Conflict and Social Order in Tibet and Inner Asia

Conflict and Social Order in Tibet and Inner Asia BTSL-21-Pirie_Huber_CS2.indd i 6-6-2008 10:53:46 Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library Edited by Henk Blezer Alex McKay Charles Ramble VOLUME 21 BTSL-21-Pirie_Huber_CS2.indd ii 6-6-2008 10:53:46 Conflict and Social Order in Tibet and Inner Asia Edited by Fernanda Pirie Toni Huber LEIDEN • BOSTON 2008 BTSL-21-Pirie_Huber_CS2.indd iii 6-6-2008 10:53:46 On the cover: Young Tibetan at a community festival, Amdo Sharkhog, February 1996. (Photograph by Toni Huber). This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication data Conflict and social order in Tibet and inner Asia / edited by Fernanda Pirie, Toni Huber. p. cm. — (Brill’s Tibetan studies library ; v. 21) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-15817-7 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Social structure—Asia, Central— Case studies. 2. Social structure—China—Tibet—Case studies. 3. Social conflict—Asia, Central—Case studies. 4. Social conflict—China—Tibet—Case studies. 5. Asia, Central— Social conditions—Case studies. 6. Tibet (China)—Social conditions—Case studies. I. Pirie, Fernanda, 1964- II. Huber, Toni, 1956- III. Title. IV. Series. HN670.22.A8C66 2008 305.800951—dc22 2008023224 ISSN 1568-6183 ISBN 978 90 04 15817 7 Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands BTSL-21-Pirie_Huber_CS2.indd iv 6-6-2008 10:53:46 CONTENTS Introduction Fernanda Pirie and Toni Huber………………………….. 1 THE COMMUNIST REGIMES Conflict and the Cultural Revolution: The Nyemo Ani Incident of 1969 Melvyn C. Goldstein, Ben Jiao and Tanzen Lhundup…………………………………………... 17 Display and Performance in Mongolian Cultural Campaigns Ines Stolpe………………………………………………… 59 Competing Factions and Elite Power: Political Conflict in Inner Mongolia David Sneath……………………………………………… 85 The Politics of Memory: Gender, Autobiography and Maoist Violence in Amdo Charlene Makley………………………………………….. 113 THE POST-SOCIALIST AND REFORM ERAS Religion and Conflict over Land in the Republic of Altai: Is there a Difference between Building a Shrine and Creating a Nature Park? Agnieszka Halemba……………………………………….. 135 The Muslim Cook, the Tibetan Client, his Lama and their Boycott: Modern Religious Discourses of Anti-Muslim Economic Activism in Amdo Andrew Martin Fischer…………………………………… 159 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Apparitions of Red Horses: Narratives of Destruction in Bodongpa Monasteries in Central Tibet Jill Sudbury……………………………………………….. 193 Violence and Opposition among the Nomads of Amdo: Expectations of Leadership and Religious Authority Fernanda Pirie……………………………………………. 217 When Brothers Separate: Conflict and Mediation within Polyandrous Houses in Central Tibet Heidi Fjeld………………………………………………... 241 Contributors…………………………………………………... 263 Index.…………………………………….……………………. 267 INTRODUCTION FERNANDA PIRIE AND TONI HUBER The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the former Soviet Union were sites of revolution, social upheaval and reform in the twentieth century. Both areas have subsequently experienced dramatic changes in political philosophy and social organisation and moves by newly emergent nation states, more or less successfully, to loosen the political grip of communism and develop capitalist-style economies. The people in both regions have, thus, suffered a series of upheavals to their social order, as well as dramatic persecutions and purges. In this volume we ask about the experiences of the people affected by such social change, by revolution and its aftermath, by the upheavals of political campaigns and the power struggles among elite groups. We ask, in particular, about the significance of such events for their social order, for the ways in which they conceptualise and organise the ongoing pattern of relations amongst and between individuals, communities and the state. Each chapter explores the experiences of one of the minority groups in Tibet, Mongolia and Siberia, regions which were incorpo- rated into the Soviet Union and the PRC during the twentieth century. Following the communist revolutions, such groups experienced the collectivisation of their agricultural and pastoral activities, the persecution of sections of their populations, the deni- gration of their language, culture and religion, the devaluation of agriculture and other traditional occupations and, subsequently, the development of their economies and infrastructure. They have, in other words, undergone