From Lhasa to Dharamshala: Statelessness and Identity in the Tibetan Exile Diaspora
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Abstract
The article examines the forced migration and stateless existence of Tibetans due to China’s invasion of Tibet in 1950. As per the demographic survey conducted by Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in 2009, approximately 80,000 Tibetans fled to neighbouring countries like India, Bhutan, and Nepal after the 1959 uprising against the Chinese government. It studies how exile has catalysed the formation of a transnational Tibetan identity. Drawing from diaspora and transnationalism theories, particularly the works of Clifford, Brah, and Schiller, the article analyses how these diasporic networks sustain a collective Tibetan consciousness. It then examines how Tibetan exile communities have used internet activism, education, religious continuity, and cultural preservation to maintain their identity and rally support from around the world. It interrogates India's nuanced involvement in the Tibet issue, striking a balance between geopolitical realism and historical links. It contends that the tenacity of the Tibetan diaspora, which is based on political optimism and cultural memory, represents a distinct diasporic formation in which statelessness serves as a means of belonging as well as a political statement.
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