- Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Indigenous Media, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Tibetan Studies, Cultural Sustainability, and 41 moreInner Asian History, Zomia, Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Knowledge, Cultural Diversity, Biocultural Diversity, Environmental History, North East India Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Language Documentation, Himalayan culture, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Tibetan Language, Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan History, Tibetan Literature, Tibet, Central Asian Studies, Applied Ethnomusicology, Ethnomusicology, rGyalrong, rGyalrongic languages, Endangered Languages and Cultures, New Qing History, Cultural Landscapes, Sociolinguistics, Political Ecology, Anthropocene, Chinese Ethnic Groups, Chinese minorities, Qinghai, Language revitalization, Language Maintenance and Shift, Linguistic Vitality, Endangered Languages, Horpa, Language Ecology, Indigenous Language Revitalization, Language revitalisation and shift, and Critical sociolinguisticsedit
- I am an anthropologist and Senior Research Fellow at La Trobe University, and was previously a DECRA fellow at the As... moreI am an anthropologist and Senior Research Fellow at La Trobe University, and was previously a DECRA fellow at the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne, and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Uppsala University's Hugo Valentin Centre.
My research focuses on the politics of language endangerment and revitalization, with a regional focus on Tibet.
I previously lived on the northeast Tibetan Plateau for eight years (2005-2013), working as an applied anthropologist, and also undertaking research for my PhD in Asian Studies from Griffith University. My PhD research examined issues of variation in change in a ritual complex of the Monguor (Tuzu) people.
As an applied anthropologist, I have collaborated with people in Tibet on various educational and cultural initiatives, including the creation of the world's largest online archive of oral traditions from the Tibetan Plateau, and the publication of the first nationally-distributed English language textbooks designed specifically for Tibetans.
My publications have appeared in the Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, Modern Asian Studies, China Quarterly, International Journal for the Sociology of Language, Anthropos, and Asian Ethnicity amongst others. I recently co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization.
My current research project looks at ethnic politics and linguistic diversity in the Tibetan regions of China. The study examines the sociolinguistic predicament of the Monguor population of Rebgong, a multiethnic and multilingual region on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau where the Monguor constitute a linguistic minority.edit
Research Interests: Social Movements, Ethnic Studies, Anthropology, Anthropological Linguistics, Communication, and 9 moreIndigenous Studies, Language revitalization, Languages and Linguistics, Chinese Studies, Linguistic Anthropology, Political Anthropology, Endangered Languages, Politics, and Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas
This article discusses how state suppression of human rights activism and restrictions on civil society are likely to impact the implementation of the United Nations' International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032, hereafter "the... more
This article discusses how state suppression of human rights activism and restrictions on civil society are likely to impact the implementation of the United Nations' International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032, hereafter "the Decade"). We focus on China, India, and Indonesia, the three most populous and linguistically diverse countries in Asia. Drawing on a range of reports from human rights organizations and materials from academic literature, we argue that increasing attacks on human rights defenders and restrictions on civil society are likely to pose serious challenges to the implementation of the Decade in these countries. We situate this argument within broader debates about human rights advocacy and state repression, and draw on Guzel Yusupova's arguments about the politics of fear and minority language mobilization to suggest that intensifying state repression of human rights is likely to prevent new forms of Indigenous language advocacy from emerging during the Decade.
Research Interests:
International Decade of Indigenous Languages. This decade aims to raise awareness of the ongoing global loss of Indigenous languages and to initiate effective action in defense of Indigenous languages. The plan for the Decade centers two... more
International Decade of Indigenous Languages. This decade aims to raise awareness of the ongoing global loss of Indigenous languages and to initiate effective action in defense of Indigenous languages. The plan for the Decade centers two key principles: a human rights approach, and participation by
Indigenous people. However, ongoing attacks on human rights defenders
and restrictions on civil society present critical challenges for the Decade, creating a politics of fear that suppresses action in defense of Indigenous languages and undermines the effectiveness of the Decade. We demonstrate this by examining the situation in China, India, and Indonesia. These are the three most populous and linguistically diverse countries in Asia. In each country, Indigenous languages are suppressed, while human rights defenders and civil society are under attack. We conclude by making recommendations for the governments of China, India, and Indonesia; the United Nations; global civil society; and the government and people of Australia. Our recommendations seek to ensure the safe participation of Indigenous language rights defenders in the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.
Key recommendations include:
• The governments of China, India, and Indonesia must immediately cease attacks on human rights defenders and restrictions on civil society.
• The UN Special Representative on Rights Defenders should specifically monitor and produce information about the situation of Indigenous language
rights defenders.
• The Australian government should use the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process to highlight restrictions on language rights and attacks on language rights defenders in China, India, and Indonesia.
• International human rights organizations should focus attention on Indigenous language rights defenders in China, India, and Indonesia.
• Journalists and academics who focus on human rights issues in Asia should help bring attention to the situation of the region’s Indigenous language rights defenders.
• Concerned individuals everywhere should stand in solidarity with language rights defenders in China, India, and Indonesia, and help raise awareness of
their plight.
Indigenous people. However, ongoing attacks on human rights defenders
and restrictions on civil society present critical challenges for the Decade, creating a politics of fear that suppresses action in defense of Indigenous languages and undermines the effectiveness of the Decade. We demonstrate this by examining the situation in China, India, and Indonesia. These are the three most populous and linguistically diverse countries in Asia. In each country, Indigenous languages are suppressed, while human rights defenders and civil society are under attack. We conclude by making recommendations for the governments of China, India, and Indonesia; the United Nations; global civil society; and the government and people of Australia. Our recommendations seek to ensure the safe participation of Indigenous language rights defenders in the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.
Key recommendations include:
• The governments of China, India, and Indonesia must immediately cease attacks on human rights defenders and restrictions on civil society.
• The UN Special Representative on Rights Defenders should specifically monitor and produce information about the situation of Indigenous language
rights defenders.
• The Australian government should use the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process to highlight restrictions on language rights and attacks on language rights defenders in China, India, and Indonesia.
• International human rights organizations should focus attention on Indigenous language rights defenders in China, India, and Indonesia.
• Journalists and academics who focus on human rights issues in Asia should help bring attention to the situation of the region’s Indigenous language rights defenders.
• Concerned individuals everywhere should stand in solidarity with language rights defenders in China, India, and Indonesia, and help raise awareness of
their plight.
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This chapter explores the relationship between language borders and state borders. It argues that both state and language borders are forms of structural violence that are mutually reinforcing. These interlocking forms of structural... more
This chapter explores the relationship between language borders and
state borders. It argues that both state and language borders are forms of
structural violence that are mutually reinforcing. These interlocking forms
of structural violence produce material, biopolitical, and representational
inequalities and concrete harms. Therefore, like the placing of state borders,
the placing of language borders is seen to be a non-trivial issue. The
transnational Himalayas, stretching across the People’s Republic of China
(PRC), Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bhutan, are introduced as an ideal site
for investigating how language and state borders interact. Furthermore,
the role that Tibetan, as an imagined language, plays in the region is seen
to have central importance to this dynamic.
state borders. It argues that both state and language borders are forms of
structural violence that are mutually reinforcing. These interlocking forms
of structural violence produce material, biopolitical, and representational
inequalities and concrete harms. Therefore, like the placing of state borders,
the placing of language borders is seen to be a non-trivial issue. The
transnational Himalayas, stretching across the People’s Republic of China
(PRC), Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bhutan, are introduced as an ideal site
for investigating how language and state borders interact. Furthermore,
the role that Tibetan, as an imagined language, plays in the region is seen
to have central importance to this dynamic.
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Racism, as a truly global phenomenon, requires a comparative approach that can account for its diverse forms and their commonalities. Despite the prevalence and relevance of racism throughout Asia, much scholarship on the topic remains... more
Racism, as a truly global phenomenon, requires a comparative approach that can account for its diverse forms and their commonalities. Despite the prevalence and relevance of racism throughout Asia, much scholarship on the topic remains parochially focussed on the north Atlantic world. This article aims to help address this issue in two ways. First, it discusses surveillance and racialisation practices in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China, based on an examination of leaked police files from the city of Urumqi. It examines how racialisation processes are carried out through surveillance, who these impact, and how. Second, these empirical materials are put in a broader comparative framework, drawing on Michel Foucault's concept of state racism, which sees racism as a technique of governance common to all contemporary states. The conclusions reflect on what it means to undertake anti-racist scholarship in a world of racist states.
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The world’s languages are in crisis: intergenerational transmission of around half the world’s languages is collapsing. I argue that to understand and intervene in this situation, we need to radically reimagine what it means to call it a... more
The world’s languages are in crisis: intergenerational transmission of around half the world’s languages is collapsing. I argue that to understand and intervene in this situation, we need to radically reimagine what it means to call it a crisis. We need to think about this crisis not simply as an acute emergency (which it is), but also in Antonio Gramsci's sense of a period in which ‘the old is dying but the new cannot be born’. In this sense, our present moment of crisis is one in which language oppression and language revitalization co-exist in dynamic tension. To analyze this Gramscian crisis of linguistic justice at a world scale, I argue that we need to conceive of a world system constituted by the articulation of nationalism, colonialism, racism, and capitalism. My description of this system and how it produces language oppression aims to support scholars and activists to seize our current moment of crisis and make positive interventions in the global system towards a future of greater linguistic justice.
Research Interests: Political Sociology, Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Historical Sociology, Language revitalization, and 10 moreLanguages and Linguistics, Globalization, Political Theory, Linguistic Anthropology, World Systems Analysis, Endangered Languages, Gramsci, Decolonial Thought, Decolonization, and Racial capitalism
This article aims to expand raciolinguistic theory to examine the issue of language oppression, i.e., enforced language loss. I used Foucauldian theories of race and racism to establish a link between lexical purism and language... more
This article aims to expand raciolinguistic theory to examine the issue of language oppression, i.e., enforced language loss. I used Foucauldian theories of race and racism to establish a link between lexical purism and language oppression, giving rise to a raciolinguistic theory of language oppression that I refer to as 'lexical necropolitics.' This issue is explored through a case study from northeast Tibet. I describe how state racism and the subordination of minority languages in the People's Republic of China has led to a grassroots lexical purism campaign among Tibetans, and argue that since 2008, this purism has been linked to language oppression by the emergence of a new, biosovereign configuration of state power.
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This article provides a synthesis and critical review of the literature on urban minority minzu 民族 in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The vast majority of the Chinese-language literature on minorities in cities adopts a... more
This article provides a synthesis and critical review of the literature on urban minority minzu 民族 in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The vast majority of the Chinese-language literature on minorities in cities adopts a state-centric view through the lens of stability and integration, focusing on how minorities can adapt to urban life for the purpose of creating a "harmonized" society. This statist narrative not only denies the subjectivity of minorities in the city but also constrains the understandings of the dynamics of urban indigeneity. In this article, we draw on the literature of urban Indigenous peoples in settler colonial contexts to suggest new ways of examining the urban experience of minority minzu in the PRC. We suggest that this literature provides useful insights that help center the subjectivities and agency of Indigenous people in the PRC's cities. Literature on urban minorities in the PRC can be expanded by engaging with the Indigenous urbanization literature to include coverage of three topics: representation (how minority people are shown as belonging to the city), mobilization (the use of urban space by minority people to pursue social, cultural, and political projects), and mobility (movement and interconnectedness between rural homelands and the city).
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This article examines the urbanization of Tibet. We argue that urbanization is a new technique of colonial governance for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and is characterized by what Yen Le... more
This article examines the urbanization of Tibet. We argue that urbanization is a new technique of colonial governance for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and is characterized by what Yen Le Espiritu calls ‘differential inclusion’: a form of forcible incorporation resulting in particular spaces and populations being ‘deemed integral to the nation … only or precisely because of their designated subordinate standing’. We explore how urbanization achieves the differential inclusion of Tibet and Tibetans through three distinct processes: segregation (the separation of Tibetan and Han Chinese spaces), congregation (the creation of Tibetan-dominated towns) and negation (urbanization as an administrative process that undermines Tibetan political autonomy). We argue that these three processes form an integrated strategy of colonial governance aimed at achieving differential inclusion. We conclude by arguing that our case study of the urbanization of Tibet offers a model for thinking about the role urbanization plays in enforcing differential inclusion as a means of colonial governance elsewhere in the PRC, and beyond.
