Current Events

Today in my field study prep course we talked about current events in the Tibetan-in-exile situation, and how they might affect our experience in the field. One major one that was talked about was the current elections that took place recently, and about how the results will be announced a little before the time we will be entering the field, which will mean that the community will be buzzing with the changes and fresh faces in government.

Another subject we talked about was the tug-of-war going on between India and China over Nepal, and how this took a toll on the recent elections. Many exiled Tibetans were not allowed to vote in the recent elections. Is this possibly a result of the recent generous donation China gave to Nepal? Having Nepal on its side, China has an advantage over the Tibet-India alliance.

Another event we talked about was the possible retirement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from his role as political leader. I just found a brief article moments ago that says that this retirement was accepted, but I will continue to search around for some more depth in this subject.

So after a class full of current events and a few questions about our upcoming lives in McLeod Ganj, I feel as if I'm a square one again. It's a different square one than when I started my journey in developing a project, IRB protocol, finding a mentor, etc etc etc. This square one is purely on a board of knowledge. Knowledge about the religion and politics of the people with whom we will be working. Sure we are learning and researching and trying to piece together enough to understand something, anything, that can help us in the field. But reading and living are two very different things. I can research and read as much as I can, but the plain and simple fact is, I am not living there and don't understand the effect that religion and these current events are having in the lives of the Tibetans. These events are going to affect their lives, and because I will be living with them and working with them, they will affect mine as well.

Potential Problems

Today in my Field Study Prep. course, we had a discussion on potential problems that will inevitably come up in the field that can potentially affect our project or our experience while abroad. At first, I thought "oh ya, I've thought of all of these" but I was soon humbled. There were many problems that I did not think about, some that hadn't even crossed my mind at all!! We brainstormed some on our own on a piece of paper, picked one and thought of a discussion question that relates to that problem, and also brainstormed as a class on the white-board. Here are some potential problems that we came up with as a class (all of the ones I thought of on my own were very obvious problems, and are all mentioned below).

Journal Entry- Studying Up

For my project, I will be working with and communicating primarily with Tibetan families. I have been trying to understand more about the Tibetan exiled situation by watching movies, reading articles, etc. and my facilitator recently sent us an article that talks about His Holiness the Dalai Lama, his plans for political retirement, and China's opinion/role in that decision.

I found this article to be very interesting and it got me thinking about how this announcement, of whether or not His Holiness is going to be able to and when he will retire, is going to have a huge affect on the people I will be working with, and on the area I will be living in. If His Holiness steps aside and the Tibetan constitution is changed to replace his position with "a democratic system in which the political leadership is elected by the [Tibetan] people for a specific term," then that means that the government and lives of the Tibetan people will be dramatically changed. Our Tibetan language teacher spoke to us a little bit about this issue, and he was telling us that he thinks that the Dalai Lama should be able to retire because the Tibetan people need to learn to separate church and state, and leave politics politics and religion religion. He was saying that the Dalai Lama isn't always going to be there to lead the Tibetans, so the Tibetan people need to be a little more independent, at least in politics. TJla then told us that his opinions would be considered very radical, and most likely many other Tibetans would not share that same viewpoint.

If His Holiness steps aside and is able to retire, then I wonder if this would increase or decrease the likelihood of Tibet gaining independence or autonomy. The article talks about how if he does so, then talk and negotiations with Beijing will be easier, but his absence in Tibetan politics would also make many Tibetans anxious and unsure of their future.

I wonder what the result of this debate will be, and what the result of the decision will be. It's interesting to be witnessing history in the making, and even more so to witness Tibetan history in the making, when it's a population I will be working so closely with for the sp/su.

Journal Entry - Inquiry Conference

Although this past week was extremely busy with the state swim meet I was coaching, I was glad that I made it into Inquiry conference for a couple of hours. When I was there, I watched a presentation from Daniel Atwood entitled Men-Tsee-Khang: Contemporary Tibetan medicine in Dharamsala, India. Daniel talked about how Tibetan medicinal practices have kind of shifted from the ancient Tibetan techniques to a more biomedical approach, including some western ideas, along with other influences as technology advances and times change.

Journal Entry- IRB

Dang it's been a long time since I've written a journal entry. Let's see if I can get this ball rolling again.
     These last couple of weeks, I have been working on my IRB protocol. IRB stands for Institutional Review Board.
     "Brigham Young University’s Institutional Review Board is responsible for the review of all human subjects research conducted at BYU, or conducted elsewhere by University faculty, staff, or students. It also reviews research by investigators from other institutions or agencies who are working in conjunction with BYU."
     During my IRB journey, there have been many frustrations, along with many temptations to simplify my project dramatically so my IRB protocol would be easier to compose. I have debated not interviewing children as part of my field study experience so I don't have to fill out as much paper work. I have felt as if everytime I revised my protocol, I still wasn't making any progress and I was doomed to be denied to go anywhere ever.

IRB Draft 1

Application for the Use of Human Subjects

Part A  Application Information (Only typed applications will be reviewed; submit 2, unstapled copies to ORCA in A-285 ASB) 

1.  Title of the Study: Tibetan Parenting: An Ethnographic Study
2.  Principal Investigator: Julia Merrill		3.  Contact Person: (if different from PI):
Title: Undergraduate	Dept: Family Life	Title:	Dept:
Address (+ ZIP):		Address (+ Zip):
Phone:	Email:	Phone:	Email:
4.  Co-Investigator(s): Carolyn Andrews (mentor) (Name & Affiliation)
5.  Research Originated By:   (Check One)            ~ Faculty             X  ~ Student               ~ Staff
6.  Research Purpose(Check All that Apply):      X  ~ Grant          ~ Dissertation        ~ Thesis                ~ ORCA Scholarship       ~ Honors Thesis    X ~  Course Project: Internship?
7.  Correspondence Request:         ~ Mail          X  ~ Call for Pick-Up