Immigrant Ambassadors: Citizenship and Belonging in the Tibetan Diaspora

282 Pages·2009·2.74 MB·English

by  Julia Meredith Hess

Immigrant Ambassadors

Citizenship and Belonging in the Tibetan Diaspora

Julia Meredith Hess

Stanford University Press

Stanford, California

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Stanford University Press

Stanford, California

©2009 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press.

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hess, Julia Meredith.
Immigrant ambassadors : citizenship and belonging in the Tibetan diaspora / Julia Meredith
Hess.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-6017-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
978-0-8047-7631-8 (electronic)
1. Tibetans—United States—Ethnic identity. 2. Tibetans—India—Ethnic identity. 3. Refugees,
Tibetan—History. 4. Citizenship—Social aspects—United States. 5. Politics and culture. I. Title.
E184.T53H47 2009
305.899541073—dc22 2008050749

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For Matthew, Benjamin, and Lily

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Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Acknowledgments

Note on Tibetan Transliteration

Introduction: “We Will Always Hold Tibet in Our Hearts”

Part I Locating the Tibetan Diaspora in a World of Nation-States

1 Tibet in Diaspora: Locating the Homeland from the Margins of Exile

2 India, New Mexico, and the Specter of Tibet: On the Trail of the Tibetan
Diaspora

3 “Tibetanness” Where There Is No Tibet: Culture in a World of Nation-
States

4 Refugees to Citizens, Tibetans, and the State

Part II Expanding the Diaspora, Transforming Tibetanness

5 The Tibetan U.S. Resettlement Project: The Lottery, the “Lucky 1,000,”
and Immigrant Ambassadors

6 Tibetans in India: Deterritorialized Culture, Occidental Longing, and
Global Imaginaries

Part III Tibetans in the United States

7 A New Home in Diaspora: The First Years of the TUSRP, 1992–1996

8 “Culture Is Your Base Camp”: Tibetans in New Mexico, Youth, and
Cultural Identity

9 Statelessness and the State: The Meanings of Citizenship
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Conclusion: Tibetans in the New World

Notes

References Cited

Index

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List of Figures and Tables

Figures

2.1 Tibetan settlements in India

3.1 Demonstrator’s sign, “Culture is a good reason,” Dharamsala, India,
March 10, 2000

3.2 Sign in McLeod Ganj, chas gos ni tsho’i ngo rtags yin pa she/rig
gzhung ni nga tsho’i srong rtsa yin/ (Translation: “Clothing is our
identity. Culture is our life force.”)

4.1 Tibetan Registration Certificate issued by the Indian government

5.1 “Tibetan Rearview,” Tibetan Review, May 1993, by Lobsang Gyatso

6.1 Cartoon from Tibet Times, July 31, 2000, by Sonam Dondup

6.2 “Newcomer” refugees, March 10 demonstration, Dharamsala, India,
2000

8.1 March 10, 1997 commemoration of the 1959 Lhasa Uprising, Santa
Fe, New Mexico

8.2 Santa Fe Tibetans celebrating Losar, Museum of International Folk
Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1998

8.3 Tibet demonstration, organized by students at the College of Santa Fe,
March 7, 1999

Tables

5.1 Numbers of TUSRP Applicants According to CTA Files

5.2 Numbers of TUSRP Applicants According to the Tibetan Bulletin

5.3 TUSRP Resettlement Sites as of 1993

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Acknowledgments

THAT I HAVE COMPLETED a project of this scope and duration is a
testament to so many people, it would be impossible for me to name them
all. Further, in the interest of protecting anonymity I will not name many
of the Tibetans who so graciously gave of their time, their insight, and
their advice, and who are in all ways the inspiration for this research. I
wholeheartedly thank all of the Tibetans in Albuquerque and Santa Fe for
their willingness to talk to me, to listen to me, to review transcripts, to
invite me to community gatherings to celebrate Losar, to commemorate
March 10, and to mark the birthdays of their children. They welcomed me
into their homes on countless occasions, and I thank them for their
openhearted generosity in the face of my many questions and requests.

In India, I must thank foremost my Tibetan language teacher, translator,
research assistant, and most of all, friend, Ajam Gedon, without whom this
research would not have been possible. I am also very grateful to all the
Tibetan individuals and families who so warmly welcomed me into their
lives and homes. In addition, my thanks to the staff at the Department of
Home of the Central Tibetan Administration, Mr. Desang Tsering and his
family for their many kindnesses, and Pema Yeshi and the staff of the
Library of Tibetan Works and Archives for helping me locate a variety of
materials related to my research. Thanks to Thupten Samphel for giving
me permission to distribute the survey to Central Tibetan Administration
staff, and to Tashi Tsering of the Amnye Machen Institute for his kindness
and advice.

