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.
This is so interesting, I had no idea that there were so many revolutionary events happening in India, Nepal, and Tibet. While this extreme social change is definitely going to mess with your project, it's also going to be fascinating to be in India while all these things are happening. I'm sure a lot of International Relations students and professors will be jealous that you are able to be there firsthand.
ReplyDeleteI think it's always interesting to think about how I would respond if the same questions were posed to me about my own culture and home. It's a line of thinking, I think, that just underscores what you've said, that it's not a simple thing to understand the cultural influences behind what's happening in current news.
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