1 Graduate School of Development Studies Stories of Self Interpretation of Life Stories as Strategy for Survival A case of Tibetan refugees from Ladakh, (India) A Research Paper presented by: Jyoti Patil (India) in partial fulfillment of the requirements for obtaining the degree of MASTERS OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Specialisation: Rural Livelihoods and Global Change (RLGC) Members of the examining committee: Dr. Anirban Das Gupta (Supervisor) Dr. Marlene Buchy (reader) The Hague, The Netherlands November, 2008 2 Disclaimer: This document represents part of the author’s study programme while at the Institute of Social Studies. The views stated therein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute. Research papers are not made available for circulation outside of the Institute. Inquiries: Postal address: Institute of Social Studies P.O. Box 29776 2502 LT The Hague The Netherlands Location: Kortenaerkade 12 2518 AX The Hague The Netherlands Telephone: +31 70 426 0460 Fax: +31 70 426 0799 3 .........To my adorable sister, Koumudi 4 Acknowledgements This study could not have been possible without the support of Tibetan Children’s Village, Choglamsar. I sincerely thank the director of the Tibetan SOS School Choglamsar, Mr. Paldin, the Headmaster of the SOS high school, Choglamsar, Karma Singhe, all the teachers and staff at the SOS school Choglamsar, Nyoma and Hanley for all their help, support and guidance. It would have been impossible to conduct this research in the border areas of India without their support. I am more than grateful to my interpreter and area guide, Tenzin and Tsewang from Nyoma, who covered with me one of the most difficult journeys in the highlands of Changtang, guiding me through the trekking routes to reach up to the Tiebtan nomads and spending sleepless nights with me coxing people to sit through the FGD sessions. I sincerely thank all the interviewees who gave their precious time to sit through long focus group discussions and interview sessions. My special thanks to Natalia Bloch for sharing her work and experience of seven long years of her association with the Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal, to Andrew Fischure, for going through unstructured drafts of the paper and guiding me through, Marlene Buchy for her constructive criticism, to Anirban Das Gupta for his patient hearing and guidance, to Katherine Voorvelt for almost ‘everything’, to Ranjana for simply being there . 5 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 4 Maps 6 Abstract 7 1: Framing narrative identity as a survival strategy 1.1: Introduction 8 1.2: Narrative identity and livelihood 9 2: Research Methodology 2.1: Research question 14 2.2: The narrative identity framework – Life story model 14 2.3: Research tools 15 2.4: limitations of the research 17 2.5:About the region of study – Choglamsar, Leh, Changtang 17 3: Identity construction and Refugee discourse 3.1: Identity and the question of Refugees 21 3.2: Identity and the question of refugee livelihoods 23 3.3: Identity and the question of rights 24 3.4: Identity and the Discourse of ‘Tibetan’ 25 4: Narrative interpretation of life stories: first generation of Tibetan refugees 4.1: Reconstructed past 27 4.2: Perceived present 36 4.3: Anticipated future 39 5: Narrative interpretation of life stories: Second generation of Tibetan refugees 43 6: Conclusion 54 6 The Region of Ladakh 7 Abstract How individuals interpret their life stories gives an insight into how they perceive their reality. While the previous research on Tibetan refugees shows them as one of the better placed refugees, is this the reality the Tibetan Refugees perceive as well? How do Tibetan refugees(TR) perceive their reality as part of the Tibetan Diaspora and the causal relations TRs draw describing the influence of an event on their livelihoods is the main focus of this paper. Defining for oneself ones identity as refugees, understanding for oneself why one is a refugee and believing that as refugee one is vulnerable, deprived, is deserving of protection and sympathy is the most basic survival strategy adopted by the Tibetan refugees. Such identity construction leads to multiple layers of inclusion and exclusion thus creating what is termed as graded citizenship. These layers create diverse possibilities for claim and support at different levels of inclusion. Through the interpretation of the life stories of the Tibetan refugees, from the Changtang region, Ladakh, India, I argue that creating a narrative identity itself is a survival strategy on which lies the foundation of the livelihood strategy. 