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This chapter examines the politics of the Tibetan language in the transnational Himalaya, including the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Pakistan, Nepal, India, and Bhutan. It shows how a legacy of imperial borders, coupled with the... more
This chapter examines the politics of the Tibetan language in the transnational Himalaya, including the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Pakistan, Nepal, India, and Bhutan. It shows how a legacy of imperial borders, coupled with the indifference of contemporary states, has allowed Tibetans to exert linguistic dominance over numerous small languages of the region. However, the dominance that Tibetans exert over other languages is borderline, in so far as it is tenuous, and takes place in the context of the marginalization, minoritization, and domination of Tibetans by the region’s states. Nonetheless, this borderline dominance is sufficient to seriously impact smaller languages within the region. Within the PRC, Tibetan is currently replacing several smaller languages. Outside of the PRC, in Pakistan, Nepal, India, and Bhutan, Tibetan is serving as a scriptal model that is hindering the autonomous development of smaller languages.
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In this article, I describe and analyse how my efforts to advocate for linguistic human rights (LHRs) as an engaged scholar have met with resistance in the form of denial from a variety of sources. By denial, I follow scholars such as... more
In this article, I describe and analyse how my efforts to advocate for linguistic human rights (LHRs) as an engaged scholar have met with resistance in the form of denial from a variety of sources. By denial, I follow scholars such as Cohen (2001) in referring to not only the refusal to acknowledge certain facts, but also to follow through with appropriate interpretations and implications of those facts. This case study of denial and advocacy is important because it demonstrates a significant and unacknowledged challenge that exists in working for linguistic human rights. My discussion builds on and extends prior work on the challenges faced by advocating for linguistic human rights within academia (May, 2005, 2011; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000; Skutnabb-Kangas & May, 2016). My exploration of denial aims to open up a space for discussing how this challenge may be addressed, and therefore how to more effective advocate for LHRs.
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These entries on 'language' and 'language policy' were written by Shannon Ward and I, and will be published in the Historical Dictionary of Tibet (2nd ed.), edited by David Templeman and John Powers,
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This article examines international relations (IR)'s approach to the Himalaya. We argue that the possibility of violent conflict over contested international borders is not the region's primary international challenge. Rather, slow... more
This article examines international relations (IR)'s approach to the Himalaya. We argue that the possibility of violent conflict over contested international borders is not the region's primary international challenge. Rather, slow violence inflicted by state-building and militarisation, intimately connected to geopolitical tensions, threaten the region's ecologies, cultures and languages. The Himalaya is home to three biodiversity hotspots and a mosaic of ethnic groups, many of whom speak threatened languages. Its ice-deposits feed most of Asia's large rivers. In recent years, India and China have pursued large-scale infrastructure development in the region, enabling greater militarisation and extraction, and a tourist rush. These threats are amplified by climate change, which is occurring in the Himalaya at twice global averages, contributing to landslides, flooding, and droughts. However, the region's complexity is not matched by IR's theorisations, which overwhelmingly focus on the possibility of violent conflict between state actors. We argue that IR's analysis of the region must go beyond a states-and-security, Delhi-Beijing-Islamabad centred approach, to look at the numerous interconnections between its geopolitics, cultures and ecologies. We suggest this can be accomplished through incorporating more interdisciplinary analysis, and through focusing on the interaction between the organisation of political authority and the region's environment.
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原住民语言和少数民族语言所面临的挑战是复杂的, 语言保护的策略需要广泛借鉴多学科的观点。本文从几方面展示人类学能如何有助于语言保护工作，全文主要基于英语文献的回顾,少部分基于以我本人的研究。本文探讨人类学家独特擅长的与语言保护密切相关的三个问题，即语言信仰、态度和情感。语言信仰与以下方面有关，即人们对什么是语言的种种概念、语言如何传播、我们为何及何时需要保护语言，以及如何保护语言；语言态度则与人们对不同语言代码的主观评价有关，例如,... more
原住民语言和少数民族语言所面临的挑战是复杂的, 语言保护的策略需要广泛借鉴多学科的观点。本文从几方面展示人类学能如何有助于语言保护工作，全文主要基于英语文献的回顾,少部分基于以我本人的研究。本文探讨人类学家独特擅长的与语言保护密切相关的三个问题，即语言信仰、态度和情感。语言信仰与以下方面有关，即人们对什么是语言的种种概念、语言如何传播、我们为何及何时需要保护语言，以及如何保护语言；语言态度则与人们对不同语言代码的主观评价有关，例如, 人们如何根据其审美和功利价值来评价一种语言；最后,本文亦探讨语言保护中经常涉及的情感, 通常包括羞耻感、懊悔与焦虑, 以及骄傲、期待与自信。本文对这些议题采取人类学观点研究,旨在证明跨学科合作对支持语言保护工作的意义。
The challenges that Indigenous and minority languages face are complex, and strategies for language maintenance need to draw on a range of disciplinary perspectives. In this presentation, I demonstrate some of the ways in which anthropology can contribute to language maintenance efforts. Based primarily on a review of Anglophone literature, but also to a lesser extend on my own research, I look at three issues related to language maintenance that anthropologists are uniquely positioned to investigate, namely, beliefs, attitudes, and emotions about language. Language beliefs relate to people’s concepts of what language is, how it is transmitted, why and when it needs to be maintained, and how to go about doing so. Language attitudes, meanwhile, relate to subjective evaluations of distinct linguistic codes: for example, how people evaluate a language in terms of its aesthetic and utilitarian value. Finally, I also examine the emotions that are often involved in language maintenance, which commonly include shame, regret, and anxiety, as well as pride, anticipation, and confidence. In taking an anthropological perspective on these topics, I aim to make the case for cross-disciplinary collaboration to support language maintenance efforts.
The challenges that Indigenous and minority languages face are complex, and strategies for language maintenance need to draw on a range of disciplinary perspectives. In this presentation, I demonstrate some of the ways in which anthropology can contribute to language maintenance efforts. Based primarily on a review of Anglophone literature, but also to a lesser extend on my own research, I look at three issues related to language maintenance that anthropologists are uniquely positioned to investigate, namely, beliefs, attitudes, and emotions about language. Language beliefs relate to people’s concepts of what language is, how it is transmitted, why and when it needs to be maintained, and how to go about doing so. Language attitudes, meanwhile, relate to subjective evaluations of distinct linguistic codes: for example, how people evaluate a language in terms of its aesthetic and utilitarian value. Finally, I also examine the emotions that are often involved in language maintenance, which commonly include shame, regret, and anxiety, as well as pride, anticipation, and confidence. In taking an anthropological perspective on these topics, I aim to make the case for cross-disciplinary collaboration to support language maintenance efforts.
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This brief report summarizes presentations given at a workshop on language maintenance in Beijing in November 2015.
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In this introduction, I examine how this collection of Mongghul oral texts, and an understanding of their traditional social context, provides insights into the practices of multilingualism that supported linguistic diversity in Tibet. In... more
In this introduction, I examine how this collection of Mongghul oral texts, and an understanding of their traditional social context, provides insights into the practices of multilingualism that supported linguistic diversity in Tibet. In particular, I think they provide insight into the ways in which orature, specifically music, provided a forum for language contact, and may have contributed to the formation of a local linguistic area.
Research Interests: Languages and Linguistics, Multilingualism, Sociolinguistics, Tibetan Studies, Inner Asian Studies, and 11 moreChina, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, China studies, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Language contact, Qinghai, Translanguaging, and Monguor
China is facing a language endangerment crisis, with half of its languages decreasing in number of speakers. The dynamics of language loss and language shift are complex. Whilst Putonghua, the national standard language, is having a broad... more
China is facing a language endangerment crisis, with half of its languages decreasing in number of speakers. The dynamics of language loss and language shift are complex. Whilst Putonghua, the national standard language, is having a broad impact, some 'dialects' of Chinese are replacing others, while some minority languages are growing at the expense of others, and regional forms of Putonghua, influenced by both Chinese dialects and minority languages, are also emerging. In this article, we contribute to the understanding of language endangerment in China with a case study of the Gochang language, spoken by about 10,000 Tibetans in western Sichuan. We describe Gochang as an 'invisible' language—one that is overlooked by the state's ethnic and linguistic policies, and thus more vulnerable to the social transformations wrought by statist development. Using UNESCO's language vitality and endangerment framework to assess the endangerment of Gochang, we conclude that the language is 'definitely endangered'. Our comparison of Gochang with other 'invisible' languages in China shows that most are in a similar predicament, suggesting that China's language endangerment crisis is likely to continue unless these languages receive formal recognition, or local governments take advantage of ambiguities in the policy framework to support them. The social impacts of a continuing, deepening language endangerment crisis in China are as yet unknown.
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The current predicament and future fate of the Tibetan language is a major concern amongst Tibetans in China. In print and online media, daily conversation, popular music, university lectures and religious teaching, Tibetans today... more
The current predicament and future fate of the Tibetan language is a major concern amongst Tibetans in China. In print and online media, daily conversation, popular music, university lectures and religious teaching, Tibetans today frequently express fears that their language is in decline and in need of protection. Anxieties over the prevalence of lexical borrowing and code switching (Kelsang Yeshe 2012), and the exclusion of Tibetan from new domains at the expense of Modern Standard Chinese (Tournadre 2003), have spilled over into protests and widespread grassroots language activism (Robin 2014), much of which can be considered language revitalization (LR). In this article, we examine LR in Tibet through a case study of Hualong County (see below) with a discussion of language endangerment and shift in the local context, followed by a scan of individual and institutional agents of LR in Hualong, the activities they undertake, and how they fit into the broader Tibetan context. [fromt he introduction]
Research Interests: Language revitalization, Languages and Linguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, Tibetan Studies, Endangered Languages, and 10 moreApplied Linguistics, China, Linguistics, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Language Endangerment, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, China studies, Contemporary China, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, and Revitalization
One of the hallmarks of the Xi Jinping era in the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been a sustained attack on civil society, coupled with discursive shifts that attempt to undermine the universality of human rights. This article... more
One of the hallmarks of the Xi Jinping era in the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been a sustained attack on civil society, coupled with discursive shifts that attempt to undermine the universality of human rights. This article examines Tibetan language activism in this context, looking at challenges both for and of rights. I argue that the challenges for rights, namely the state's increasing hostility, are offset somewhat by the slow growth, transnational nature, and ample resourcing of the emerging discourse of language rights amongst Tibetans. On the other hand, I argue that challenges of rights, namely, the differential distribution of the "right to have rights," presents a more intractable problem. I demonstrate this by showing how current discourses amongst Tibetans in the PRC claim rights for some languages but not others, effectively erasing the "right to have rights" of certain Tibetan populations.
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Amidst growing academic and popular interest in concepts of social justice, a small but growing literature has emerged discussing the concept of 'linguistic justice'. However, this literature has only given very limited consideration to... more
Amidst growing academic and popular interest in concepts of social justice, a small but growing literature has emerged discussing the concept of 'linguistic justice'. However, this literature has only given very limited consideration to the issue of language endangerment. This article aims to advance a theory of linguistic (in)justice that can assist in understanding and resisting language endangerment. Central to such a theory is an understanding of the role that choice plays in the processes of language shift that drive language endangerment; unjust language shift is always coerced. Drawing on the work of political philosopher Nancy Fraser, I argue that this coercion is brought about by the unequal distribution of material resources and the existence of status hierarches between social groups and languages. I examine how both unequal distribution and misrecognition have historically been produced by colonialism, resulting in the contemporary crisis of global language endangerment. I therefore argue that decolonization represents a necessary condition for linguistic justice, and describe how decolonization can be achieved by transforming relations of redistribution and recognition. In concluding, I advocate for ongoing dialogue between disciplines, and between academics and communities, to advance theories of decolonization and linguistic justice.
