China's 'Tibetan' Frontiers by Beth Meriam

China's 'Tibetan' Frontiers by Beth Meriam

This pioneering ethnographic analysis provides a far-reaching account of the changing social, political and organizational topography of western China. The seismic changes wrought across this region in recent history are seen through the lens of Trinde, a remote 'autonomous' county on the Tibetan plateau. Drawing on over two years of detailed empirical research in a region never previously investigated by foreign researchers, Beth Meriam traces and interlinks the human, national and global dimensions of continuity and change. Her work provides important new insights into how the challenges and opportunities of China's reform era are producing innovative social and political responses from the people in this area. This sensitive, controversial work provides a rare and intimate account of a highly diverse range of people, and highlights their central role in shaping this dynamic, changing society. Set in a region that is never long out of the headlines, the ethnography vividly illustrates how policy fluctuations across this region involve difficult, and often painful, dilemmas for local people. Synthesizing anthropological insight with Tibetological rigour, the study shows how policies and social categories are anything but self-evident or monolithic: instead, local people are actively engaged in creating, reinterpreting and modifying official policies in practice. The book will be of interest to a wide audience, including students and scholars of Chinese nationality studies and Tibetology, as well as those with an interest in social and political anthropology or who are looking for a penetrating and integrated analysis of this hotly-debated and often misunderstood region.

Beth Meriam is a published writer, anthropologist and researcher. Since 1994, she has worked widely across the Himalayan and Tibetan cultural region. Her 1998-99 investigation of culture, development and education in Ladakh was awarded the James Littlejohn Prize (Edinburgh, 1999). In 2001, she published ‘Culture’ Matters: Developing Ladakhi Education on the Margins of India via the University of Edinburgh, which was the culmination of an in-depth research project. Dr. Meriam was awarded a Cambridge University doctorate that included research undertaken while living and working with pastoralists on the Tibetan plateau, and she continued as a Research Associate at Cambridge between 2006 and 2009.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781906876302
ISBN 10	1906876304
Title	China's 'Tibetan' Frontiers
Author	Beth Meriam
Series	Inner Asia Book Series
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Brill
Year published	2011-12-09
Number of pages	356
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.