John Bray
After studying History at Cambridge University, I spent two years teaching in India, first at a school for Tibetan refugees near Dehra Dun and then in Ladakh. On returning to the UK, I embarked on a career as a business risk consultant, and I now live in Singapore. In my consultancy work, I focus on political risk, anti-corruption, and business and human rights. At the same time, I have developed a parallel career as an independent scholar working on the history of Ladakh, Tibet and the Himalayan border regions.
I used to think of my two careers as entirely separate fields of activity. Recently, I have become more alert to common themes. Since childhood I have loved history: old buildings, old documents and the personal reminiscences of relatives and friends. At Cambridge I studied the history of Europe’s relations with Asia and Africa. Now I am based in Singapore, after 12 years in Japan, and I am constantly reminded that my own life is part of this still-unfolding engagement between different cultures and regions.
In both fields of enquiry I am excited by grand themes: inter-connections between East and West; Christianity and Buddhism; human rights. At the same time, I find myself coming back again and again to the lives of individuals, learning how they navigate the pressures and opportunities of the times in which they live.
I have a Ph.D from the University of Cambridge: this was awarded in 2024 on the basis of a selection of ten publications, all of which are posted on this site.
I used to think of my two careers as entirely separate fields of activity. Recently, I have become more alert to common themes. Since childhood I have loved history: old buildings, old documents and the personal reminiscences of relatives and friends. At Cambridge I studied the history of Europe’s relations with Asia and Africa. Now I am based in Singapore, after 12 years in Japan, and I am constantly reminded that my own life is part of this still-unfolding engagement between different cultures and regions.
In both fields of enquiry I am excited by grand themes: inter-connections between East and West; Christianity and Buddhism; human rights. At the same time, I find myself coming back again and again to the lives of individuals, learning how they navigate the pressures and opportunities of the times in which they live.
I have a Ph.D from the University of Cambridge: this was awarded in 2024 on the basis of a selection of ten publications, all of which are posted on this site.
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Himalayan and Tibetan Studies by John Bray
The first concerns taxation, especially taxation in the form of labour obligations. What role did these obligations play in sustaining the wider economic and therefore diplomatic relationship between Ladakh and Tibet?
The second concerns the beneficiaries of the system: what kinds of individuals benefited most?
The third question addresses the perspectives of those who lost out—the kinds of people who might otherwise “escape the historian’s net” (cf. Ramble, Schwieger and Travers 2013). What can we learn of their fate, and what strategies of resistance were open to them?
The purpose of this essay is to offer a modest footnote to this already extensive literature by showing how the British tried to keep track of the detainees in Western Tibet, and only partly succeeded. Drawing on official files from the British Trade Agency in Western Tibet, now held in the National Archives of India, it points to the strengths but also the limitations of British India’s engagement with Tibet and with Western Tibet in particular. In that respect, it also serves a footnote to the wider history of Anglo-Tibetan relations.
The paper discusses the mission’s attempts to develop alternative sources of income through farming and a wool industry that would provide decent livelihoods for the Christian converts, thus relieving them from their bonded debt relationship with their neighbours. The missionaries were fully aware of the possibly that converts would change religions in the hope of receiving material benefits but felt that they had no other option but to take the risk. Nevertheless, the mission ultimately failed, in large part because of the conflict between the missionaries’ spiritual and economic roles.
The paper is based on a close reading of the Missionsblatt aus der Brüdergemeine as well as archival records in Moravian Church House (London). The concluding discussion draws comparisons with other studies of debt bondage relationships elsewhere in the Tibet and the Himalayan border regions.
Part of a collective volume edited by Stephane Gros.
Francke of course did not work alone. By the nature of his research interests he drew on indigenous sources of knowledge, both written and oral. He therefore needed the assistance of Ladakhi and Lahuli colleagues to locate, transcribe and interpret the texts that he required.
In this essay, I place Francke’s researches in a wider social context. The essay is arranged chronologically, with sections on the different phases of Francke’s activity, beginning with his apprentice years in Leh, the capital of Ladakh. The objective is to show how his interactions with local colleagues informed and enriched Francke’s development as a scholar, and to celebrate their contributions.