8 Chapter: 1 Framing identity as a survival strategy 1.1: Introduction According to Said (1998), “Identity as such is as boring a subject as one can imagine. Nothing seems less interesting then the narcissist self study that today passes in many places as identity politics, or ethnic studies, or affirmations of roots, cultural pride, drum beating nationalism and so on. We have to defend people and identities threatened with extinction or subordinated because they are considered inferior, but that is very different from aggrandising a past invented for the present reasons.” Narrative identity refers to the stories people construct and tell about themselves to define who they are for themselves and for others. Beginning in adolescence and young adulthood, our narrative identities are the stories we live by. The narration of the life story involves an interpretive process of self–making through which individuals highlight significant experiences from the past and infuse them with self defining meaning in the present by interpreting them as having a causal impact on the growth of the self (Pals, 2006). Pals (2006), in her own research has tried to use the causal connections within life stories, to examine individual differences in how negative, emotionally challenging experiences – life’s lowest moments relate to self – making and growth within the life story. She argues that “if one overreaching goal of self making within the life story is to construct a sense of positive growth and self development, then negative experiences constitute a rich source of variability in how they might be interpreted as affecting this goal. On the one hand they threaten the coherence of self and the assumptions that provide meaning in life, but on the other they have 9 been shown to be a powerful source of resilience, growth and transformation.” The way people interpret their life stories either enhances or limits their development at material and non material levels. Each individual creates his/her individual stories based on his/ her interpretation of life events and circumstances. Same event would lead to different interpretation by different individuals that go into creation of one’s own life story. According to Erickson (1963), adolescent and young adults are challenged to create meaningful answers to the twin identity questions....who I am? How do I fit in the world? A key part of the process is the construction of a self - defining life story. 1.2: Narrative identity and Livelihood Livelihood is not just a composition of material base and is not only constructed from assets but also from cultural values and identities. Narrative identity is a way of defining for oneself ones position in the society, which further places people in social categories and helps society to bring order within the society. Labelling or identifying people by the occupation has been the most elementary way of class stratification. Occupation or the work one doe or did constitutes an essential component of defining oneself. Many communities like the Parsi community in India have surnames that signifies their occupation, thus surnames like Batliwala( one who trades in bottles), Dabbawala( one who supplies lunch boxes) are common surnames amongst the community. Similarly within the Hindu community, in the state of Maharashtra, Kumbhar surname refers to the occupation of potter, Mali surname refers to the occupation of a gardener. Such occupational categories are a common feature of South Asian village life and indeed of village studies. Epstein (1962), for example, listed: Priest, Peasant, Goldsmith, Blacksmith, Oilpresser, Washerman, Shepherd, Stonecutter, Basketmaker and Untouchable as the occupational-household- 10 types found in the village of Dalena in South India where she undertook research (Seeley 2000). The Indian Census in 2001 had livelihoods as a basis of classification of the population. Thus questions like whether they had worked any time last year, if worked the category of the economic activity, the actual occupation of the person, nature of industry, trade or service, class of worker, non-economic activity of those who had not worked at all last year and whether seeking/available for work were asked. From such questions statistics are derived on the numbers of `cultivators’, `agriculture labourers’, those involved in `livestock, forestry, fishing’, mining and quarrying’, `in household industry’, `construction’, `trade and commerce’ `transport’ and `other services.' Figures are also given for `marginal workers’ and `non- workers’ (Indian Census Report 2001). To be a `Cobbler’ is more than an occupation: it is also an identity - An identity that defines one’s place in the world. The construction of a livelihood and the term used to define or summarise the livelihood of a person or household is important in terms of cultural meaning and identity. According to Srinivas (1976), “A man inherited an occupation, and the skills and secrets involved in its practice were transmitted to him by his father, uncle or older brothers. There was a feeling that the traditional occupation was the proper one for members of the caste, and there was pride in the skill required for it as well as a sense of importance. While occupational specialisation resulted in the interdependence of castes, hierarchical ideas, especially as expressed in endogamy and the restrictions of inter-dining, emphasised their separation from each other”.