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Roche’s article discusses ‘language oppression’ as a form of domination that is coherent with other forms of oppression along the lines of ‘race’, nation, colour and ethnicity. Scholars have defined language oppression as the ‘enforcement... more
Roche’s article discusses ‘language oppression’ as a form of domination that is coherent with other forms of oppression along the lines of ‘race’, nation, colour and ethnicity. Scholars have defined language oppression as the ‘enforcement of language loss by physical, mental, social and spiritual coercion’. It is part of an evolving suite of concepts from linguistics, sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology that examines issues of language discrimination, or ‘linguicism’. Roche explores one aspect of linguicism—language erasure—and how it relates to language oppression, focusing on Tibetans in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). He examines how language oppression is produced through practices of erasure: the ways in which certain populations and their languages are systematically rendered discursively invisible. He argues that the erasure of certain languages in the Tibetan context is systematically reproduced by two otherwise opposed political projects: the colonial project of the PRC state; and the international Tibet movement that seeks to resist it. He refers to the contingent cooperation between these two opposed projects as ‘articulated oppression’. In concluding the article he examines how the disarticulation of this oppression is a necessary condition for the emancipation of Tibet’s minority languages, and discusses the broader significance of this study for understanding language oppression, and its relation to other forms of oppression.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Languages and Linguistics, Political Theory, Chinese Studies, Linguistic Anthropology, and 13 morePostcolonial Studies, Tibetan Studies, Race and Racism, Political Science, Endangered Languages, Politics, Social Justice, Colonialism, Discrimination, China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Structural Violence, and Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality
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Studies of endangered languages typically emphasize the value of positive attitudes towards the language in maintenance and revitalization efforts. And yet, numerous case studies have demonstrated a 'revitalization paradox'-even when... more
Studies of endangered languages typically emphasize the value of positive attitudes towards the language in maintenance and revitalization efforts. And yet, numerous case studies have demonstrated a 'revitalization paradox'-even when people have positive attitudes towards a language, they may not engage in behaviors that support it. Explanations of this paradox typically suggest that contradictory ideas hinder language maintenance and revitalization, and thus ideological clarification is required before beginning any such program. In this article, I critically explore this issue with a case study of Manegacha, a minoritized language of Tibet spoken by several thousand people in four villages on the northeast Tibetan Plateau in China. Although speakers of the language consistently express positive attitudes towards the language, they also engage in behaviors that undermine the transmission of the language. In investigating this situation, I conclude that there is no necessary link between contradictory attitudes and ideologies and language shift, which in turn would suggest that ideological clarification is not always called for in efforts to support endangered languages. Rather, what seems to be significant is the nature and intensity of contradiction, not its mere presence or absence.
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This article examines the origin and growth of language revitalization as a field of both research and practice. Based on the recently published Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization, the article defines language revitalization as... more
This article examines the origin and growth of language revitalization as a field of both research and practice. Based on the recently published Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization, the article defines language revitalization as "giving new life and vigor to a language that has been decreasing in use, or which has even ceased being used altogether." This article argues that language revitalization has grown in tandem with the study of endangered languages, beginning in the late 1980s. It shows how language revitalization emerged as a distinct fi eld of research in the early twenty-first century, and has become increasingly interdisciplinary since this time. Case studies of language revitalization are offered to demonstrate the ways in which research and practice intertwine in different social, political, and cultural contexts. The article concludes by briefly examining two significant trends in the development of the field: the growth of teaching programs in language revitalization, and the emergence of ethnographic studies of language revitalization.
Research Interests:
Asia is the world's most linguistically diverse continent, and its diversity largely conforms to established global patterns that correlate linguistic diversity with biodiversity, latitude, and topography. However, one Asian region stands... more
Asia is the world's most linguistically diverse continent, and its diversity largely conforms to established global patterns that correlate linguistic diversity with biodiversity, latitude, and topography. However, one Asian region stands out as an anomaly in these patterns—Tibet, which is often portrayed as linguistically homogenous. A growing body of research now suggests that Tibet is linguistically diverse. In this article, we examine this literature in an attempt to quantify Tibet's linguistic diversity. We focus on the minority languages of Tibet—languages that are neither Chinese nor Tibetan. We provide five different estimates of how many minority languages are spoken in Tibet. We also interrogate these sources for clues about language endangerment among Tibet's minority languages, and propose a sociolinguistic categorization of Tibet's minority languages that enables broad patterns of language endangerment to be perceived. Appendices include lists of the languages identified in each of our five estimates, along with references to key sources on each language. Our survey found that as many as 60 minority languages may be spoken in Tibet, and that the majority of these languages are endangered to some degree. We hope out contribution inspires further research into the predicament of Tibet's minority languages, and helps support community efforts to maintain and revitalize these languages.
Research Interests: Area Studies, Asian Studies, Anthropology, Anthropological Linguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, and 11 moreTibetan Studies, Inner Asian Studies, Endangered Languages, East Asian Studies, China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, China studies, Contemporary China, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, and Classical Tibetan Language
This article presents a map of the minority languages of the eastern Tibetosphere and provides background on how the map was researched, designed, and created. We define the Tibetosphere as the region that is demographically dominated by,... more
This article presents a map of the minority languages of the eastern Tibetosphere and provides background on how the map was researched, designed, and created. We define the Tibetosphere as the region that is demographically dominated by, and culturally and linguistically influenced by, Tibetic languages. The minority languages of this region are the non-Tibetic languages of this otherwise Tibetan-dominated area. The map shows the location for 48 minority languages spoken in the eastern Tibetosphere, within China. Our map is intended to serve as a ‘counter-map’ to other representations of the area that portray it as monolingual or otherwise limit the linguistic diversity of the region. In focusing on the region’s minority languages, we aim to bring visibility to these languages and reveal the area’s ‘hidden multilingualism.’
Research Interests: Cartography, Anthropology, Anthropological Linguistics, Languages and Linguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, and 8 moreTibetan Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Endangered Languages, China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Endangered languages/cultures, and Tibeto-Burman Linguistics
Part of a series of briefs about Tibetan studies in Australia, published in the IIAS Newsletter (79, Spring 2018). https://goo.gl/mzkch7
Research Interests:
The concept of " resilience " originated in both ecology and psychology, and refers to the propensity of a system or entity to " bounce back " from a disturbance. Recently , the concept has found increasing application within linguistics,... more
The concept of " resilience " originated in both ecology and psychology, and refers to the propensity of a system or entity to " bounce back " from a disturbance. Recently , the concept has found increasing application within linguistics, particularly the study of endangered languages. In this context, resilience is used to describe one aspect of long-term, cyclical changes in language vitality. Proponents of " resilience linguistics " argue that understanding long-term patterns of language vitality can be of use in fostering resilience in, and therefore maintenance of, endangered languages. This article takes a critical look at these proposals, based on the examination of long-term trends in the Monguor and Saami languages.
Research Interests:
Tibet’s linguistic diversity is undergoing drastic transformations in the twenty-first century. In this article, I begin my examination of this issue by outlining the extent of Tibet’s linguistic diversity, including not only its numerous... more
Tibet’s linguistic diversity is undergoing drastic transformations in the
twenty-first century. In this article, I begin my examination of this issue by outlining the extent of Tibet’s linguistic diversity, including not only its numerous Tibetic languages, but also its non-Tibetic minority languages. Using a “language ecology” approach, I examine the mechanisms that have produced and maintained this diversity, as well as the ways this diversity was spatially and socially patterned. I argue that these processes and patterns were largely maintained up until the twenty-first century, when the Chinese state’s program to “Open the West” unleashed an ideologically driven modernization program on Tibet, radically altering its language ecology. I argue that the present trends emerging from this process
are likely to continue throughout the twenty-first century, resulting in both language loss and the emergence of new languages, leaving the overall language ecology fundamentally altered by the beginning of the twenty-second century. It is hoped that this article will not only provide a useful framework for future discussions on linguistic diversity in Tibet, but will also focus attention on the challenges facing individual languages in Tibet today.
twenty-first century. In this article, I begin my examination of this issue by outlining the extent of Tibet’s linguistic diversity, including not only its numerous Tibetic languages, but also its non-Tibetic minority languages. Using a “language ecology” approach, I examine the mechanisms that have produced and maintained this diversity, as well as the ways this diversity was spatially and socially patterned. I argue that these processes and patterns were largely maintained up until the twenty-first century, when the Chinese state’s program to “Open the West” unleashed an ideologically driven modernization program on Tibet, radically altering its language ecology. I argue that the present trends emerging from this process
are likely to continue throughout the twenty-first century, resulting in both language loss and the emergence of new languages, leaving the overall language ecology fundamentally altered by the beginning of the twenty-second century. It is hoped that this article will not only provide a useful framework for future discussions on linguistic diversity in Tibet, but will also focus attention on the challenges facing individual languages in Tibet today.
Research Interests: Languages and Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Tibetan Studies, South Asian Studies, Inner Asian Studies, and 13 moreEndangered Languages, Minority Studies, China, Linguistics, Minority Languages, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Language Ecology, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, China studies, Contemporary China, Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, and Classical Tibetan Language
This article examines the coherence of geographical and cultural areas, a condition I refer to as 'areality'. I adopt Manuel de Landa's concepts of 'meshwork' and 'hierarchy' as tools for identifying areality, and apply them to a case... more
This article examines the coherence of geographical and cultural areas, a condition I refer to as 'areality'. I adopt Manuel de Landa's concepts of 'meshwork' and 'hierarchy' as tools for identifying areality, and apply them to a case study from the northeast Tibetan Plateau-a geographical area known as the Hehuang region. I describe the Hehuang region simultaneously as a hierarchy - a system that results from accumulation, sorting, and cementing - and a meshwork - a self-organized, heterogeneous system formed by the interconnection of diverse elements mediated by catalysts. After examining how Hehuang is produced and reproduced as an area, I exemplify the region's areality through an examination of a transethnic ritual complex that includes the Nadun, Bog, Glu rol, and Lha rtsed rituals. I conclude by arguing that the concept of areality, and de Landa's concepts of meshwork and hierarchy, provide an analytical
framework and methodological toolkit that could be productively applied elsewhere on the Tibetan Plateau to explain patterns of linguistic and cultural diversity.
framework and methodological toolkit that could be productively applied elsewhere on the Tibetan Plateau to explain patterns of linguistic and cultural diversity.
Research Interests:
This article introduces a communal ritual, known as Bog, as practiced among the Mongghul, a linguistically and culturally distinct group of people of the northeast Tibetan Plateau. The main activity of the Bog ritual involves deities and... more
This article introduces a communal ritual, known as Bog, as practiced among the Mongghul, a linguistically and culturally distinct group of people of the northeast Tibetan Plateau. The main activity of the Bog ritual involves deities and ancestral souls being invited to a sumptuous "banquet" where religious practitioners, called fashi, chant scriptures, sing, dance, joke, and burn incense to delight the "guests." This essay provides a thick description of the ritual. To provide context for this description, we introduce the community on which our description focuses, and also discuss the role of fashi. A chronological account of the ritual follows that includes not only descriptions of the ritual activities, but also interpretations of the meaning of these events from the perspective of the ritual practitioners. We also provide an analysis of the performances given during the ritual and how they contribute to creating a spectacle that delights both human and non-human participants.
Accompanying video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw59X2JKDsw
Accompanying video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw59X2JKDsw
Research Interests:
'Tibet and Tibetans'. Entry for the SAGE Encyclopaedia of Music and Culture. Gerald Roche and Rinchen Khar (rin chen mkhar). Draft version as at 25th of August, 2015. Accepted for publication 13th of August, 2016.
Research Interests:
The Sino-Tibetan frontier is typically portrayed as a large, complex, and diverse transitional region between Tibetan and Chinese cultural realms. The concept of Tibetanization is often deployed to classify the ethnically ambiguous... more
The Sino-Tibetan frontier is typically portrayed as a large, complex, and diverse transitional region between Tibetan and Chinese cultural realms. The concept of Tibetanization is often deployed to classify the ethnically ambiguous ‘interstitial’ populations of this area. This article critically examines the concept of Tibetanization through a study of the Mongols of Henan County, Qinghai
Province, a population repeatedly described as Tibetanized. A survey of local folkways reveals that Henan Mongols do, indeed, share many cultural practices with neighboring Tibetans. However, an examination of the historical processes underlying these similarities fails to identify anything that could be described as Tibetanization. Based on this finding, I problematize some of Tibetanization’s unexamined theoretical assumptions relating to concepts of ethnicity and assimilation. I conclude by asking what a critical reading of Tibetanization and the Sino-Tibetan frontier tells us about contemporary ethnopolitics in China and the academic
practices that strive to represent them.
