Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands: Culture, Politics, Place

By Swargajyoti Gohain

Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands: Culture, Politics, Place is an ethnography of culture and politics in Monyul, a Tibetan Buddhist cultural region in west Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. For nearly three centuries, Monyul was part of the Tibetan state, and the Monpas -- as the communities inhabiting this region are collectively known -- participated in trans-Himalayan trade and pilgrimage. Following the colonial demarcation of the Indo-Tibetan boundary in 1914, the fall of the Tibetan state in 1951, and the India-China boundary war in 1962, Monyul was gradually integrated into India and the Monpas became a Scheduled Tribe. In 2003, the Monpas began a demand for autonomy under the leadership of Tsona Gontse Rinpoche. This book examines the narratives and politics of the autonomy movement regarding language, place-names, and trans-border kinship against the backdrop of the India-China border dispute. It explores how the Monpas negotiate multiple identities to imagine new forms of community that transcend regional and national borders.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 946298932X
• ISBN13: 9789462989320
• Release Date: August 2020
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.3"