| ACMS Speaker Series “The Green Eyed Lama”
| | Speaker: Dr. Jeffrey L. Falt & Oyungerel Tsedendamba
5:30 PM, Tuesday - October 24th, 2016, American Corner, Ulaanbaatar public library
“The year is 1938. The newly-installed Communist Government of Mongolia, under orders from Moscow, launches a nation-wide purge. Before it’s over, nearly tenth of the country’s population is murdered.
Sendmaa, a young herdswoman, falls in love with Baasan, a talented and handsome lama. Baasan resolves to leave the priesthood and marry Sendmaa, but her scheming neighbor, persuades Baasan’s brother, Bold, to “ask a bride” first. Their love triangle is engulfed by tragedy when Choibalsan, Mongolia’s Stalin, moves to crush the Buddhist faith.
As the country teeters toward war, Baasan is sentenced to death as a class enemy. But an improbable ally, a lama turned “KGB” agent, intervenes in a way that reaches all the way to Franklin Roosevelt. Still, Baasan must summon every bit of his talent and ingenuity if he’s to survive the gulag, reunite with Sendmaa, and help save the Buddhist faith.”
For nearly 10 years the Mongolian version of The Green Eyed Lama” has been on the Mongolian best sellers list, and has won numerous awards. The book has been recently released in French and the English version is in the final stages of editing. This presentation by the author Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, former Minister and human rights activist, will discuss the history, issues and lessons to be learned from this dark period of Mongolia’s past.
Co-Sponsored by the American Cultural and Information Center, Ulaanbaatar
| | About the Presenters: Jeffrey L. Falt
| | He is an attorney with a Bachelor’s Degree, a Master’s Degree and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of California at Berkeley. Following a stint as a legal aid attorney in rural California he turned to human rights law, court reform and access to justice for marginalized communities in developing countries with The Asia Foundation, Amnesty International, the American Bar Association, USAID and numerous other international organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. His journal article, “Legal aid and the Empowerment of the Poor in Developing Countries” became a teaching tool and a call to action. Jeffrey met Oyungerel in 2000 while on a peaceful assignment in Mongolia. They married in 2004.
Oyungerel Tsedendamba She is a well-known human rights activist. She proposed, advocated and eventually played a leading role in adopting laws to de-criminalize libel and abolish the death penalty in Mongolia. She received a scholarship to study planning economy in the USSR and earned a Master’s Degree in Market Economy in Russia. She subsequently received a Master’s Degree from Stanford University where she was a Fulbright Fellow. She is an Eisenhower Fellow and a World Fellow of Yale University. She later served as Adviser to the Prime Minister of Mongolia and subsequently to the President of Mongolia on human rights and civic participation. In 2012 she won election to Mongolia’s Parliament and was appointed Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In 2015 Oyungerel was awarded the Chevalier de L'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture of France for her efforts to end the death penalty in Mongolia and her contributions to preserving and protecting Mongolia’s cultural heritage including the much publicized Tyrannosaurus bataar case. Oyungerel is the author of eight books and co-author of two with Jeffrey. Jeff and Oyuna live in Ulaanbaatar.
| | For more information visit the ACMS website www.mongoliacenter.org
Thank you to the American Corner and the Natsagdorj Library for sponsoring this event.
THESE LECTURES ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The American Center for Mongolian Studies is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting scholarship in Mongolian Studies.
ACMS, Ulaanbaatar Public Library - East entrance, Seoul street-7, Sukhbaatar District
Phone: (976) 7711-0486, e-mail: info@mongoliacenter.org
website: http://www.mongoliacenter.org
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