Province, a population repeatedly described as Tibetanized. A survey of local folkways reveals that Henan Mongols do, indeed, share many cultural practices with neighboring Tibetans. However, an examination of the historical processes underlying these similarities fails to identify anything that could be described as Tibetanization. Based on this finding, I problematize some of Tibetanization’s unexamined theoretical assumptions relating to concepts of ethnicity and assimilation. I conclude by asking what a critical reading of Tibetanization and the Sino-Tibetan frontier tells us about contemporary ethnopolitics in China and the academic
practices that strive to represent them.
Research Interests:
What is the relationship between ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity? This paper is part of a broader project to investigate this question in the context of a region of supposed ethno-cultural rupture – the Sino-Tibetan Frontier.... more
What is the relationship between ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity? This paper is part of a broader project to investigate this question in the context of a region of supposed ethno-cultural rupture – the Sino-Tibetan Frontier. My investigations of ethnicity, culture, and language in this region (Roche 2011, 2014, 2015, Roche and Lcag mo tshe ring 2013, Roche and Stuart 2015) have focused on a population referred to as the Monguor or Tu. My work also aims to contribute to broader trends in the study of Tibet and ethnic minorities in China that look at the complex relations between ethnicity and diversity (Jinba Tenzin 2013, Chao 2012, Merriam 2012, Hayes 2014). [from the introduction]
Research Interests: Religion, Chinese Folk Religion, Human Geography, Cultural Geography, Ethnic Studies, and 27 moreAnthropology, Social Anthropology, Chinese Religions, Sinology, Tibetan Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Inner Asian Studies, Ritual, Mongolian Studies, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, China, Ethnic minorities, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism, China studies, Cultural Anthropology, Contemporary China, Ethnicity, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Chinese Popular Religion, Mongolian and Central Asian Studies, Qinghai, Qinghai Province, Anthropology of Religion, Chinese Ethnic Minorities, and Monguor
This book focuses on the people officially referred to in China as the Tu and more commonly known in the West as the Monguor. The Tu live mostly in Qinghai and Gansu provinces, on the northeast Tibetan Plateau. The thirteen contributions... more
This book focuses on the people officially referred to in China as the Tu and more commonly known in the West as the Monguor. The Tu live mostly in Qinghai and Gansu provinces, on the northeast Tibetan Plateau. The thirteen contributions in this collection shed new light on diversity among the Monguor, challenging representations that treat them as a homogenous category. This mapping of cultural and linguistic diversity is organized according to the three territories where the Monguor live: the Duluun Lunkuang 'The Seven Valleys', where the Mongghul language is spoken; Sanchuan 'The Three Valleys', where the Mangghuer language is spoken; and Khre tse Bzhi 'The Four Estates', where the Bonan language is spoken. In addition to mapping diversity among the Monguor in terms of these territories, we also map the project of the contemporary Chinese state and Western observers to describe and classify the Monguor. Consisting of translations of valuable source materials as well as original research articles, this book is an essential reference work for Tibetologists, Sinologists, Mongolists, and all those interested in cultural and linguistic diversity in Asia. Includes maps, images, references, article abstracts, and a list of non-English terms with original scripts.
The full volume can be downloaded from: http://www.plateauculture.org/writing/mapping-monguor
The full volume can be downloaded from: http://www.plateauculture.org/writing/mapping-monguor
Research Interests: Cultural Geography, Anthropology, Tibetan Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Mongolian Studies, and 14 moreEast Asian Studies, China, History of the Mongol Empire, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism, China studies, Cultural Anthropology, Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Mongolian and Central Asian Studies, Qinghai, Zomia, Mongolic Studies, and Monguor
From the introduction: Approximately 230,000 of the 6.2 million Tibetans in China do not speak Tibetan. Instead, they speak one of about 18 different languages, including languages known as Namuyi, Minyak, Ergong, Khroskyabs, and... more
From the introduction:
Approximately 230,000 of the 6.2 million Tibetans in China do not speak Tibetan. Instead, they speak one of about 18 different languages, including languages known as Namuyi, Minyak, Ergong, Khroskyabs, and nDrapa. In total, about 39 languages other than Tibetan are spoken on the Tibetan Plateau, by a little over one million people. These statistics may vary depending on how one defines a language, defines Tibet, or defines the Tibetan people, and, we still have much to learn about the languages of this area. However, regardless of how the numerical details might change, the underlying pattern appears to be well established – Tibet is linguistically diverse. While international scholarly and public attention focuses on the fate of the “Tibetan language”,1 the plight of Tibet’s minority languages continues to go unacknowledged. This article takes a preliminary look at the vitality of Tibet’s 39 minority languages, using UNESCO’s nine-factor model as a framework. While these languages differ vastly, their shared geographical and social environment, as well as their similar and interconnected histories, warrant a discussion of their collective fates. As suggested in the title, the results presented here are preliminary remarks on a complex topic, and should be taken as indicative rather than definitive.
Approximately 230,000 of the 6.2 million Tibetans in China do not speak Tibetan. Instead, they speak one of about 18 different languages, including languages known as Namuyi, Minyak, Ergong, Khroskyabs, and nDrapa. In total, about 39 languages other than Tibetan are spoken on the Tibetan Plateau, by a little over one million people. These statistics may vary depending on how one defines a language, defines Tibet, or defines the Tibetan people, and, we still have much to learn about the languages of this area. However, regardless of how the numerical details might change, the underlying pattern appears to be well established – Tibet is linguistically diverse. While international scholarly and public attention focuses on the fate of the “Tibetan language”,1 the plight of Tibet’s minority languages continues to go unacknowledged. This article takes a preliminary look at the vitality of Tibet’s 39 minority languages, using UNESCO’s nine-factor model as a framework. While these languages differ vastly, their shared geographical and social environment, as well as their similar and interconnected histories, warrant a discussion of their collective fates. As suggested in the title, the results presented here are preliminary remarks on a complex topic, and should be taken as indicative rather than definitive.
Research Interests: Languages, Anthropology, Languages and Linguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, Tibetan Studies, and 23 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Biocultural Diversity, Language Documentation, Endangered Languages, Mongolian Studies, Applied Linguistics, China, Linguistics, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Language Endangerment, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, China studies, Contemporary China, Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Endangered languages/cultures, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, rGyalrong, Sichuan, Endangered Languages and Cultures, rGyalrongic languages, and Documentation of endangered culture and language
(from the introduction) The aim of this article is to explore processes of cultural change at the fine-grained 'human' scale at which traditional practices such as ritual assume their substantive form. I am specifically interested in... more
(from the introduction)
The aim of this article is to explore processes of cultural change at the fine-grained 'human' scale at which traditional practices such as ritual assume their substantive form. I am specifically interested in how this issue is theorized in the context of Chinese later imperial history. Several recent works on this topic have sought to bring a 'frontier' perspective to the subject, building on broader theoretical developments that might be called 'frontier' or 'borderland' studies. Such an approach seeks to orient discourse away from central, typically state, actors and to focus on local actors, in order to create a more nuanced picture of state expansion and its impacts. Crossley et al, for example, stress "the agency of local groups who improvised on what they believed to be symbolisms of state authority in order to gain respective places in an increasingly connected state system." Giersch advocates "analyzing the political and cultural institutions of intruder and indigene alike." Herman "highlight[s] the indigenous responses to China's colonization of the southwest." The same binaries emerge in these sources - local versus state, intruder versus indigene, and indigenous versus Chinese, giving the impression of two billiard balls colliding.
While well-intentioned in their attempt to diversify the perspectives from which history is told, such 'frontier' approaches do not go far enough in their reorientation of historical visions. Instead, they merely shift the perspective from one side to the other, while continuing to play out the same narrative of historical collision. In contrast, I argue for a perspective that shows the multiplicity of frontiers by reducing the unit of historical analysis from peoples and states to ideologies and their agents. This renders every site a frontier in the sense of being a zone of interaction, not between differing peoples, or between state and non-state, but between different ideas. I do not wish to imply that the state, indigenous peoples, or ethnic groups do not exist, but merely that they do not necessarily always form the most meaningful unit of historical analysis, especially when dealing with small-scale culture change, rather than broad-scale historical process.
The aim of this article is to explore processes of cultural change at the fine-grained 'human' scale at which traditional practices such as ritual assume their substantive form. I am specifically interested in how this issue is theorized in the context of Chinese later imperial history. Several recent works on this topic have sought to bring a 'frontier' perspective to the subject, building on broader theoretical developments that might be called 'frontier' or 'borderland' studies. Such an approach seeks to orient discourse away from central, typically state, actors and to focus on local actors, in order to create a more nuanced picture of state expansion and its impacts. Crossley et al, for example, stress "the agency of local groups who improvised on what they believed to be symbolisms of state authority in order to gain respective places in an increasingly connected state system." Giersch advocates "analyzing the political and cultural institutions of intruder and indigene alike." Herman "highlight[s] the indigenous responses to China's colonization of the southwest." The same binaries emerge in these sources - local versus state, intruder versus indigene, and indigenous versus Chinese, giving the impression of two billiard balls colliding.
While well-intentioned in their attempt to diversify the perspectives from which history is told, such 'frontier' approaches do not go far enough in their reorientation of historical visions. Instead, they merely shift the perspective from one side to the other, while continuing to play out the same narrative of historical collision. In contrast, I argue for a perspective that shows the multiplicity of frontiers by reducing the unit of historical analysis from peoples and states to ideologies and their agents. This renders every site a frontier in the sense of being a zone of interaction, not between differing peoples, or between state and non-state, but between different ideas. I do not wish to imply that the state, indigenous peoples, or ethnic groups do not exist, but merely that they do not necessarily always form the most meaningful unit of historical analysis, especially when dealing with small-scale culture change, rather than broad-scale historical process.
Research Interests: Religion, History, Anthropology, Chinese Studies, Border Studies, and 16 moreTibetan Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ritual, Mongolian Studies, Islam in China, Silk Road Studies, China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Cultural Anthropology, Chinese history (History), Frontier Studies, Late Imperial-Modern China, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Chinese Popular Religion, Cultural change, and Qinghai
This article investigates cultural dynamics on the northeast Tibetan Plateau with a case study of the Mangghuer people of the Sanchuan (Three Valleys) Region of Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County (Qinghai Province, China). I focus on... more
This article investigates cultural dynamics on the northeast Tibetan Plateau with a case study of the Mangghuer people of the Sanchuan (Three Valleys) Region of Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County (Qinghai Province, China). I focus on ‘models of spatialisation’—the ways in which the physical landscape is perceived, conceptualised and made meaningful. In the Mangghuer context, such models basically construe the landscape as being enlivened by flows and accumulations of positive and negative energies or entities. After providing a detailed description of this model, I attempt to locate it within a wider comparative framework of three broad models of spatialisation employed on the Tibetan Plateau: geomantic; mandalic; and itinerant. Based on this examination, I argue that the cultural dynamics of the region are not based on ethnic distinctions, but rather on the transportation of models across ethnic and other boundaries.
