China’s Socialist Development in Tibet: Dispossession & Settler Colonial Governance | Dr. Dawa Lokyitsang | GENEVA FORUM 2026, Switzerland

I delivered this presentation at the 6th Geneva Forum on February 9, 2026, held at the International Conference Centre Geneva (CICG) in Geneva, Switzerland. It was part of the Session 2 Panel: Examining State Narratives: Development and Dispossession.

The talk explores how China’s socialist modernization policies in Tibet since 1950 have reshaped Indigenous Tibetan life, governance, and society. I show how China’s early development projects, infrastructure expansion, and administrative changes were part of broader efforts to consolidate territorial control and manage local resistance—restructuring the region in ways that go beyond simple modernization.

While grounded in settler colonial theory, the presentation offers new insights into China’s presence in Tibet, highlighting its implications for Indigenous sovereignty, anti-colonial resistance, and the politics of development and dispossession. It positions Tibetan resistance as a sustained political response to these transformations, connecting Tibet’s experience to broader conversations about empire, settler-colonial governance, and anti-colonial struggles.