2024/10/16 by Cairang Gezang · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations #Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies #Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/14631369.2024.2406978
openalex publication_date 2024/10/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
This article examines how Tibetans in the cultural region of Amdo experienced urbanization as a social process when it began intensifying in the region in the early 2000s. By using five pieces of Tibetan fiction as ethnographic data, this article looks at the process of urbanization from the angle of class, analyzing the formation of the urban Tibetan class in relation to social spaces in cities, and its structural position in society. This article further explores the subjectivity of urban Tibetans through the discourse and quoted speech of characters in fiction. In doing so, the article demonstrates that urbanization is occurring as a social process, and Lishaypa, or government workers, react to urbanization intensively as a class. This results in a new social demarcation being established among Tibetans, one based on urban residence and in which urban residents place themselves above rural villagers.