Also, I thank the staff of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and
Democracy, the Tibetan Youth Congress, the Tibetan Women’s
Association, and the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute for
distributing the survey there and for consenting to be interviewed. Thanks
to the staff of the Tibet Times for digging through past issues and
responding to the survey. Thanks also to the newcomer English students
and their teacher, Pema Wangyal, who responded to the survey. Many
thanks to Pema Dorjee-la of the Buddhist Institute of Dialectics for
distributing the survey at the Sarah branch. Boundless thanks to the over
200 individuals who responded to the survey—your thoughtful responses
to my questions provided me with a tremendous amount of information
that made this book much richer.
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In Bylakuppe, I would like to thank the settlement officers,
administrators, and teachers of SOS Tibetan Children’s Village who
agreed to interviews, answered many questions, and facilitated my
research. In particular I would like to thank Choni Tsering, who arranged
several interviews and was very kind during my stay.

My many friends in Dharamsala, both Tibetan and inje, were a boon
while this research was being conducted—they buoyed my spirits and
helped me to continue on my way. I thank them for the sympathetic ears,
cups of tea, and the many ideas that are deeply embedded in this text: Ama
Chozom-la, Stefanie Bahre-Voltmer, Geoff Childs, Tenzin Kalsang
Choephel, Benedict Copps, Namgyal Dolkar, Simon Holton, Randall
Horton, Tiina Hyytiainen, Marina Illich, and Lhamo Tsering.

In the United States, I want to thank the extended membership of the
Tibetan community here that includes a number of non-Tibetans,
particularly those who volunteered for the Tibetan Resettlement Project–
New Mexico and sponsored Tibetans. For the sake of anonymity I will
also refrain from mentioning your names, but so many of you kindly
provided hours of your time and insight and will find your ideas reflected
in this project. I also want to thank Dawa Lhapchug and Tsewang
Chokden for providing translation assistance.

I am also extremely grateful to the teachers of Tibetan language that I
have had over the years, whose patience, love, and reverence for the
Tibetan language stay with me still: Gen Tashi Woeser, Gen Sonam, Bill
Magee, Gen Nyima Dondrup, Gen Sangye Tendar, and Ajam Gedon.
Several people who worked for the TUSRP graciously gave their time to
be interviewed: Edward Bednar, Nancy Lindberg, and Tenzin Taklha. I
also want to thank Bobbi Nassar, who also provided me with much useful
information and an interview.

I have been very grateful for support in the form of a P.E.O. Scholar
Award that funded a great part of the Indian field research. I also received
support in the form of an Ethel J. Bunting Award and a Student Resource
Allocation Committee Award, as well as sponsorship from the American
Institute of Indian Studies during my stay in India.

Many academic mentors and colleagues have also contributed to the
ideas that went into this book. Les Field, Frank Korom, Carole Nagengast,
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and Sylvia Rodríguez guided this project from its inception. Thank you for
your continued guidance, support, and enthusiasm for my work. I
especially want to thank colleagues and friends who have read various
drafts of chapters and contributed much insight, advice, and laughter to the
process: Debbie Boehm, Tsewang Chokden, Sarah Horton, Suzanne
Oakdale, and Dianna Shandy. I am very grateful for the comments of Keila
Diehl and the anonymous reviewer who read the manuscript; their
comments have strengthened the book. My thanks also to Joa Suorez,
assistant editor at Stanford University Press, and to my editor, Jennifer
Helé, who shepherded the book through its final stages.

My deepest love and thanks to my family, who have always supported
me and my work in every way possible, by giving me the freedom to
explore the world, financial support, and hours and hours of childcare. I
thank my parents, David and Mary Anne Meredith, and my parents-in-law,
Larry and Carole Hess.

My husband, Matthew, has accompanied me through every stage of this
work. It is his insight, his prodding, his editorial skill, his flexibility, his
unfailing curiosity, and his willingness to drop everything and go to India
with me (not to mention his delight in the reaction of Dharamsala momo-
las who laughed as he did our laundry by hand while I did research), but
most of all his love, that made it possible to complete this book. I also
thank our two amazing children, Benjamin and Lily, who add incalculable
joy to my life and keep me attuned to and even expectant for the possible
worlds of the future.

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