This essay reviews Desideri’s experiences in the kingdom in the light of recent historical research and with a particular emphasis on the role of his Persian-speaking Muslim guides. He had earlier travelled via Mughal India to Kashmir, and continued to depend on Muslim translators and middlemen until he reached Lhasa. These intermediaries therefore played an essential part in forming his initial views of Ladakh and Tibet to the extent that his exchanges with the King and with local monks may be seen not so much as Buddhist-Christian dialogues but rather as three-way conversations also involving Muslims. None of Desideri’s writings mentions these Muslim intermediaries by name. From scattered references here and there, this essay attempts to draw them out of the shadows.
In this essay, I draw on a range of historical sources, starting with the 17th century, with a view to explaining the longevity of the Lopchak. Different actors often ascribed contrasting political meanings to the mission. I argue that the ambiguities surrounding the Lopchak—rather than being an obstacle—were one of the main reasons for its survival over more than two and a half centuries.
The paper begins by introducing the Moravian church’s first foreign missions in the 18th century. It then examines the various Protestant missions who worked in the Himalayan region in the first half of the 19th century. These include: the Baptists’ Bhutan Mission in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS), whose Tibetan researches between 1816 and 1820 led to the publication of the first Tibetan-English dictionary in 1826; independent German missionaries who worked in the Darjeeling area from the 1840s onwards; and the CMS’s Himalayan Mission in Kotgarh, near Simla, which started in 1842.
The Missions Étrangères de Paris (MEP) sent their first missionary on an exploratory mission to the Sino-Tibetan borderlands in 1847, and they retained a presence in the region until 1952. Together with their Protestant counterparts, the missionaries spent longer periods in the region, and arguably were more intensely involved in its local affairs, than any other category of Westerner. This paper considers the MEP's interactions with local, regional and international trading networks from three points of view: First, many of them were astute observers, playing a role as “incidental ethnographers” alongside their other activities. So what do missionary sources tell us about trade in the region? Secondly though, the missionaries were far from being detached observers. Rather, they may themselves be considered as local ‘actors' who were closely involved with trade, both directly and indirectly. In the paper, I shall discuss the nature of the MEP’s economic activities, and show how it changed in different periods between 1847 and 1952. The MEP were persistent advocates for Tibet's opening to Western commerce, hoping that this would in due course facilitate their evangelistic agenda. The paper will review the arguments that they presented, and assess their influence on wider international engagement with the region. While focusing on the MEP, I propose to take a comparative view, noting the differences and similarities with Protestant experiences in the same period. The paper is primarily based on original sources in the MEP archives in Paris, as well as contemporary missionary publications, and informed by more recent scholarship.
The first concerns taxation, especially taxation in the form of labour obligations. What role did these obligations play in sustaining the wider economic and therefore diplomatic relationship between Ladakh and Tibet?
The second concerns the beneficiaries of the system: what kinds of individuals benefited most?
The third question addresses the perspectives of those who lost out—the kinds of people who might otherwise “escape the historian’s net” (cf. Ramble, Schwieger and Travers 2013). What can we learn of their fate, and what strategies of resistance were open to them?
The purpose of this essay is to offer a modest footnote to this already extensive literature by showing how the British tried to keep track of the detainees in Western Tibet, and only partly succeeded. Drawing on official files from the British Trade Agency in Western Tibet, now held in the National Archives of India, it points to the strengths but also the limitations of British India’s engagement with Tibet and with Western Tibet in particular. In that respect, it also serves a footnote to the wider history of Anglo-Tibetan relations.
The paper discusses the mission’s attempts to develop alternative sources of income through farming and a wool industry that would provide decent livelihoods for the Christian converts, thus relieving them from their bonded debt relationship with their neighbours. The missionaries were fully aware of the possibly that converts would change religions in the hope of receiving material benefits but felt that they had no other option but to take the risk. Nevertheless, the mission ultimately failed, in large part because of the conflict between the missionaries’ spiritual and economic roles.
The paper is based on a close reading of the Missionsblatt aus der Brüdergemeine as well as archival records in Moravian Church House (London). The concluding discussion draws comparisons with other studies of debt bondage relationships elsewhere in the Tibet and the Himalayan border regions.
Part of a collective volume edited by Stephane Gros.
Francke of course did not work alone. By the nature of his research interests he drew on indigenous sources of knowledge, both written and oral. He therefore needed the assistance of Ladakhi and Lahuli colleagues to locate, transcribe and interpret the texts that he required.
