Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands: Culture, Politics, Place (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9789462989320)

Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands: Culture, Politics, Place is an ethnography of culture and politics in Monyul, a Tibetan Buddhist cultural region in west Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. For nearly three centuries, Monyul was part of the Tibetan state, and the Monpas -- as the communities inhabiting this region are collectively known -- participated in trans-Himalayan trade and pilgrimage. Following the colonial demarcation of the Indo-Tibetan boundary in 1914, the fall of the Tibetan state in 1951, and the India-China boundary war in 1962, Monyul was gradually integrated into India and the Monpas became a Scheduled Tribe. In 2003, the Monpas began a demand for autonomy under the leadership of Tsona Gontse Rinpoche. This book examines the narratives and politics of the autonomy movement regarding language, place-names, and trans-border kinship against the backdrop of the India-China border dispute. It explores how the Monpas negotiate multiple identities to imagine new forms of community that transcend regional and national borders.

Author: Swargajyoti Gohain
ISBN-10: 946298932X
ISBN-13: 9789462989320
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Language: English
Published: 08/03/2020
Pages: 246
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.20w x 0.90d