Statelessness and the State: Tibetans, Citizenship, and Nationalist Activism in a Transnational World1

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Tibetan population in the United States has increased significantly over the last decade. The passage of the 1990 Immigration Act instituted the first large‐scale immigration of Tibetans from South Asia to the United States. Tibetans in the United States are adopting US citizenship, and are encouraged to do so by the exile government on the grounds that gaining a political voice in the United States enables Tibetans to be “ambassadors” for their lost homeland. In contrast, Tibetans in India have primarily remained stateless, foregoing the practical benefits of citizenship, remaining de facto refugees.This paper considers the way the transformation from being stateless refugees to citizens of the United States impacts Tibetan identities. Throughout the immigration and citizenship process, state bureaucracies, including the US State Department and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, have challenged the way Tibetans categorize their birthplace. Tibetans have challenged these categorizations, even at the risk of their visa or citizenship status. At the same time, Tibetans' motivations for seeking US citizenship are complex and often framed in a way that suggests stronger ties to the homeland, the diaspora, and the transnational activist stage. The paper thus explores the interrelationship of state‐defined status of refugees/exiles/immigrants, identity formation, state policy, and activism. Although the policies of states and state‐like institutions (the Tibetan government‐in‐exile) certainly shape and constrain migrant agency, I show how individual Tibetans choose to respond in diverse, complex, and new ways that, in turn, are incorporated in the Tibetans' understandings of self, both individual and collective. Finally, I explore the relationship between feeling empowered as a transnational agent and being a citizen of a powerful nation‐state.