Modernity, Mobility, and Dilemma: The Making of Tibetan Cultural Citizenship through an English Training Program

Abstract

Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork in an English training program tailored for rural young Tibetans in West China, this study looks into the complexities, dilemma, and possibilities of particularly the cultural aspects of citizenship in a context where minority people are encountering urban, majority, and global forces as a result of their geographic and cultural mobility. In doing so, the theme of flexible citizenship (Ong 1999) emerges, which deconstructs the conventional conception of citizenship. This deconstruction is achieved through unveiling the complexity and complication of citizenship that is in particular evidence in the everyday practices of these Tibetan subjects. The findings capture a re-consideration of citizenship that is open to multiplicity and grows out of practices.