Taming Tibet

Taming Tibet PDF Author: Emily Yeh
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801469775
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
The violent protests in Lhasa in 2008 against Chinese rule were met by disbelief and anger on the part of Chinese citizens and state authorities, perplexed by Tibetans' apparent ingratitude for the generous provision of development. In Taming Tibet, Emily T. Yeh examines how Chinese development projects in Tibet served to consolidate state space and power. Drawing on sixteen months of ethnographic fieldwork between 2000 and 2009, Yeh traces how the transformation of the material landscape of Tibet between the 1950s and the first decade of the twenty-first century has often been enacted through the labor of Tibetans themselves. Focusing on Lhasa, Yeh shows how attempts to foster and improve Tibetan livelihoods through the expansion of markets and the subsidized building of new houses, the control over movement and space, and the education of Tibetan desires for development have worked together at different times and how they are experienced in everyday life.The master narrative of the PRC stresses generosity: the state and Han migrants selflessly provide development to the supposedly backward Tibetans, raising the living standards of the Han's "little brothers." Arguing that development is in this context a form of "indebtedness engineering," Yeh depicts development as a hegemonic project that simultaneously recruits Tibetans to participate in their own marginalization while entrapping them in gratitude to the Chinese state. The resulting transformations of the material landscape advance the project of state territorialization. Exploring the complexity of the Tibetan response to—and negotiations with—development, Taming Tibet focuses on three key aspects of China's modernization: agrarian change, Chinese migration, and urbanization. Yeh presents a wealth of ethnographic data and suggests fresh approaches that illuminate the Tibet Question.

Taming Tibet

Taming Tibet PDF Author: Emily Yeh
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801469775
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 347

Get Book Here

Book Description
The violent protests in Lhasa in 2008 against Chinese rule were met by disbelief and anger on the part of Chinese citizens and state authorities, perplexed by Tibetans' apparent ingratitude for the generous provision of development. In Taming Tibet, Emily T. Yeh examines how Chinese development projects in Tibet served to consolidate state space and power. Drawing on sixteen months of ethnographic fieldwork between 2000 and 2009, Yeh traces how the transformation of the material landscape of Tibet between the 1950s and the first decade of the twenty-first century has often been enacted through the labor of Tibetans themselves. Focusing on Lhasa, Yeh shows how attempts to foster and improve Tibetan livelihoods through the expansion of markets and the subsidized building of new houses, the control over movement and space, and the education of Tibetan desires for development have worked together at different times and how they are experienced in everyday life.The master narrative of the PRC stresses generosity: the state and Han migrants selflessly provide development to the supposedly backward Tibetans, raising the living standards of the Han's "little brothers." Arguing that development is in this context a form of "indebtedness engineering," Yeh depicts development as a hegemonic project that simultaneously recruits Tibetans to participate in their own marginalization while entrapping them in gratitude to the Chinese state. The resulting transformations of the material landscape advance the project of state territorialization. Exploring the complexity of the Tibetan response to—and negotiations with—development, Taming Tibet focuses on three key aspects of China's modernization: agrarian change, Chinese migration, and urbanization. Yeh presents a wealth of ethnographic data and suggests fresh approaches that illuminate the Tibet Question.

The Book of Tibetan Elders

The Book of Tibetan Elders PDF Author: Sandy Johnson
Publisher: Riverhead Books (Hardcover)
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
"A historically isolated people, the Tibetans have now indeed come to the land of the red man, and nearly every other country on earth. When the Chinese invaded the country in 1959 and proceeded to destroy the ancient-wisdom culture as well as nearly a sixth of the population, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans fled to India and parts west. In the 1980s, the prophecy was fulfilled, and the Dalai Lama, exiled leader of Tibet, met with Hopi and other American Indian elders in an effort to reunite the brothers." "Tibet's spiritual elders are dying off, and it is with them that so many of the secrets of survival lie. They are the ones who can find by touching someone's wrist what our medicine cannot detect; they saw the empty spaces of the atom before science considered the concept of subatomic particles; they know how to realign even severe emotional imbalances without drugs or therapy; they know what plants heal us (they have catalogued more than two thousand) and how to save them from destruction; they predicted the demise of their own country at the hands of the Chinese; they saw the coming of AIDS almost ten centuries ago. These people are dying off, and with them, the wisdom we need to make it through the next century and beyond." "After the Chinese occupation of their country, many Tibetan elders were killed in reeducation camps. Many survived, however, to escape what has now become a brutally oppressive environment. Sandy Johnson traveled around the world gathering the life stories and teachings of Tibetan doctors, the state oracle, the previous Dalai Lama's tailor, the great women masters - the entire range of the culture. An astrologer offers to produce Sandy's chart, including the date of her death; a stone carver shows her the rocks with prayers painted on them that he places in the river at the end of every day so that the water may carry blessings to everything it touches; Johnson meets a woman of indeterminate age who lives her life in a cave praying that people might be less distracted by material things and learn to care for each other again. At the same time, Johnson herself is on a spiritual quest, and interwoven with the stories of the elders comes her own physical healing as well as a long-awaited reconciliation with her family. The book is filled with predictions made by the Tibetan elders about the course of Johnson's life - most of which have already come true."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Contemporary Tibet

