Geopolitical Exotica: Tibet in Western Imagination

214 Pages·2008·1.15 MB·English

by  Dibyesh Anand

Geopolitical Exotica
A BOOK SERIES CONCERNED WITH REVISIONING GLOBAL POLITICS
David Campbell and Michael J. Shapiro, series editors
Volume 30 Dibyesh Anand, Geopolitical Exotica: Tibet in
Western Imagination
Volume 29 Prem Kumar Rajaram and Carl Grundy-Warr, editors,
Borderscapes: Hidden Geographies and Politics at Territory’s Edge
Volume 28 Louiza Odysseos, The Subject of Coexistence:
Otherness in International Relations
Volume 27 Denise Ferreira da Silva, Toward a Global Idea of Race
Volume 26 Matthew Sparke, In the Space of Theory:
Postfoundational Geographies of the Nation-State
Volume 25 Roland Bleiker, Divided Korea: Toward a Culture
of Reconciliation
Volume 24 Marieke de Goede, Virtue, Fortune, and Faith:
A Genealogy of Finance
Volume 23 Himadeep Muppidi, The Politics of the Global
Volume 22 William A. Callahan, Contingent States: Greater
China and Transnational Relations
Volume 21 Allaine Cerwonka, Native to the Nation: Disciplining
Landscapes and Bodies in Australia
Volume 20 Simon Dalby, Environmental Security
For more books in this series, see page 192.
Geopolitical Exotica
Tibet in Western Imagination
DIBYESH ANAND
BORDERLINES, VOLUME 30
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Copyright 2007 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, elec-
tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401- 2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Anand, Dibyesh
Geopolitical exotica : Tibet in western imagination / Dibyesh Anand.
p. cm. — (Borderlines ; v. 30)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-8166-4765-1 (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8166-4765-8 (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-0-8166-4766-8 (pb : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8166-4766-6 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Tibet—History. 2. Tibet—International relations. 3. Group
identity. 4. Geopolitics. I. Title.
DS786.A6753 2007
951'.5—dc22
2007034924
Printed in the United States of America on acid - free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and
employer.
12 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Wherever the wind blows from
Its rage always falls upon me.
O, please, my dear flagstaff, do excuse me
I the poor flag must pray for leave
—Tibetan verse
(translated by W. Y. Evans-Wentz,
MODERN POLITICAL PAPERS)
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
1. Postcoloniality, Representation, and World Politics 1
2. Imagining the Other 17
3. Poetics of Exotica Tibet 37
4. The West and the Identity of “Tibet” 65
5. The Politics of Tibetan (Trans)National Identity 87
6. Postcoloniality and Reimag(in)ing Tibetanness 109
Conclusion 129
Notes 133
Bibliography 151
Publication History 183
Index 185
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Acknowledgments
Writing this book has been an intimate experience for me.
It would not have been possible without the generous support
received from the University of Bristol Postgraduate Scholarship,
Overseas Research Scholarship Award Scheme, Economic and So-
cial Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme, British
International Studies Research Award; British Academy Society for
South Asian Studies Travel Grant, University of Bath Centre for Pub-
lic Economics Grant, Chiang Ching - Kuo Foundation Library Grant,
and British Academy Small Research Grant.
The Tibetan government- in - exile’s Department of Information
and International Relations at Dharamsala provided valuable infor-
mation during my fieldwork. St. Stephen’s College (Delhi) and espe-
cially its inspiring history lecturers (including David Baker, Aditya
Pratap Deo, Sangeeta- Luthra Sharma, Upinder Singh, and Tasneem
Suhrawardy) instilled an academic curiosity in me that changed the
direction of my life.
I thank Jutta Weldes for her encouragement, support, guidance,
and patience during my doctoral research. She is the best super-
visor and colleague one can have. I also express appreciation to the
Department of Politics at the University of Bristol for supporting
me and setting a high standard — thanks to Richard Little, Vernon
ix