Research Interests: Ethnic Studies, Asian Studies, Social Anthropology, Ethnography, Tibetan Studies, and 17 moreMongolian Studies, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, East Asian Studies, Inner Asian History, China, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Landscape, Environmental Humanities, Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Chinese minorities, Cultural Landscape, Inner Asia, Zomia, Qinghai Province, and Monguor
Resilience, a concept derived from ecological theory, refers to the capacity of an entity or system to persist despite externally imposed shocks. This article uses resilience theory to examine how certain ideas persist when encoun- tering... more
Resilience, a concept derived from ecological theory, refers to the capacity of an entity or system to persist despite externally imposed shocks. This article uses resilience theory to examine how certain ideas persist when encoun- tering antagonistic concepts that are backed by superior social and material forces. Such resilience is explored in the context of the Mangghuer people of the Sanchuan region of the Northeast Tibetan Plateau in China. Resilience is exemplified in the concept of divine power, the foundational concept in the Mangghuer version of Chinese popular religion, and its persistence in the face of Chinese state modernism. This research suggests that the content and ontological assumptions of concepts are important in determining the cultural outcomes of social interactions. Understanding cultural reproduction, resil- ience, and change therefore requires descriptive ethnographic understandings of concepts, not just of the power dynamics and social and material forces involved in their interaction.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Tibetan Studies, Community Resilience, Resilience, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 9 moreMongolian Studies, Shamanism, China, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Disaster risk reduction, Participatory Decision Making, and Disaster Culture
This article focuses on yurts in Be si chung Village, in Henan Mongol Autonomous County (Rma lho [Huangnan] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Mtsho sngon [Qinghai] Province, China). Background is given on the focal community, yurt typology... more
This article focuses on yurts in Be si chung Village, in Henan Mongol Autonomous County (Rma lho [Huangnan] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Mtsho sngon [Qinghai] Province, China). Background is given on the focal community, yurt typology and construction are examined, and rituals traditionally held in the yurt of the Henan Chin wang 'prince' are discussed. Two maps and twenty-nine images are also provided.
Research Interests:
Following the Herds: Rhythms of Tibetan Pastoral Life in A mdo is an ethnographic exploration of traditional ecological knowledge in a Tibetan pastoralist community. This editorial introduction explains how and why the book came about,... more
Following the Herds: Rhythms of Tibetan Pastoral Life in A mdo is an ethnographic exploration of traditional ecological knowledge in a Tibetan pastoralist community. This editorial introduction explains how and why the book came about, and how I worked together with the author, Chos bstan rgyal, to produce the book. For those interested in seeing the final product, the open access book can be downloaded here: http://plateauculture.org/writing/following-herds-rhythms-tibetan-pastoral-life-mdo.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Anthropology, Ethnobotany, Tibetan Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 22 moreBiocultural Diversity, Pastoralism (Social Anthropology), Culture, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Tibet, China, Ethnobiology, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Traditional Environmental Knowledge, Ethnozoology, Grassland Ecology, Tibetan Buddhism, Ethnoecology, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Cultural change, Traditional Knowledge and Ethnobiology, Biocultural conservation, Ethnoveterinary, Nomadic Pastoralism, Mobile Pastoralism, Pastoralism and Pastoralists, and Grassland Management
Research Interests: Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Action Research, Ethnography, and 22 moreOpen Access, Open Access Publishing, Autoethnography, Mongolian Studies, Autobiography, China, Himalayan Civilization-Nepal, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Northeast India, Nepal, China studies, Online Academic Publishing, Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, Arunachal Pradesh, Collaborative Autoethnography, Assam, Ethnographic & autoethnographic research, Zomia, and Collaborative Action Research Methodologies
Research Interests: Music, Musicology, Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, Tibetan Studies, and 10 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Applied Anthropology, Intangible cultural heritage, China, Applied Ethnomusicology, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Intangible Cultural Heritage (Culture), Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, and UNESCO world heritage
This video abstract is to accompany my article in the journal Patterns of Prejudice "Articulating Language Oppression—Colonialism, Coloniality, and the Erasure of Tibet's Minority Languages."... more
This video abstract is to accompany my article in the journal Patterns of Prejudice "Articulating Language Oppression—Colonialism, Coloniality, and the Erasure of Tibet's Minority Languages." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0031322X.2019.1662074
Research Interests:
These pictures were taken in Seng ge gshong Village, which is divided into two parts - Yar mgo 'Upper' and Mar mgo 'Lower'. The upper and lower village each traditionally consisted of a walled enclosure, and each part had a monastery. The... more
These pictures were taken in Seng ge gshong Village, which is divided into two parts - Yar mgo 'Upper' and Mar mgo 'Lower'. The upper and lower village each traditionally consisted of a walled enclosure, and each part had a monastery. The villages have now grown so much that houses have spilled out of the walled enclosures, and the two sections have merged. Villagers all speak a language that linguists call Wutun, but which they refer to as Ngandehua, 'Our Language'.
Research Interests:
Bao'an Village is adjacent to Bod skor Village. Most residents are Han Chinese and speak a dialect of Northwest Mandarin that is locally known as Gaidaohua. Most villagers also understand, but typically do not speak, the Manikacha (Dor... more
Bao'an Village is adjacent to Bod skor Village. Most residents are Han Chinese and speak a dialect of Northwest Mandarin that is locally known as Gaidaohua. Most villagers also understand, but typically do not speak, the Manikacha (Dor skad) spoken in Bod skor.
Research Interests:
Gnyan thog is one of four villages in Reb gong (Tongren County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China) where a language that villagers call Manikacha is spoken. This language is known to linguists as Bao'an or... more
Gnyan thog is one of four villages in Reb gong (Tongren County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China) where a language that villagers call Manikacha is spoken. This language is known to linguists as Bao'an or Bonan; local Tibetans call it Dor skad.
Research Interests:
Sgo dmar is one of four villages in Reb gong (Tongren County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China) where a language that villagers call Manikacha is spoken. This language is known to linguists as Bao'an or... more
Sgo dmar is one of four villages in Reb gong (Tongren County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China) where a language that villagers call Manikacha is spoken. This language is known to linguists as Bao'an or Bonan; local Tibetans call it Dor skad.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
These two video show the names of various domestic tools in the Lavrung language. Agricultural tools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu35DKUnlqg Nomadic Tools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5rogmLCON0 There are approximately... more
These two video show the names of various domestic tools in the Lavrung language.
Agricultural tools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu35DKUnlqg
Nomadic Tools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5rogmLCON0
There are approximately 5,000 Lavrung speakers in China. They identify themselves as Tibetans, but Tibetans who speak a language that is distinct from other Tibetans. Most Lavrung-speakers live in Dzam thang County, Rnga ba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Currently, many Lavrung words for domestic tools are being lost, as work becomes increasingly mechanized.
The audio, video, and images for this video were collected by G.yu lha, a Lavrung-speaker, in order to document these vanishing words. She distributed DVDs containing Tibetan and Chinese versions of this video to Lavrung villages.
The Lavrung names of the tools are shown in the International Phonetic Alphabet, since Lavrung does not have a writing system.
The film was created by Klu rgyal 'bum in 2011. Funds to support the creation of this film were provided by the World Oral Literature Project and the Firebird Foundation."
Agricultural tools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu35DKUnlqg
Nomadic Tools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5rogmLCON0
There are approximately 5,000 Lavrung speakers in China. They identify themselves as Tibetans, but Tibetans who speak a language that is distinct from other Tibetans. Most Lavrung-speakers live in Dzam thang County, Rnga ba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Currently, many Lavrung words for domestic tools are being lost, as work becomes increasingly mechanized.
The audio, video, and images for this video were collected by G.yu lha, a Lavrung-speaker, in order to document these vanishing words. She distributed DVDs containing Tibetan and Chinese versions of this video to Lavrung villages.
The Lavrung names of the tools are shown in the International Phonetic Alphabet, since Lavrung does not have a writing system.
The film was created by Klu rgyal 'bum in 2011. Funds to support the creation of this film were provided by the World Oral Literature Project and the Firebird Foundation."
Research Interests: Indigenous Studies, Language revitalization, Digital Humanities, Ethnography, Linguistic Anthropology, and 12 moreTibetan Studies, Endangered Languages, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Digital Ethnography, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, Cultural Anthropology, Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, rGyalrong, rGyalrongic languages, and Western rGyalrongic
This film is about ordinary people who incarnate deities. These people are called huala in the Mangghuer language. Huala are found in the Sanchuan Region, on the northeast Tibetan Plateau, in China.
Research Interests: Chinese Folk Religion, Anthropology, Chinese Religions, Tibetan Studies, Mongolian Studies, and 16 moreShamanism, China, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Anthropology of Mongolia, Spirit Possession (Anthropology), Ritual induction of trance, Cultural Anthropology, Mongolian Shamanism, Anthropology of Shamanism, Tibetan and Himalayan societies, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Chinese Popular Religion, Mongol, Shamanic Possession, Trance, and Altered Staes of Consciousness, and Anthropology of Religion
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Nadun is a harvest festival held annually in approximately fifty communities in the Sanchuan region, on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau (Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County, Haidong Region, Qinghai Province, China). It is held... more
Nadun is a harvest festival held annually in approximately fifty communities in the Sanchuan region, on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau (Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County, Haidong Region, Qinghai Province, China). It is held primarily by Mongolic-speaking Mangghuer people, but also by local Tibetans and Han Chinese.
The ritual focuses on the cults of communal deities, and also on the cult of Erlang Ye, the communal deity for the entire Sanchuan region. These deities are feted for a day with the aim of ensuring their continued protection of the community. Offerings of paper, bread, liquor, fruit, and oil (burned in lamps) are made to the deity, who is also entertained by danced performances:
Huishou - all village males dance in military-inspired formations
Zhuangjiaqi - Farmer's Dance, in which an Elder Farmer, assisted by village elders, instructs his son how to farm
Generals - depicting scenes from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Shaguojiang - Tiger Killing General, in which a bull-headed warrior fights and defeats wild animals
Officials - imperial bureaucrats dance, sometimes accompanied by their wives
Cun Xiao Beats a Tiger - a youth named Cun Xiao wrestles with and defeats a tiger
The dramatic highlight of the Nadun occurs when the deity incarnates in the body of a villager, called a huala (fala), thus facilitating direct communication between the deity and the community.
In addition to the huala, other ritual practitioners may also be involved. Huashi (fashi) are practitioners who beat drums, sing, and dance to delight deities. Elderly men and women in 'mantra societies' may also chant Buddhist scriptures.
The ~ 500 images in this collection were taken throughout Sanchuan between 2008 and 2010 by Gerald Roche and Wen Xiangchen. Photos are organized chronologically from most recent to oldest, and are organized into sets by location.
For more on Nadun, see:
Stuart, Kevin and Hu Jun. "That All May Prosper: The Monguor (Tu) Nadun of the Guanting/ Sanchuan Region, Qinghai, China" Anthropos. 88 (1993): 15-27
and
Roche, Gerald. Nadun: Ritual and the Dynamics of Diversity in Northwest China's Hehuang Region. PhD thesis, Griffith University, Australia. (2011).
The ritual focuses on the cults of communal deities, and also on the cult of Erlang Ye, the communal deity for the entire Sanchuan region. These deities are feted for a day with the aim of ensuring their continued protection of the community. Offerings of paper, bread, liquor, fruit, and oil (burned in lamps) are made to the deity, who is also entertained by danced performances:
Huishou - all village males dance in military-inspired formations
Zhuangjiaqi - Farmer's Dance, in which an Elder Farmer, assisted by village elders, instructs his son how to farm
Generals - depicting scenes from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Shaguojiang - Tiger Killing General, in which a bull-headed warrior fights and defeats wild animals
Officials - imperial bureaucrats dance, sometimes accompanied by their wives
Cun Xiao Beats a Tiger - a youth named Cun Xiao wrestles with and defeats a tiger
The dramatic highlight of the Nadun occurs when the deity incarnates in the body of a villager, called a huala (fala), thus facilitating direct communication between the deity and the community.
In addition to the huala, other ritual practitioners may also be involved. Huashi (fashi) are practitioners who beat drums, sing, and dance to delight deities. Elderly men and women in 'mantra societies' may also chant Buddhist scriptures.
The ~ 500 images in this collection were taken throughout Sanchuan between 2008 and 2010 by Gerald Roche and Wen Xiangchen. Photos are organized chronologically from most recent to oldest, and are organized into sets by location.
For more on Nadun, see:
Stuart, Kevin and Hu Jun. "That All May Prosper: The Monguor (Tu) Nadun of the Guanting/ Sanchuan Region, Qinghai, China" Anthropos. 88 (1993): 15-27
and
Roche, Gerald. Nadun: Ritual and the Dynamics of Diversity in Northwest China's Hehuang Region. PhD thesis, Griffith University, Australia. (2011).
