Cultural Anthropology-Tibet: Why?
© 2011 Dlo08
I have just started my MA program in Cultural Anthropology this past week. Things are going well and I am excited for what awaits. In one of my classes, my professor asked all the students to write an “Intellectual autobiography” to share how we came to choosing anthropology, what research we want to focus on and how we hope to use it “professionally”.
Here is part of the write up of what I want to focus my research on and what I hope to achieve with it. It is not clear as of now because I am still developing my research focus, I will keep my readers updated when I slowly figure things out:
I decided to go back to school because I want to become more capable and knowledgeable in understanding and amplifying the voices of Tibetans, both inside and outside of Tibet. There are many books available on Tibet, but most ignore the political aspects and aspirations of Tibetans. Additionally, there has been a tendency among Western and non-Tibetan scholars of Tibet and China to use “colonizing languages” (see Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, 1999) in their descriptions of Tibet, languages that overlook present realities.
Within Tibetan Studies, only a few Tibetans have been included and have managed to make a mark in ways that both align with Tibetan realities and advance the study of Tibet in meaningful directions. But they are the exception—and this exception is by design. Faced with such frustrations, I enrolled in this program to receive anthropological training in theory and ethnography. With this training, I hope to provide an alternative framework that is inclusive of current Tibetan realities, including their colonial and exilic experiences, as well as their agency.
By centering experiences that are currently marginalized in Tibetan Studies, I hope to empower members of my community and contribute to our struggle for freedom.
I plan to do ethnographic research on the Tibetan political movement from the 1990s to the present, with a focus either inside or outside Tibet. It still needs to be narrowed down, and as of now, I’m not sure where it’s going—but that’s what I’m currently focusing on. I’m pretty psyched that my advisor is Carole McGranahan, who specializes in Tibetan resistance histories. Professionally, I hope to be in a position to help shift the language within the movement—and the larger academic discourse—from passive to assertive, while continuing my ongoing involvement in advocacy on behalf of Tibet by receiving and providing trainings in nonviolent resistance theories, actions, and technologies.
With my research focus on Tibet, luckily for me, everyday will be Lhakar. I will try my best to examine and share the existing knowledge while trying/hoping to offer alternative ones and/with critical views. With this, I hope to encourage and empower the youth and our community at large.
As usual, please feel free to be constructively critical and challenging, albeit with respect. Don’t hesitate to offer any extra knowledge or corrections that you see fit. I am always open and look forward to such comments. I will most likely not get all of the picture and I hope my readers will be helpful in offering their own knowledge that could help me with my research.
Before I leave, here is a picture of a story teller (we are all story tellers) in Lhasa with the following description:
“A [Lama Mani] storyteller using a thangka painting and telling (or rather, singing and chanting) a traditional story…This storyteller used a long iron pointer bound with ribbons to tell the life story of a religious teacher with the aid of the thangka. The painting is so worn that it is difficult to see any details on it. The story is told in chanted verses, pointing at the relevant part of the painting. In between these sections the teller bows, puts down the pointer and chants a prayer while holding rosary beads. From time to time the storyteller succeeded in gathering a small crowd in this Lhasa back street. The box in front of the painting is for donations.”
Click here to learn more the continuance of this tradition of Lama Mani storytellers in exile.
Here is a August 16, 2025 interview by Voice of Tibet with Lama Mani Tsering Samphel from Dingri now living in exile:
wonderful post! looking forward to the next one’s!! i wish you strength and joy for your research!
Loved the post. Keep it up D! and for us non-tibetans who keep on learning, it’s very useful to read postings like yours, and even more useful to find more resources to read from which we can learn so we try to do our job the best way possible as trainers, coordinators and activists. For now, I will look for the book you mentioned by Carol M.
How beautiful to find treasures like the picture of the story teller, we don’t find those very often but we need them. Thank you and all the success with school!
the study of human being with a context of past, present,future, biologically, culturally and a being of society avobe all holisticallt study of human being is called anthropology.
This is so amazing. I am so happy that you have found your vision and mode by which you will make an invaluable and continued contribution!
Interestingly, based on what you have written here, I am headed in the same direction. So it makes me even more happy that I have someone to look up to.
I am currently working on a senior thesis that is looking Transnational Tibetan Activist network which i want to approach with detailed ethnographies of the people whom comprise this movement, analyzing divergence within the context of international politics & norm development (which will of course have to feature communication with the global audience). As you can see I am at the very beginning stages. And since you are probably much more educated than I am about this, it would be great to hear your input (useful sources you have encountered, Theoretical foundations/ approaches, questions to consider, anything interesting that I may not have encountered yet)
You are inspiring, please keep up your work!
Thanks Chemi. Your research sounds amazing. Let LD know if you’d like to share parts of it to share w/ our readers. I would love to read your journey.