Karanjit Singh
Gu Chu Sum
Dharamsala, India
The past semester was an eye-opening time for me as I attempted to understand the Tibetan issue better through the eyes of a younger Tibetan diaspora. You see, in order to comprehend where the future of the struggle lies, the voices of young Tibetans are perhaps the most important narrative to pay attention to.
As we see China become a major superpower in the East and gain political and economic stronghold in the region, we also see the power struggle skew even more as His Holiness Dalai Lama is refused official meetings in various countries. In order to gain further control over the Tibetan populous in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, The People’s Republic of China hopes to install their own version of a new Dalai Lama inside Tibet after the current Dalai Lama passes away. Whatever may be the future outcome of this fiasco, one thing is certain: the future of Tibet lies in the hands of the exiled young diaspora.
The first generation to come into exile and settle in India was largely deprived of a strong infrastructure in India. Similarly, the second generation of exiled Tibetans grew up in an environment where Tibetan schools and businesses were in their nascent stages. The third and fourth generations, however, weren’t denied the proper infrastructure and grew up relatively in the information age of the digital era. These are also the generations that left India and ventured out into the world; they studied at American colleges and received an international outlook on matters of their national identity, culture, and statehood.
What has become clear though, is the presence of a deepening generational gap that is causing conflict within the exile community. The older generations are mainly asking for autonomy, while the younger are increasingly lobbying for an independent Tibet.
This semester I spent time with young activists from Students For a Free Tibet (SFT), a grassroots organization that first began in 1994. SFT is responsible for the groundbreaking Freedom Concerts in the 90s that brought many celebrities to the forefront of the movement to popularize the Tibetan independence struggle. This semester, SFT organized various poetry readings, film screenings, and protests to galvanize the Tibetan youth community in New York City.
I also conducted an archival project this semester in an effort to understand the representation of Tibetans in the media. I attempted to find vernacular documentations of Tibetan life and culture through 20th-century photography.
Despite such a productive semester, I still have lingering questions that I will probe during my summer fellowship. I hope to further understand the generational gap in politics regarding the freedom v.s. autonomy debate. With the insight I have gained into the human rights field through our enlightening discussions in Vasuki Nesiah’s class, I hope to approach my research more academically and without a nationalistic bias, which I felt was hindering me in truly seeing things for what they were.
I am excited and ready to begin the summer research with a fresh set of eyes and insight into the Tibetan issue!