Research Interests: Anthropology, Border Studies, Chinese Religions, Tibetan Studies, Ritual, and 12 moreMongolian Studies, China, Anthropology of China, Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, China studies, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Popular religion, Organization, Folk Religion in China, Mongolian and Central Asian Studies, and Temple
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Huashi are religious practitioners of northwest China. They dance, sing, beat drums, and create paper cuttings in order to delight local deities. Huashi are farmers for most of the year, but perform rituals during the winter when there is... more
Huashi are religious practitioners of northwest China. They dance, sing, beat drums, and create paper cuttings in order to delight local deities. Huashi are farmers for most of the year, but perform rituals during the winter when there is no farming work. They also perform rituals at other times during the year when summoned by communities. These pictures of huashi were taken between 2008 and 2010.
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These pictures show huala, mediums that embody local deities and therefore allow direct communication between deities and humans. These images were all taken in Mangghuer Sanchuan region, with the exception of three taken in a Tibetan... more
These pictures show huala, mediums that embody local deities and therefore allow direct communication between deities and humans. These images were all taken in Mangghuer Sanchuan region, with the exception of three taken in a Tibetan village in Sanchuan.
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Folk perceptions of the landscape in Sanchuan (NE Tibetan Plateau, Minhe County, Qinghai Province) focus on two concepts: sha and meiqi. Though sha and meiqi are invisible, these images attempt to capture some of their associated visible... more
Folk perceptions of the landscape in Sanchuan (NE Tibetan Plateau, Minhe County, Qinghai Province) focus on two concepts: sha and meiqi. Though sha and meiqi are invisible, these images attempt to capture some of their associated visible aspects . Sha and meiqi are, respectively, negative and positive numinous aspects of the landscape. Both flow through the land, and cause harm or bring benefits when they collide with people. Preventing contact with sha and encouraging interaction with meqi were traditionally significant aspects of traditional Mangghuer religious life.
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These pictures were taken between 2007 and 2012 in various villages in the Rebgong region of Amdo. This ritual dance is performed in communities that profess the Bon religion, though Buddhist communities also hold similar rituals.
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These images show a ritual conducted on Suoke Mountain in Sanchuan in Summer, 2010. This ritual is conducted annually by villagers from Wushi Valley, to beseech the local deity for rain. Male villagers lead a sheep to the mountaintop... more
These images show a ritual conducted on Suoke Mountain in Sanchuan in Summer, 2010. This ritual is conducted annually by villagers from Wushi Valley, to beseech the local deity for rain. Male villagers lead a sheep to the mountaintop lake, sacrifice it, and distribute the meat among participants. A Tibetan Buddhist monk meanwhile chants scriptures.
These images were created in the Oirat-speaking communities and surrounding areas of Henan Mongol Autonomous County, Rma lho Tibetan Autonomous county, Qinghai Province. Except for the first picture, all images in this set were taken by... more
These images were created in the Oirat-speaking communities and surrounding areas of Henan Mongol Autonomous County, Rma lho Tibetan Autonomous county, Qinghai Province. Except for the first picture, all images in this set were taken by Ban+de mkhar.
This dance was performed on the third day of the lunar New Year (2007), in Ongja Village. This Tibetan community is located in Rdo sbis Township, Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, Haidong Region, Qinghai Province, China. It was also... more
This dance was performed on the third day of the lunar New Year (2007), in Ongja Village. This Tibetan community is located in Rdo sbis Township, Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, Haidong Region, Qinghai Province, China. It was also performed in on the first and fifth days of the lunar New Year. Usually, a lha pa (trance medium) takes part in the dance, incarnating the village's tutelary deity. This year, however, he was on holiday in Beijing. The dance is performed by a male representative of each village household, and ensures peace and prosperity in the coming year.
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OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATION. FOLLOW LINK FOR PDF. Indigenous efflorescence refers to the surprising economic prosperity, demographic increase and cultural renaissance currently found amongst many Indigenous communities around the world. This... more
OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATION. FOLLOW LINK FOR PDF. Indigenous efflorescence refers to the surprising economic prosperity, demographic increase and cultural renaissance currently found amongst many Indigenous communities around the world. This book moves beyond a more familiar focus on ‘revitalisation’ to situate these developments within their broader political and economic contexts. The materials in this volume also examine the everyday practices and subjectivities of Indigenous efflorescence and how these exist in tension with ongoing colonisation of Indigenous lands, and the destabilising impacts of global neoliberal capitalism. Contributions to this volume include both research articles and shorter case studies, and are drawn from amongst the Ainu and Sami (Saami/Sámi) peoples (in Ainu Mosir in northern Japan, and Sapmi in northern Europe, respectively). This volume will be of use to scholars working on contemporary Indigenous issues, as well as to Indigenous peoples engaged in linguistic and cultural revitalisation, and other aspects of Indigenous efflorescence.
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From: https://goo.gl/6UkVG9 The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization is the first comprehensive overview of the language revitalization movement, from the Arctic to the Amazon and across continents. Featuring 47 contributions... more
From: https://goo.gl/6UkVG9
The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization is the first comprehensive overview of the language revitalization movement, from the Arctic to the Amazon and across continents. Featuring 47 contributions from a global range of top scholars in the field, the handbook is divided into two parts, the first of which expands on language revitalization issues of theory and practice while the second covers regional perspectives in an effort to globalize and decolonize the field. The collection examines critical issues in language revitalization, including:
language rights, language and well-being, and language policy;
language in educational institutions and in the home;
new methodologies and venues for language learning;
and the roles of documentation, literacies, and the internet.
The volume also contains chapters on the kinds of language that are less often researched such as the revitalization of music, of whistled languages and sign languages, and how languages change when they are being revitalized. The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization is the ideal resource for graduate students and researchers working in linguistic anthropology and language revitalization and endangerment.
The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization is the first comprehensive overview of the language revitalization movement, from the Arctic to the Amazon and across continents. Featuring 47 contributions from a global range of top scholars in the field, the handbook is divided into two parts, the first of which expands on language revitalization issues of theory and practice while the second covers regional perspectives in an effort to globalize and decolonize the field. The collection examines critical issues in language revitalization, including:
language rights, language and well-being, and language policy;
language in educational institutions and in the home;
new methodologies and venues for language learning;
and the roles of documentation, literacies, and the internet.
The volume also contains chapters on the kinds of language that are less often researched such as the revitalization of music, of whistled languages and sign languages, and how languages change when they are being revitalized. The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization is the ideal resource for graduate students and researchers working in linguistic anthropology and language revitalization and endangerment.
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Containing ballads of martial heroism, tales of tragic lovers and visions of the nature of the world, Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet: Texts in Mongghul, Chinese, and English is a rich repository of songs... more
Containing ballads of martial heroism, tales of tragic lovers and visions of the nature of the world, Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet: Texts in Mongghul, Chinese, and English is a rich repository of songs collected amongst the Mongghul of the Seven Valleys, on the northeast Tibetan Plateau in western China. These songs represent the apogee of Mongghul oral literature, and they provide valuable insights into the lives of Mongghul people—their hopes, dreams, and worries. They bear testimony to the impressive plurilingual repertoire commanded by some Mongghul singers: the original texts in Tibetan, Mongghul, and Chinese are here presented in Mongghul, Chinese, and English.
The kaleidoscope of stories told in these songs include that of Marshall Qi, a chieftain from the Seven Valleys who travels to Luoyang with his Mongghul army to battle rebels; Laarimbu and Qiimunso, a pair of star-crossed lovers who take revenge from beyond the grave on the families that kept them apart; and the Crop-Planting Song and the Sheep Song, which map the physical and spiritual terrain of the Mongghul people, vividly describing the physical and cosmological world in which they exist.
This collection of songs is supported by an Introduction by Gerald Roche that provides an understanding of their traditional context, and shows that these works offer insights into the practices of multilingualism in Tibet. Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet is vital reading for researchers and others working on oral literature, as well as those who study Inner Asia, Tibet, and China’s ethnic minorities. Finally, this book is of interest to linguistic anthropologists and sociolinguists, particularly those working on small-scale multilingualism and pre-colonial multilingualism.
The University of Melbourne has generously contributed towards the publication of this volume.
Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet is the eighth volume in our World Oral Literature Series. The Series is produced in conjunction with the World Oral Literature Project.
The kaleidoscope of stories told in these songs include that of Marshall Qi, a chieftain from the Seven Valleys who travels to Luoyang with his Mongghul army to battle rebels; Laarimbu and Qiimunso, a pair of star-crossed lovers who take revenge from beyond the grave on the families that kept them apart; and the Crop-Planting Song and the Sheep Song, which map the physical and spiritual terrain of the Mongghul people, vividly describing the physical and cosmological world in which they exist.
This collection of songs is supported by an Introduction by Gerald Roche that provides an understanding of their traditional context, and shows that these works offer insights into the practices of multilingualism in Tibet. Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet is vital reading for researchers and others working on oral literature, as well as those who study Inner Asia, Tibet, and China’s ethnic minorities. Finally, this book is of interest to linguistic anthropologists and sociolinguists, particularly those working on small-scale multilingualism and pre-colonial multilingualism.
The University of Melbourne has generously contributed towards the publication of this volume.
Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet is the eighth volume in our World Oral Literature Series. The Series is produced in conjunction with the World Oral Literature Project.
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This thesis examines cultural variation and the processes of cultural change that form it through a case-study of variation and invariance in the performance of Nadun, a ritual performed in fifty-three communities in the Sanchuan region... more
This thesis examines cultural variation and the processes of cultural change that form it through a case-study of variation and invariance in the performance of Nadun, a ritual performed in fifty-three communities in the Sanchuan region of northwest China primarily by Mangghuer (Tu) but also Tiebie (Tibetan) and Qidai (Han Chinese) communities.
The text begins by placing the study in its regional context and situating the research topic within the reemergence of area studies and recent discussion on Zomia and the nature of regional formation in Asian borderlands. The introductory chapter also provides details on Nadun (including a review of relevant literature), and background on the theory and method employed in the study.
The second chapter of the thesis deals with the ontological foundations of Nadun – beliefs and practices centered on an opposition between malevolent ghosts and benevolent deities that can both manipulate human fortunes. This chapter also examines the impact of Dge lugs pa Buddhism on these beliefs and practices.
The third chapter examines the social patterning of Nadun according to local ideologies of age, gender, kin, and territory. Local idioms of hospitality, etiquette, and festive atmosphere which pattern dyadic social relationships are also discussed.
Chapter Four deals with the impact of the state upon patterns of cultural diversity and unity in China. In particular, it seeks to establish that significant elements of Nadun represent an attempt by the Qing state to render Mangghuer populations legible, conscriptable, and favorably disposed towards the state.
Chapter Five examines the impact of contemporary cultural trends – modernism, globalism, and consumerism – in Sanchuan and on Nadun. This chapter in particular examines the way in which global ideologies are co-opted by locally hegemonic ideologies.
This final chapter of this thesis generalizes the findings of the previous chapters into three broadly applicable conclusions. It is first suggested that cultural diversity is most accurately envisioned as noospheric diversity – diversity of ideologies or paradigms – rather than as diversity of cultural groups, an approach which dominates contemporary discourse on cultural diversity. It is secondly suggested that a further element of cultural diversity is areal diversity – diversity in the number and nature of regions created by meshworks of social processes within which ideologies circulate. The final generalizable conclusion of this thesis is that future attention should be paid to the role of certain individuals in generating cultural diversity by creating regional variations and combinations of translocal ideologies.
https://www120.secure.griffith.edu.au/rch/items/913bc3e4-3b57-1374-02d9-a4c46422f8f6/1/
The text begins by placing the study in its regional context and situating the research topic within the reemergence of area studies and recent discussion on Zomia and the nature of regional formation in Asian borderlands. The introductory chapter also provides details on Nadun (including a review of relevant literature), and background on the theory and method employed in the study.
