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Start Saying “White,” Stop Saying “Western”: Transforming the Dominant Vocabulary of Tibet Studies
Author(s) -
Michelle Kleisath C.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
transforming anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.325
H-Index - 9
eISSN - 1548-7466
pISSN - 1051-0559
DOI - 10.1111/traa.12003
Subject(s) - scholarship , white (mutation) , meaning (existential) , vocabulary , race (biology) , linguistics , dialog box , sociology , gender studies , political science , psychology , philosophy , law , biochemistry , chemistry , world wide web , computer science , gene , psychotherapist
Abstract This article employs a literature review and critical race analysis to explore the need for a renewed vocabulary in English‐language scholarship on Tibet. Focusing on the popular use of the term “Western” as a stand‐in for “white,” this article shows how whiteness is obscured behind non racialized signifiers, such as “scholar” or “author,” whereas racialized descriptions of Tibetans, Indians, and Han Chinese are ubiquitous. I argue that the obscuration of whiteness is linked with a privileged neutrality which is evident in the majority of English‐language literature on Tibet, and which has wide‐ranging implications for Tibetan and Chinese scholarship on Tibet. Considering the dominant presence of white people in Tibetology, I argue for a renewed vocabulary that allows for more honest and direct dialog about the meaning of whiteness in this particular area of scholarship and practice.