A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Exploring (transit) migration through a postcolonial lens: Tibetans migrating to India and beyond




AuthorsFrilund Rebecca

PublisherRoutledge

Publication year2020

JournalJournal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Journal name in sourceJournal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Volume46

Issue7

First page 1425

Last page1441

eISSN1469-9451

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1501270


Abstract

This study contributes to the scholarly call to increase studies on migration from the perspective of postcolonial thought by exploring a novel ethnographic case; the migration of Tibetans who have migrated from Tibet via Nepal to India and who often aspire migrating onwards from India. It is argued that postcolonial thought gives a fuller understanding of migration via one place or several towards migrants’ final destinations, often called transit migration in scholarly writings, by demonstrating how unequal power structures, such as unequal distribution of wealth or access to mobility and opportunities, increase migration (aspirations) of Tibetans both in China and in India, where they have a minority position. Despite this, their migration reveals an active subaltern agency taking advantage of the various opportunities during their migratory processes, such as the international networks in Dharamsala and the images of Tibetans as exotic ‘Others’.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 22:33