Of camps and communities-in-exile: the case of Tibetan refugees since the exodus
by Sudeep Basu
International Journal of Migration and Border Studies (IJMBS), Vol. 2, No. 2, 2016

Abstract: One vital underpinning of the generalisation of the refugee in contemporary discourses is to be found, in the common assumption that the refugee is apparently stripped of the specificity of culture, place and history once the border is crossed. They seem to lose the tag of being the 'representatives' of their community. The Tibetan case provides an interesting challenge to this claim, in that, through a process of reification of cultural authority, many Tibetan refugees regard themselves as the true or authentic representatives of Tibet. In thinking through the particularity of Tibetanness, this paper enquires into exile life which shows how a camp, throws up a whole new generation of India-born Tibetan refugees who oscillate between the need to keep the notion of the homeland and culture alive on the one hand and the different kinds of material investments, affective and social ties with host populations on the other.

Online publication date: Mon, 28-Mar-2016

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Migration and Border Studies (IJMBS):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com