Ancient Futures, Learning from Ladakh

This is the first of three films I will be showing in the coming weeks about the impact of modernisation on the traditional culture of Ladakh.

The three films, although made over a span of 20 years, are interconnected, as they rely heavily on the work of Helena Norbert-Hodge, who has spent most of her life working in the area.

So-called development in nearly all traditional societies has meant the destruction of their cultures and the fabric of their society, and has brought only a few questionable benefits.

Societies like Ladakh prospered for centuries with virtually no money in the economy through an integrated system of cooperation, where there was no real poverty or crime.

Education then was not for an alienated international economy, in which the worker is a pawn, but for the health and well-being of the whole population.

Today’s film, which is based on the book of the same name, was one of the first to point out the dangers of globalisation, and to offer an alternative vision of how things could be managed.