The second chapter of the thesis deals with the ontological foundations of Nadun – beliefs and practices centered on an opposition between malevolent ghosts and benevolent deities that can both manipulate human fortunes. This chapter also examines the impact of Dge lugs pa Buddhism on these beliefs and practices.
The third chapter examines the social patterning of Nadun according to local ideologies of age, gender, kin, and territory. Local idioms of hospitality, etiquette, and festive atmosphere which pattern dyadic social relationships are also discussed.
Chapter Four deals with the impact of the state upon patterns of cultural diversity and unity in China. In particular, it seeks to establish that significant elements of Nadun represent an attempt by the Qing state to render Mangghuer populations legible, conscriptable, and favorably disposed towards the state.
Chapter Five examines the impact of contemporary cultural trends – modernism, globalism, and consumerism – in Sanchuan and on Nadun. This chapter in particular examines the way in which global ideologies are co-opted by locally hegemonic ideologies.
This final chapter of this thesis generalizes the findings of the previous chapters into three broadly applicable conclusions. It is first suggested that cultural diversity is most accurately envisioned as noospheric diversity – diversity of ideologies or paradigms – rather than as diversity of cultural groups, an approach which dominates contemporary discourse on cultural diversity. It is secondly suggested that a further element of cultural diversity is areal diversity – diversity in the number and nature of regions created by meshworks of social processes within which ideologies circulate. The final generalizable conclusion of this thesis is that future attention should be paid to the role of certain individuals in generating cultural diversity by creating regional variations and combinations of translocal ideologies.
https://www120.secure.griffith.edu.au/rch/items/913bc3e4-3b57-1374-02d9-a4c46422f8f6/1/
Research Interests: Social Change, Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Diversity, Tibetan Studies, and 20 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Inner Asian Studies, Ritual, Central Asian Studies, Mongolian Studies, China, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism, China studies, Ritual (Anthropology), Cultural Diversity, Central Asia, Cultural Anthropology, Contemporary China, Late Imperial-Modern China, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Cultural change, Qinghai, and Anthropology of Religion
The thirteen contributions in this collection shed new light on the people, officially referred to in China as the Tu, but in the West more commonly known as the Monguor, who numbered 289,565 in 2010 (Poston and Xiong 2014:118), and who... more
The thirteen contributions in this collection shed new light on the people, officially referred to in China as the Tu, but in the West more commonly known as the Monguor, who numbered 289,565 in 2010 (Poston and Xiong 2014:118), and who lived mostly in Qinghai and Gansu provinces. While considered in China to be a unitary minzu, or nationality, with a single history, language, and culture, and also assumed to be as much by Western scholars, a growing body of research is suggestive of the diversity within this group (Janhunen 2006). One indication of this diversity has been the proliferation of names used to describe localized populations of the Tu, including Karilang, Mongghul, Huzhu Mongghul, Huzhu Tu, Tianzhu Tu, Mangghuer, Gansu Mangghuer, Reb gong Tu, Dordo, Wutun Tu, Baoan Tu, Shaowa Tu, Mongolic Tu, Naringhuor Mongghuor, Datong Tu, and Halchighul Mongghul. Linguistic research has also revealed diversity among the Monguor, showing that their first languages may include Qinghai Chinese (Datong Tu) and other 'Creolized' Sinitic varieties (Wutun), as well as Mongolic (Mongghul, Mangghuer, Reb gong Tu) and Bodic varieties (Shaowa Tu) (Janhunen et al. 2007).
Research Interests: Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Ethnography, Tibetan Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 12 moreInner Asian Studies, Ritual, Mongolian Studies, Silk Road Studies, China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism, China studies, Central Asia, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Qinghai, and Monguor
The most fundamental aspects of Tibetans' lives have gone unnoticed and undocumented in the Western academic literature which, in part, reflects the striking lack of local Tibetan voices in Tibetan studies in the West. This important work... more
The most fundamental aspects of Tibetans' lives have gone unnoticed and undocumented in the Western academic literature which, in part, reflects the striking lack of local Tibetan voices in Tibetan studies in the West. This important work begins to remedy this lamentable situation. Contributing to a growing opus of English-language ethnographic studies produced by Tibetan graduates of the English Training Program (ETP) in Xining City, Qinghai Province, China, the authors provide a rare view of the complex practices among Tibetans in rural southeast Qinghai associated with the hair-changing rituals that announce the sexual maturity of teenage girls. The hair-changing ritual was once widely practiced inthe Tibetan farming and semi-pastoralist communities of eastern Amdo, the region now divided among the rural counties of China's Qinghai and Gansu provinces. It was arguably the only major rite-of-passage that put girls front and center; there was no equivalent rite for boys. Yet its significance for Tibetans seems to have largely escaped the Chinese and western observers who wrote about the region from the early twentieth century on. As this study makes clear, these practices are about much more than just girls and their hair. In fact, in the days-long rite of passage, the preparations and festivities engage a whole cosmological nexus of fortune, purity, fertility, sexuality, and exchange, recruiting the participation of men and women across the community and entailing future (mutual aid, kinship, and affinal) relationships among them. As such, the hair-changing ritual strikingly demonstrates that gender and kinship relations are not marginal concerns but core aspects of all Tibetans' social lives in these regions. This study's rich detail, and its description of a particular instance of the rite in 2007, is fruitful food for thought,especially in light of the rapid social and economic changes now taking place in rural Tibetan regions of China increasingly experiencing development and urbanization. For one thing, unlike other studies, here we have a full text of a ritual speech contextualized along with the accompanying actions, objects, and exchanges. The study thus gives us away to link local Tibetans' systems of metaphor, cosmology, and value with the contemporary circulations of gifts and guests that are subject to so much flux under new forms of state-sponsored consumer capitalism. For another, as Tibetan women are increasingly called upon to hold up rural localities and household economies as men travel to seek cash and wages, this study provides us an invaluable baseline against which to consider the fundamentally gendered implications of socioeconomic change for rural Tibetans. Charlene Makley Reed College
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The na53 mʑi53 are one of several scattered groups of people, officially classified by the Chinese government as Zang 藏 (ethnic Tibetans), who live mostly in southern Sichuan 四川 but also in a few places in the north of the province.... more
The na53 mʑi53 are one of several scattered groups of people, officially classified by the Chinese government as Zang 藏 (ethnic Tibetans), who live mostly in southern Sichuan 四川 but also in a few places in the north of the province. Certain of these Qiangic-speaking peoples were once referred to in historical documents as' Xifan'西番 (Western Barbarians)(Harrell 2001: 69).
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These two books deal with the same profound statistic—that approximately half of the world's languages are currently endangered.
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The introduction reviews the literature on religious revival in China, especially among minorities. Wellens emphasizes that in studies of religious revival in minority—particularly Tibetan—contexts, religious revival is seen as a... more
The introduction reviews the literature on religious revival in China, especially among minorities. Wellens emphasizes that in studies of religious revival in minority—particularly Tibetan—contexts, religious revival is seen as a straightforward resumption of previous practices, whereas literature on religious revival among Han communities paints a more complex picture of revival as a process involving recreation and reinvention in addition to resumption. Given Wellens's suggestion of the usefulness of literature on Chinese folk ...
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In this post written for autism acceptance month, autistic anthropologist Gerald Roche discusses connections between the communication styles and life expectancy of autistic people, and encourages sociolinguists, linguistic... more
In this post written for autism acceptance month, autistic anthropologist Gerald Roche discusses connections between the communication styles and life expectancy of autistic people, and encourages sociolinguists, linguistic anthropologists, and applied linguists to help work towards a better life for autistic people.
https://www.languageonthemove.com/im-dying-to-speak-to-you/
https://www.languageonthemove.com/im-dying-to-speak-to-you/
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Tibetan-medium education has been undermined by the increasingly aggressive promotion of China’s national language, Putonghua. But promoting Tibetan-medium schooling will not ensure linguistic rights for all Tibetans.... more
Tibetan-medium education has been undermined by the increasingly aggressive promotion of China’s national language, Putonghua. But promoting Tibetan-medium schooling will not ensure linguistic rights for all Tibetans.
https://theasiadialogue.com/2020/03/11/beyond-bilingual-education-in-tibet/
https://theasiadialogue.com/2020/03/11/beyond-bilingual-education-in-tibet/
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2019 is the International Year of Indigenous Languages—but what even is an Indigenous language? Which languages are we celebrating? How would we know and why does it matter? From:... more
2019 is the International Year of Indigenous Languages—but what even is an Indigenous language? Which languages are we celebrating? How would we know and why does it matter?
From: http://www.ogmios.org/blog/welcome-to-the-year-of-un-indigenous-languages/
From: http://www.ogmios.org/blog/welcome-to-the-year-of-un-indigenous-languages/
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[from the introduction] The Himalayas, the world’s tallest mountains, are a meeting point for Earth’s two most populous nations — India and China. These superstates face off across hundreds of kilometers of disputed Himalayan borders.... more
[from the introduction] The Himalayas, the world’s tallest mountains, are a meeting point for Earth’s two most populous nations — India and China. These superstates face off across hundreds of kilometers of disputed Himalayan borders. They also interact with, and through, the Himalayan buffer states of Nepal and Bhutan.
Both India and China are currently growing more jingoistic at home and assertive abroad, creating an increasingly significant geopolitical faultline. However, a sole focus on the these two superstates misses important aspects of regional geopolitics. A look at the Himalayan language politics reveals both hidden actors and invisible victims in regional struggles.
https://thediplomat.com/2018/11/the-geopolitics-of-language-in-the-himalayas/
Both India and China are currently growing more jingoistic at home and assertive abroad, creating an increasingly significant geopolitical faultline. However, a sole focus on the these two superstates misses important aspects of regional geopolitics. A look at the Himalayan language politics reveals both hidden actors and invisible victims in regional struggles.
https://thediplomat.com/2018/11/the-geopolitics-of-language-in-the-himalayas/
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This is the transcript of an interview I did for the Ear to Asia podcast. The audio can be heard here: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=156516
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Interview for The Little red Podcast. "In this episode, Graeme and Louisa talk with anthropologist Gerald Roche about the prospects for the survival of non-Tibetan languages in the Tibetan areas of the PRC."
Research Interests: Anthropology, Languages and Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, Tibetan Studies, and 8 moreLanguage Policy and Politics of Identity, China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, China studies, Contemporary China, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, Language politics, and Tibetan Language
WRITTEN FOR A GENERAL AUDIENCE As China continues its rise to global prominence, understanding the complexity of its relationship with Tibet is more important than ever. Recent research suggests we still have a long way to go. Has... more
WRITTEN FOR A GENERAL AUDIENCE
As China continues its rise to global prominence, understanding the complexity of its relationship with Tibet is more important than ever. Recent research suggests we still have a long way to go.
Has China’s ethnic policy increased conflict in Tibet? How do the development practices and policies of the Chinese state affect Tibetans? Do economic subsidies disempower Tibetans? Do educational policies disrupt the transmission of Tibetan language and culture? Has the attempt to build a ‘harmonious society’ in China marginalised Tibetans?
These are some of the questions that scholars and journalists are asking about Tibet today. In emphasising the transformations that Tibet is currently undergoing, they all, in one way or another, take for granted the unity and coherence of Tibet, and its existence as an object that is acted upon by the Chinese state. Here, I want to add another angle to the discussion. Rather than examining the process of transformation, I will look at what is being transformed, and ask, “What is Tibet?”
As China continues its rise to global prominence, understanding the complexity of its relationship with Tibet is more important than ever. Recent research suggests we still have a long way to go.
Has China’s ethnic policy increased conflict in Tibet? How do the development practices and policies of the Chinese state affect Tibetans? Do economic subsidies disempower Tibetans? Do educational policies disrupt the transmission of Tibetan language and culture? Has the attempt to build a ‘harmonious society’ in China marginalised Tibetans?
These are some of the questions that scholars and journalists are asking about Tibet today. In emphasising the transformations that Tibet is currently undergoing, they all, in one way or another, take for granted the unity and coherence of Tibet, and its existence as an object that is acted upon by the Chinese state. Here, I want to add another angle to the discussion. Rather than examining the process of transformation, I will look at what is being transformed, and ask, “What is Tibet?”
