Tibetan Self-Immolations: Sacrifice and the Tibetan Freedom Struggle in Exile, India.

Abstract

There is an undeniable connection between nationalism and dead bodies. According to Katherine Verdery (1999) dead bodies have enjoyed political life since far back in time. Based on nearly seven months of fieldwork among Tibetans in Dharamsala, India, this thesis concerns the political life of dead bodies in an exile context. It describes and analyzes how self‐immolations (the act of setting oneself ablaze), a new form of protest, in Tibet, are understood and made meaningful among exiled Tibetans in Dharamsala. Although potentially immoral as a form of violence and suicide within a Buddhist framework, this thesis shows that the self‐immolations are understood as a form of sacrifice and non‐violence, and that the self‐immolators have the uncontested status of heroes. Building on Michael Lambek s (2007) theory of sacrifice as a kind of beginning, I propose that the self‐immolations can best be understood as an attempt at substantiating a beginning of exile politics, which again carries the potential for changing the present political situation in Tibet. Moreover, I analyze this special kind of sacrifice within the anthropological framework of good and bad death , where the self‐immolations clearly are made to be a good form of death. My central argument is that the perceptions of the self‐immolations and the connected practices of commemoration are best analyzed in relation to the nationalist project in exile, which is conditioned by faith in certain values and goals. As a good death , the self‐immolations can be seen to reinforce the nationalist project in exile, and to ensure a continuity of the Tibetan freedom struggle and certain values.

There is an undeniable connection between nationalism and dead bodies. According to Katherine Verdery (1999) dead bodies have enjoyed political life since far back in time. Based on nearly seven months of fieldwork among Tibetans in Dharamsala, India, this thesis concerns the political life of dead bodies in an exile context. It describes and analyzes how self‐immolations (the act of setting oneself ablaze), a new form of protest, in Tibet, are understood and made meaningful among exiled Tibetans in Dharamsala. Although potentially immoral as a form of violence and suicide within a Buddhist framework, this thesis shows that the self‐immolations are understood as a form of sacrifice and non‐violence, and that the self‐immolators have the uncontested status of heroes. Building on Michael Lambek s (2007) theory of sacrifice as a kind of beginning, I propose that the self‐immolations can best be understood as an attempt at substantiating a beginning of exile politics, which again carries the potential for changing the present political situation in Tibet. Moreover, I analyze this special kind of sacrifice within the anthropological framework of good and bad death , where the self‐immolations clearly are made to be a good form of death. My central argument is that the perceptions of the self‐immolations and the connected practices of commemoration are best analyzed in relation to the nationalist project in exile, which is conditioned by faith in certain values and goals. As a good death , the self‐immolations can be seen to reinforce the nationalist project in exile, and to ensure a continuity of the Tibetan freedom struggle and certain values.