Voiceless Tibet? Past and Present in Tibetan Sinophone Writing by Tsering Norbu
Voiceless Tibet? Past and Present in Tibetan Sinophone Writing by Tsering Norbu

Author(s): Kamila Hladíková
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
Keywords: Chinese literature; Tibetan literature; Xizang wenxue; minority litera­ture; Tsering Norbu (Ciren Luobu); postcoloniality;
Summary/Abstract: As a culturally and linguistically hybrid product emerging from specific historical and political conditions, Sinophone Tibetan literature has been often overlooked in Western academic and literary circles. Still, as argued in this article, it is a plausible voice coming from within Tibet, shedding more light on the present lived reality of the region and its inhabitants and forming a multilayered minor discourse of self-representation vis-á-vis the major Han Chinese discourse regarding not only Tibetan history and culture, but, more generally, literary creation. By analyzing the various representations of present-day Tibet in short stories by Tsering Norbu, this paper provides insights into the formation of collective historical memory and transformation of Tibetan society following the economic development of the region after the year 2000. While responding to the official call for a realistic representation of the lives of ordinary people, the author has come up with effective counterhegemonic narrative strategies of resistance to the dominant forces of ideology and brutal commercialization by including elements of religion, suppressed historical memory, and social problems in contemporary Tibetan society.

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