Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 10-19-2017 3:00 PM ”Not Just Based On Land”: A Study On The Ethnic Tibetan Community in Toronto Diyin Deng The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Sherrie Larkin The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Anthropology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Arts © Diyin Deng 2017 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Deng, Diyin, "”Not Just Based On Land”: A Study On The Ethnic Tibetan Community in Toronto" (2017). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4970. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4970 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract The Tibetan identity first emerged as “resistance” (Winland 2002; Scott 1990). The united pan-Tibetan identity did not originally resonate with the diverse group of ethnic minorities living on the Tibetan plateau until post-Chinese occupation. Then, all the groups saw the mutual benefit of adopting the united Tibetan identity against what they perceived as a greater threat to their culture and values. As such the initial Tibetan identity that is projected internationally was harnessed as a “weapon”(Bauman and Vecchi 2004:74) against homogenizing Chinese citizenship and was intimately intertwined with activism. My research focuses on the formation of diasporic Tibetan identities within the Toronto Tibetan community. Following the 1959 Chinese occupation of Tibet that displaced many Tibetans to India and Nepal, the first wave of 228 Tibetans migrated to Canada in 1970- 1971. Presently, Canada contains a Tibetan community in exile of around 6000 (Government of Canada 2014), and yet there have been few recent studies that focus on how Tibetan newcomers have experienced life in Canada. The first part of the thesis will be a literature review of the history of Tibetan migration to Canada, the multifaceted sense of Tibetan identity, as resistance, remembering the “homeland” (real and imagined) and creating diasporic “spaces of belonging” (Robins 2001). The second part will touch upon the recent paradigm shift from viewing Tibetan identity as resistance to a decolonizing project. Finally I will be sharing some of my findings from my fieldwork research with the Toronto Tibetan community in the summer of 2016. My research on contemporary Tibetan identit(ies) will contribute to the ongoing dialogue of non-status people and refugees finding spaces for justice and equality in an unequal world. Keywords Tibetan, migration, identity, transnationalism, refugee, diaspora, exile, activism, migrant networks Acknowledgments I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to my informants, who invested their trust and time in my research. This thesis would not be possible without the guidance of Dr. Sherrie Larkin, who I must thank for believing in the importance of my research. I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Randa Farah for her suggestions and comments. I would like to thanks Dr. Wendy Russell for inspiring me to pursue this line of research. The faculty of Anthropology offered a supportive environment and guidance and I would like to thank the following professors for listening and helping me refine my research: Dan Jorgensen, Andrew Walsh, Lisa Hodgetts, Tania Granadillo, Jean-Francois Millaire, and Adriana Premat. I would also like to thank the Migration and Ethnic Relations collaborative program for enriching my graduate experience. I would like to thank my graduate cohort for their valuable feedback and friendship: Hana Ahmed, Hannah Cho, Michael Fairall, Daphne Gagnon, Diana Gavric, Sarah Knowles, Hannah McGregor, Arwen Johns, Fernando Mercado, Michael Cook, Rebecca Parry, Scott Eckford and Brianne Vescio. Finally, I would like to thank the support of the Graduate Research Award and the Regna Darnell Award for Sociocultural fieldwork research. ii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi List of Appendices ............................................................................................................ vii Preface.............................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Methods................................................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................... 5 1.2 Tibetan Diaspora ..................................................................................................... 6 1.3 The Setting ............................................................................................................ 10 1.4 Historical Background .......................................................................................... 13 1.5 Important Concepts ............................................................................................... 18 1.6 Chapter Outlines ................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................................... 24 2 Tibetan Migration to Canada ....................................................................................... 24 2.1 Life in India and Nepal ......................................................................................... 27 2.2 Motivations to Head West .................................................................................... 31 2.2.1 Better Education........................................................................................ 31 2.2.2 More Opportunities ................................................................................... 32 2.2.3 To Be Treated Equally .............................................................................. 33 2.2.4 Family Reunification ................................................................................ 34 2.2.5 Some Issues with Migrating to the West .................................................. 35 iii 2.3 Motivation for Citizenship .................................................................................... 35 2.4 From Refugee to Citizen ....................................................................................... 36 2.5 Tibetan Community in Canada: Precarious Work and Health.............................. 40 2.6 Tibetan Buddhism in Canada ................................................................................ 43 2.7 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................. 45 Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 47 3 The Tibetan Community in Toronto ............................................................................ 47 3.1 In Search of ‘Little Tibet’ in Toronto ................................................................... 47 3.1.1 Toronto Tibetan Cultural Centre ............................................................... 56 3.1.2 Momo Crawl ............................................................................................. 60 3.1.3 Gorshey nights .......................................................................................... 62 3.1.4 Tashi Norbu’s Art Gallery Opening and Workshops ............................... 66 3.2 Stories of Migration through Food ....................................................................... 68 3.3 Lhakar Cultural Movement ................................................................................... 74 3.4 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................. 79 Chapter 4 ........................................................................................................................... 81 4 Generational Perspectives on Living as a Tibetan in the West .................................... 81 4.1 Tenzin’s Ideals ...................................................................................................... 83 4.2 Stuck In Between .................................................................................................. 84 4.3 Generation 1.5 ....................................................................................................... 85 4.4 Tibet is My Home Too: Notions