Exploring Tibetan Indigeneity in the Context of Globalizing Settler Colonialism, talk @ U of British Columbia (2024)

Thank you to the Department of Asian Studies’ Himalaya Program, Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies, and School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia for hosting my November 22, 2024 talk.

Based on the article “Are Tibetans Indigenous?“, this presentation examined how North American settler-colonialism literature might complicate our understanding of relationships between Asian nation-states and their ‘Indigenous’ populations. The talk included a Q&A session.

During my response to the last question, I brought up the incident in which Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of New Zealand’s Māori party interrupted a parliamentary vote by ripping up a copy of the controversial bill while performing the Haka. The controversial bill seeks to radically change how New Zealand’s foundational treaty between Māori and the Crown is interpreted in modern times. Maipi-Clarke’s act of protest drew attention to the potential impact of the proposed changes on Māori rights and sovereignty.