'Tibetanness' under Threat? Neo-integrationism, Minority Education and Career Strategies in Qinghai, P.R. China

摘要

It has become an outdated cliche to suggest that good anthropological work on contemporary Tibet is lacking. Quality social science scholarship on Tibet, based on in-depth fieldwork in Tibet and an increasing engagement with the political economy of China, has become increasingly rich since the 1990s. However, not many works carry the potential of injecting fresh perspectives into the polarized understandings of development in Tibet as either domination/subjugation or liberation/progress. Adrian Zenz offers this potential in his book, 'Tibetanness, Under Threat? Neo-integrationism, Minority Education and Career Strategies in Qinghai, P.R. China. With a focus on the ever-sensitive subject of education, the book strikes a nuanced balance between the agency-structure dualism of Han Chinese dominance versus Tibetan-led initiatives that subvert or counter this dominance. In particular, it offers a rare insight into the dynamics of minority education that will unsettle the dominant view that Tibetan-medium education has been eroded since the "golden years" of Tibetanization in the 1980s.