In this essay, I place Francke’s researches in a wider social context. The essay is arranged chronologically, with sections on the different phases of Francke’s activity, beginning with his apprentice years in Leh, the capital of Ladakh. The objective is to show how his interactions with local colleagues informed and enriched Francke’s development as a scholar, and to celebrate their contributions.
This essay reviews Desideri’s experiences in the kingdom in the light of recent historical research and with a particular emphasis on the role of his Persian-speaking Muslim guides. He had earlier travelled via Mughal India to Kashmir, and continued to depend on Muslim translators and middlemen until he reached Lhasa. These intermediaries therefore played an essential part in forming his initial views of Ladakh and Tibet to the extent that his exchanges with the King and with local monks may be seen not so much as Buddhist-Christian dialogues but rather as three-way conversations also involving Muslims. None of Desideri’s writings mentions these Muslim intermediaries by name. From scattered references here and there, this essay attempts to draw them out of the shadows.
In this essay, I draw on a range of historical sources, starting with the 17th century, with a view to explaining the longevity of the Lopchak. Different actors often ascribed contrasting political meanings to the mission. I argue that the ambiguities surrounding the Lopchak—rather than being an obstacle—were one of the main reasons for its survival over more than two and a half centuries.
The paper begins by introducing the Moravian church’s first foreign missions in the 18th century. It then examines the various Protestant missions who worked in the Himalayan region in the first half of the 19th century. These include: the Baptists’ Bhutan Mission in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS), whose Tibetan researches between 1816 and 1820 led to the publication of the first Tibetan-English dictionary in 1826; independent German missionaries who worked in the Darjeeling area from the 1840s onwards; and the CMS’s Himalayan Mission in Kotgarh, near Simla, which started in 1842.
The Missions Étrangères de Paris (MEP) sent their first missionary on an exploratory mission to the Sino-Tibetan borderlands in 1847, and they retained a presence in the region until 1952. Together with their Protestant counterparts, the missionaries spent longer periods in the region, and arguably were more intensely involved in its local affairs, than any other category of Westerner. This paper considers the MEP's interactions with local, regional and international trading networks from three points of view: First, many of them were astute observers, playing a role as “incidental ethnographers” alongside their other activities. So what do missionary sources tell us about trade in the region? Secondly though, the missionaries were far from being detached observers. Rather, they may themselves be considered as local ‘actors' who were closely involved with trade, both directly and indirectly. In the paper, I shall discuss the nature of the MEP’s economic activities, and show how it changed in different periods between 1847 and 1952. The MEP were persistent advocates for Tibet's opening to Western commerce, hoping that this would in due course facilitate their evangelistic agenda. The paper will review the arguments that they presented, and assess their influence on wider international engagement with the region. While focusing on the MEP, I propose to take a comparative view, noting the differences and similarities with Protestant experiences in the same period. The paper is primarily based on original sources in the MEP archives in Paris, as well as contemporary missionary publications, and informed by more recent scholarship.
businessmen and policymakers," even though it often seems otherwise.
However, despite Nigeria’s size, and the energy and talents of its people, it has failed to achieve its full potential. The reasons include poor leadership, poor infrastructure and a history of high levels of corruption. The Nigerian market has long been notorious for graft, partly as a result of the country’s reputation as the world leader in financial crime, but also because of the systematic abuse of its oil wealth over several decades by the political class. As a result, many leading investors that might otherwise have flocked to the country have stayed away.
Against this background, this report seeks to answer one simple question: is it possible to do business successfully in Nigeria without involving employees in corrupt practices? The report draws both on Control Risks’ own experience in Nigeria and on the findings of more than 30 specially conducted interviews with senior executives, lawyers, journalists and officials. We wanted to know what strategies succeeded, and, if they failed, why they failed.
Sceptical assessments remain commonplace, and none of our interviewees could offer a ‘silver bullet’ that would avoid all graft-related problems.
Nevertheless, experience shows that it is possible to avoid corruption with a combination of good management, diplomatic skill and determination verging on bloody-mindedness.
The report presents a distillation of our interviewees’ experiences. We share their view that Nigeria presents a particularly tough business environment. It may not be possible to win every battle. Resisting corruption demands a heavy investment of time, determination and ingenuity.
Nevertheless, we believe that it is possible for companies to face up to corruption in Nigeria, and that this is an essential ingredient of ultimate commercial success.