political, religious, economic and cultural upheavals and attempts, both deliberate and otherwise, to alter or undermine their so-called ‘backward’ or ‘feudal’ social orders. This region, therefore, provides rich material to study the ways in which minority groups both react to incorporation within nation states and respond to dramatic social change. Rather than focussing, as many others have done, on the evidence of domination and 2 FERNANDA PIRIE AND TONI HUBER resistance, or the issue of nationalism, the chapters in this volume all illustrate the ways in which social order is generated, maintained and renegotiated at times of disruption. Each chapter is based on a study of one particular community’s experience of social disruption, ranging from the Chinese Cultural Revolution and Soviet cultural campaigns of the mid-twentieth century to contemporary experiences of economic progress and national integration. They illustrate a variety of responses, ranging from dramatic resistance to incremental change, from social disintegration to the re-establishment of order, and the opportunistic activities undertaken by enterprising individuals. They illustrate, in particular, the resources available to actors caught up in such events—historical, cultural, political and religious. Accordingly, the chapters in this volume reflect the historical trajectory of the self-conscious drive for modernity undertaken in both the Soviet region and the PRC and ongoing moves to secure the social integration of minority groups. In this Introduction we outline the historic processes that have affected the different parts of the region and go on to discuss the more theoretical issues that arise from the contrasting analyses of conflict and social order contained in this volume. REGIONAL PROCESSES Following the Russian revolution of 1917, a so-called ‘People’s Revolution’ took place in Mongolia in 1921. Although it was never part of the Soviet Union, the Mongolian People’s Republic, established in 1924, was heavily influenced by Soviet policies until its collapse after 1990. As such, it was subject to socialist cultural campaigns that were designed to introduce new forms of order throughout the region. This succession of campaigns was a sustained and deliberate attempt to introduce the ideas and values needed to found a modern socialist state; through them the Mongolian popula- tion was subjected to an onslaught of new ideas about cleanliness, education and progress. These have had a lasting, and somewhat surprisingly tenacious, legacy as Ines Stolpe outlines in her chapter in this volume. Subsequently, most of the post-Soviet region has been the site of dramatic economic reforms and the promotion of a market economy. Agnieszka Halemba, in her chapter in this volume, discusses the INTRODUCTION 3 effects of these reforms in southern Siberia, which has remained part of the Russian Federation. The privatization of land and development of a new nature park is regarded among the Altaian people of the region with suspicion. Comparing it with local reactions to the promotion of Buddhism, one of many religions now allowed to flourish in the region, Halemba traces the rise of grass-roots move- ments against both developments. China’s series of revolutions and power struggles resulted in the establishment of its communist state in 1949. The subsequent political trajectory saw widespread social disruption, particularly in the period from the instigation of the Cultural Revolution in 1966 to Mao’s death in 1976. Inner Mongolia came under the influence of China’s communist state from the late 1940s. David Sneath, in his chapter in this volume, describes the series of conflicts that subsequently marked this region, apparently characterised by ethnic oppositions between rival Mongolian tribal groups. He documents the role of local elites in these events, who manoeuvred for power and influence through the successive stages of revolution, socialism and reform and engaged in factional conflicts. This study can be compared with the chapter by Goldstein, Ben Jiao and Tanzen Lhundup, who describe the factional fighting among Tibetan groups caught up in the Cultural Revolution. The role of local elites and their struggles for power are shown in both of these papers to be of great significance to the local experience of revolution. The majority of Tibet1 was officially brought under Chinese control in 1950, although the effects of the new regime did not make themselves

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