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The Tibetan Plateau is home to at least 40 minority languages, in addition to Tibetan. The 7 most endangered languages each have less than 3,000 speakers. Less than 7,000 people speak these 7 languages in total. That's under half the... more
The Tibetan Plateau is home to at least 40 minority languages, in addition to Tibetan. The 7 most endangered languages each have less than 3,000 speakers. Less than 7,000 people speak these 7 languages in total. That's under half the people who visit the Louvre Museum on an average day.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Languages and Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, Tibetan Studies, and 13 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Endangered Languages, China, Linguistics, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, Contemporary China, Endangered languages/cultures, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, Kham, Tibet, and Tibetan Language
Throughout May 2014 I ran a Twitter campaign, #DiverseTibet, to raise awareness about linguistic diversity in Tibet. More specifically, I focused on the Chinese Tibetosphere – that is, the regions within the present-day People's Republic... more
Throughout May 2014 I ran a Twitter campaign, #DiverseTibet, to raise awareness about linguistic diversity in Tibet. More specifically, I focused on the Chinese Tibetosphere – that is, the regions within the present-day People's Republic of China that have historically come under the cultural influence of Tibetan Buddhism and/ or Bon, and the linguistic influence of the Tibetic languages. The table below lists most, but not all, of the tweets for #DiverseTibet, including links regarding the individual languages. There are links to resource for almost 40 individual languages.
Please contact me if you have additional resources to add, and I will update this list accordingly – contact information in document header.
Please contact me if you have additional resources to add, and I will update this list accordingly – contact information in document header.
Research Interests: Languages and Linguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, Applied, engaged, and public anthropology, Tibetan Studies, Endangered Languages, and 13 moreMongolian Studies, Applied Linguistics, Tibet, China, Anthropology of China, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, Yunnan, Tibetan Language, Sichuan, and Qinghai Province
Though the grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau may appear to be a natural ecosystem, an emerging consensus among a wide range of scholars now suggests that these alpine meadows are, in fact, an anthropogenic landscape, created and... more
Though the grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau may appear to be a natural ecosystem, an emerging consensus among a wide range of scholars now suggests that these alpine meadows are, in fact, an anthropogenic landscape, created and maintained by humans. However, over the last thirty years, a variety of factors have led to pastoral abandonment – the removal of humans and livestock from the grasslands. These factors may be grouped into two categories: 'push' factors, referring to government policies that compulsorily remove pastoralists from the grasslands, and 'pull' factors that positively incentivize pastoral abandonment. The repercussions of the abandonment of one of the earth's largest anthropogenic landscapes are likely to be complex and difficult to predict. At a local scale, changes in biodiversity will occur across the Tibetan Plateau. At a regional scale, the hydrological systems of East, Southeast, and South Asia will be impacted. Finally, at a global level, pastoral abandonment may also have an impact of the earth's climate. The importance of human stewardship on the Tibetan alpine pastures, and the rapid increase in pastoral abandonment, highlight the urgent need for ethnographic studies of and with Tibetan nomads, to document the knowledge and practices through which they manage this important ecosystem.
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Research Interests: Geography, Human Geography, Cartography, Asian Studies, Anthropology, and 19 moreEducation, Languages and Linguistics, Social Sciences, Linguistic Anthropology, Tibetan Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Inner Asian Studies, Endangered Languages, Social Justice, Tibet, China, Linguistics, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, China studies, Amdo, Tibetan Plateau, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, Linguistic Diversity (Languages And Linguistics), and Tibetan Language
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A video series to help Tibetan students learn English.
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This book consists of 15 short stories written by Tibetan students in English. Each story is followed by grammar and comprehension activities. The stories have been simplified for English learners, and are based on the 1,000 most common... more
This book consists of 15 short stories written by Tibetan students in English. Each story is followed by grammar and comprehension activities. The stories have been simplified for English learners, and are based on the 1,000 most common words in English.
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This book contains eleven essays describing Lo sar (New Year) celebrations in eleven different villages in Mdo khams. Each essay is divided into two parts. Part one introduces the village. Part two describes Lo sar. All the essays were... more
This book contains eleven essays describing Lo sar (New Year) celebrations in eleven different villages in Mdo khams. Each essay is divided into two parts. Part one introduces the village. Part two describes Lo sar. All the essays were written by Tibetan students in English. This book has three main purposes. Firstly, it is a general advanced English reader. Secondly, it will help the student develop academic English skills, particularly critical reading. Finally, it also helps Tibetan students develop their ability to talk about Tibetan cultural topics in English.
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This book provides Tibetans with the necessary vocabulary to talk about Tibetan culture in English. This book cannot be used alone as an English textbook. It must be used with an introductory English textbook. There are 108 short texts in... more
This book provides Tibetans with the necessary vocabulary to talk about Tibetan culture in English. This book cannot be used alone as an English textbook. It must be used with an introductory English textbook. There are 108 short texts in this book. Each text deals with a different topic and introduces several new words. Audio here: http://www.plateauenglish.org/108-tibetan-customs.html.
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This article introduces a communal ritual, known as Bog, as practiced among the Mongghul, a linguistically and culturally distinct group of people of the northeast Tibetan Plateau. The main activity of the Bog ritual involves deities and... more
This article introduces a communal ritual, known as Bog, as practiced among the Mongghul, a linguistically and culturally distinct group of people of the northeast Tibetan Plateau. The main activity of the Bog ritual involves deities and ancestral souls being invited to a sumptuous "banquet" where religious practitioners, called fashi, chant scriptures, sing, dance, joke, and burn incense to delight the "guests." This essay provides a thick description of the ritual. To provide context for this description, we introduce the community on which our description focuses, and also discuss the role of fashi. A chronological account of the ritual follows that includes not only descriptions of the ritual activities, but also interpretations of the meaning of these events from the perspective of the ritual practitioners. We also provide an analysis of the performances given during the ritual and how they contribute to creating a spectacle that delights both human and non-human participants.
Research Interests: Chinese Folk Religion, Anthropology, Ethnography, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Performance Ethnography, and 9 moreFolk Religion, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Qinghai, Qinghai Province, Anthropology of Religion, Mongghul, Monguor, Monguor, Mongghul, English-in-Mongghul, and Tu (Monguor, Mongghul, Mangghuer)
Gerald Roche. 2015. Ethnicity and Cultural Diversity on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau: Sanchuan's Weather Management Rituals in Comparative Context in Gerald Roche, Keith Dede, Fernanda Pirie, and Benedict Copps (eds) Asian Highlands... more
Gerald Roche. 2015. Ethnicity and Cultural Diversity on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau: Sanchuan's Weather Management Rituals in Comparative Context in Gerald Roche, Keith Dede, Fernanda Pirie, and Benedict Copps (eds) Asian Highlands Perspectives 37 Centering the Local, A Festschrift for Dr. Charles Kevin Stuart on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday, 168-206.
What is the relationship between ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity? This paper is part of a broader project to investigate this question in the context of a region of supposed ethno-cultural rupture – the Sino-Tibetan Frontier. My investigations of ethnicity, culture, and language in this region (Roche 2011, 2014, 2015, Roche and Lcag mo tshe ring 2013, Roche and Stuart 2015) have focused on a
population referred to as the Monguor or Tu. My work also aims to contribute to broader trends in the study of Tibet and ethnic minorities in China that look at the complex relations between ethnicity and diversity (Jinba Tenzin 2013, Chao 2012, Merriam 2012, Hayes 2014).
What is the relationship between ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity? This paper is part of a broader project to investigate this question in the context of a region of supposed ethno-cultural rupture – the Sino-Tibetan Frontier. My investigations of ethnicity, culture, and language in this region (Roche 2011, 2014, 2015, Roche and Lcag mo tshe ring 2013, Roche and Stuart 2015) have focused on a
population referred to as the Monguor or Tu. My work also aims to contribute to broader trends in the study of Tibet and ethnic minorities in China that look at the complex relations between ethnicity and diversity (Jinba Tenzin 2013, Chao 2012, Merriam 2012, Hayes 2014).
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These resources were compiled and posted to Facebook between January 1 2020 and February 7 2020. Each post deals with one or more of Tibet’s minoritized Languages. Emphasis was placed on describing the vitality of the languages, and... more
These resources were compiled and posted to Facebook between January 1 2020 and February 7 2020. Each post deals with one or more of Tibet’s minoritized Languages. Emphasis was placed on describing the vitality of the languages, and providing links to open access online sources. The posts have been reformatted and reproduced here with minimal editing.
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This draft report is based on a preliminary analysis of the results of the ‘Survey of Tibet’s Minority Languages’ conducted by Dr. Gerald Roche at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne. The survey aimed to assess the vitality of... more
This draft report is based on a preliminary analysis of the results of the ‘Survey of Tibet’s Minority Languages’ conducted by Dr. Gerald Roche at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne. The survey aimed to assess the vitality of approximately 30 languages spoken by Tibetans in China. ‘Vitality’ can be roughly defined as an indicator of a language’s chances of being sustained in the future – if vitality is low, the language is less likely to be spoken in the future, if the vitality is high, it probably will.
Data were collected on 20 languages (see Appendix 1 for further information). This data consisted of expert testimony from linguists and anthropologists who are intimately familiar with the demographic, social, political, cultural contexts in which the languages are spoken (see Appendix 2 for details). Questions consisted of multiple choice and Likert scale questions; opportunity for open comment was also provided.
Where applicable, the caption above each graph shows the question that respondents were asked to answer. Unless otherwise stated, values shown indicate the number of languages. The information below each chart highlights key findings. This preliminary analysis of the data is being made available to help raise awareness of the situation faced by these languages; a more rigorous analysis will follow in subsequent publications.
Data were collected on 20 languages (see Appendix 1 for further information). This data consisted of expert testimony from linguists and anthropologists who are intimately familiar with the demographic, social, political, cultural contexts in which the languages are spoken (see Appendix 2 for details). Questions consisted of multiple choice and Likert scale questions; opportunity for open comment was also provided.
Where applicable, the caption above each graph shows the question that respondents were asked to answer. Unless otherwise stated, values shown indicate the number of languages. The information below each chart highlights key findings. This preliminary analysis of the data is being made available to help raise awareness of the situation faced by these languages; a more rigorous analysis will follow in subsequent publications.
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This hearing will look at the issue of language rights and ethnic identity in China, including through a discussion of government policy toward ethnic minorities, language rights, and educational policy. The hearing will examine recent... more
This hearing will look at the issue of language rights and ethnic identity in China, including through a discussion of government policy toward ethnic minorities, language rights, and educational policy. The hearing will examine recent developments in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan areas, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and elsewhere in China where authorities have restricted the language and cultural rights of ethnic minority communities.
Video of the hearing available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QteAg-PDumg
Video of the hearing available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QteAg-PDumg
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Amidst growing academic and popular interest in concepts of social justice, a small but growing literature has emerged discussing the concept of 'linguistic justice'. However, this literature has only given very limited consideration to... more
Amidst growing academic and popular interest in concepts of social justice, a small but growing literature has emerged discussing the concept of 'linguistic justice'. However, this literature has only given very limited consideration to the issue of language endangerment. This article aims to advance a theory of linguistic (in)justice that can assist in understanding and resisting language endangerment. Central to such a theory is an understanding of the role that choice plays in the processes of language shift that drive language endangerment; unjust language shift is always coerced. Drawing on the work of political philosopher Nancy Fraser, I argue that this coercion is brought about by the unequal distribution of material resources and the existence of status hierarches between social groups and languages. I examine how both unequal distribution and misrecognition have historically been produced by colonialism, resulting in the contemporary crisis of global language endangerment. I therefore argue that decolonization represents a necessary condition for linguistic justice, and describe how decolonization can be achieved by transforming relations of redistribution and recognition. In concluding, I advocate for ongoing dialogue between disciplines, and between academics and communities, to advance theories of decolonization and linguistic justice.
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Interview with The Little Red Podcast. "In this episode, Graeme and Louisa talk with anthropologist Gerald Roche about the prospects for the survival of non-Tibetan languages in the Tibetan areas of the PRC."