and Transforming Beliefs

Nature Climate Change, 16(2)

2026

READ ↗

Recommendations for the Ethical and Equitable Engagement of Indigenous Knowledge Systems within the IPCC

UBC / Assembly of First Nations / IWGIA

RESEARCH FOCUS

"Our collective survivability is at stake."

My most recent research explores collective survival on a warming planet — combining Sherpa oral history with geomorphology to understand people's relationship with place under warming conditions.