Volume: 26  Number: 2  Page: 138–157

Cultural Identity in Tibetan Diasporas

Howard Giles and Tenzin Dorjee Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Tibetan civilisation is over two millenniums old and, today, its struggles in diaspora open up a new chapter in Tibetan history. Diasporic Tibetans (e.g. in India and the USA) have made tremendous efforts over the last few decades to maintain their way of life. We focus on cultural identity in the Tibetan diasporas, with special attention focused on its historical construction as well as its two fundamental dimensions – Tibetan Buddhism and the language. Through this analysis, we aim to ferment a new scholarly interest in the survival of Tibetan culture among multilingual and multicultural scholars.

Keywords: cultural identity, Buddhism, Tibet, Tibetan language, Dalai Lama

© 2005 T. Dorjee & H. Giles

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