Tibetan, but not from Tibet A Minor Field Study on Tibetan Diasporic Identity in India

Abstract: This paper is the result of a minor field study (MFS) on Tibetan youth in India. The main research question is: How does the second generation of Tibetans in India express their identity, and what implications does this have on their belonging to a diasporic group? The aim of this paper is to present discourses within the Tibetan diaspora and how the second generation relates to these as well as creates its own. Theoretically it takes a constructivist point of departure and the empirical investigation was conducted through qualitative semi-structured interviews, personal communication and to a lesser extent focus group discussions. First the paper goes through some of the critical literature on orientalist descriptions and myths on Tibet. These Tibetologists question the portrayal of Tibet as ?Shangrila?, stating that it is a common, but orientalist, image not only in the ?West? but also among Tibetans in exile. The main theory applied is postcolonial diaspora theory focusing on hybridity and the empowering potential of diasporic belonging. The thesis concludes that although many respondents used stereotypes about themselves, such as ?Tibetans are compassionate?, they also embraced cultural change and modern/foreign elements, such as questioning essentialist understandings of culture by expressing that Tibetan culture is not some entity they need to, or can, preserve.