Decolonizing Ethnographic ‘Responsibility’: Towards a Decolonized Praxis
what happens when the question of responsibility becomes one of obligation; choice becomes necessity, and crisis exists as an everyday reality?
Category Archive: self-immolation
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Their Burning Bodies Told Histories Never Forgotten: Self-Immolations in Tibet
In the past few years, an unprecedented number of Tibetans have chosen to drink kerosene and light themselves on fire. What are self-immolations about? They are often framed as protest by the popular media, but is that all they are? Self-immolations are deeply complex, and involve layer upon layers of meaning that need to be considered. In the following, one of the ways I interpret them is by considering the self-immolations as producing historical narratives of Tibet that counter China’s hegemonic narrative on, and current political control of Tibet.
How do you teach self-immolations in Tibet?
Last Thursday, April 5th, I gave a talk on the self-immolations at my school, followed by a Q&A. I was a bit nervous. How does one begin to try to make sense out of such a powerful yet painful act, without sensationalizing, to people who don’t know much about Tibet in the span of one hour?