Contemporary Tibet PDF Author: Barry Sautman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315289997
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
The subject of Tibet is highly controversial, and Tibet, as a political entity, is defined differently from source to source and audience to audience. The editors of this path-breaking, multidisciplinary study have gathered some of the leading scholars in Tibetan and ethnic studies to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Tibet question. "Contemporary Tibet" explores essential themes and issues concerning modern Tibet. It presents fresh material from various political viewpoints and data from original surveys and field research. The contributors consider such topics as representations and sovereignty, economic development and political conditions, the exile movement and human rights, historical legacies and international politics, identity issues and the local society. The individual chapters provide historical background as well as a general framework to examine Tibet's present situation in world politics, the relationship with China and the West, and prospects for the future.

Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe

Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe PDF Author: George B. Schaller
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226736532
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
The Chang Tang, the vast, remote Tibetan steppe, is one of the most forbidding places on earth. Yet this harsh land is home to a unique assemblage of large mammals, including Tibetan antelope, gazelle, argali sheep, wild ass, wild yak, wolves, snow leopards, and others. Since 1985, George B. Schaller and his Chinese and Tibetan co-workers have surveyed the flora and fauna of the Chang Tang. Their research provides the first detailed look at the natural history of one of the world's least known ecosystems.

Tibet Since 1950

Tibet Since 1950 PDF Author: Orville Schell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
A look at the political oppression of the Tibetian people by the Chinese government.

Tibet

Tibet PDF Author: Michel Peissel
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312309534
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
A passionate homage to Tibet in words and pictures by one of the last great explorers who brings the geographical, spiritual, and intellectual heart of the country to life. 250 photos.

Sky Burial

Sky Burial PDF Author: Blake Kerr
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1559397241
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
This is a riveting firsthand account by Blake Kerr, an American doctor who inadvertently walked into one of the grimmest scenes of political oppression in the world. Kerr was visiting Tibet with his old college friend John Ackerly. They were enjoying the sights and sounds of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and hitchhiking to Everest, where they "humped loads" for an American expedition assaulting the mountain. Upon returning to Lhasa, Kerr and Ackerly witnessed a series of demonstrations by Tibetan monks greater than anything witnessed by foreigners since China entered Tibet in 1949.

Demystifying Tibet

Demystifying Tibet PDF Author: Lee Feigon
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee Publisher
ISBN: 9781566631969
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Recounts the history of Tibet, describes how its culture is more similar to that of central Asia than to that of China, and argues that the idea that Tibet is part of China is a relatively new development.

The Battle for Fortune

The Battle for Fortune PDF Author: Charlene Makley
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501719653
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
Based on long-term fieldwork in a rural Tibetan region in China's northwest (2002-13), 'The Battle for Fortune' is an ethnography of state-local relations among Tibetans marginalized underChina's Great Develop the West campaign and during the 2008 military crackdown on Tibetan unrest. The study brings anthropological approaches to states and development into dialogue with recent interdisciplinary debates about the very nature of human subjectivity and relations with nonhuman others (including deities).

Authenticating Tibet

Authenticating Tibet PDF Author: Anne-Marie Blondeau
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520244641
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
Since 1959, Tibet has been at the centre of controversy, after China's 'peaceful liberation' of the Land of Snows led to the Lhasa uprising and the Dalai Lama's escape to India. This work brings together responses to a booklet published by the Chinese government in 1989, which sought to counter criticism of their occupation of Tibet.