Contents: Dedication – In honour of Samten Gyaltsen Karmay/Per KV Arerne. Introduction – A mdo and its modern transition/Toni Huber. 1. Inventing modernity in A mdo: Views on the role of traditional Tibetan culture in a developing society/Lauran R. Hartley. 2. Toward a Tibetan common language: A mdo perspectives on attempts at language standardization/Marielle Prins. 3. Sexuality and identity in Post-Mo A mdo/Charlene Makley. 4. The Tulku’s Miserable Lot: Critical voices from eastern Tibet/Matthew T. Kapstein. 5. Ritual revival and innovation at Bird cemetery Mountain/Toni Huber. 6. The Earth-Ox and the Snowlion/Mona Schrempf. 7. Glu and La ye in A mdo: An introduction to contemporary Tibetan folk songs/Alexandru Anton-Luca. 8. Art and Life in A mdo Reb gong since 1978/Mark Stevenson. 9. The Economics of cultural production in contemporary A mdo/Susan E. Costello. 10. Modernisation efforts in Mgo log: A Chronicle, 1970-2000/Bianca Horlemann. 11. Revival of a Nomadic Lifestyle: A Survival strategy for Dzam thang’s Pastoralists/Angela Manderscheid. 12. The Tibetan School of Khri Kai Stong che: A Report on Italian Development Aid in A mdo/Giacomella Orofino. Index.
This volume (Being the Firth Volume of the Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the IATS, 2000) investigates Eastern Tibetan recovery from the devastation of High Socialism and a new engagement with attempts to modernise the region in the era of reform and opening in post-Mao China.
Amdo Tibetan in Transistion covers all major areas of cultural revival in post-Mao Amdo: The active negoation of culture and identity is addressed in public debate about traditional culture, in attempts at language standardization, and in reflections on sexuality. Religious culture is represented by discussion of critical perspectives on reincarnate lamas and by case studies of revival and reinterpretation of popular rituals, Amdo Tibetan self-expression in art, literature and performance and studied by means of folksongs, painters and their works, and the changing economics of cultural production. The final chapters deal with social and economic trends in two nomadic pastoral areas and with foreign aid for new Tibetan schools.
This is a unique introduction to contemporary life and attitudes in north-eastern Tibet, invaluable for understanding modern Tibetan life in China today, how it developed, and what it is rapidly becoming.
