Tibet: A Victim of Geopolitics

by Dibyesh Anand, Dibyesh Anand

The book examines exoticized Western representations of Tibet and Tibetans and the debate over that land’s status with regard to China. Through a focus on specific cultural images of the twentieth century―promulgated by novels, popular films, travelogues, memoirs―Dibyesh Anand lays bare the strategies by which "Exotica Tibet" and "Tibetanness" have been constructed and he examines the impact these constructions have had on those who are being represented. Although images of Tibet have excited the popular imaginations in the West for many years, A Victim of Geopolitics (a South Asian version of Geopoltical Tibet in the Western Imagination) is the first book to examine representational practices within the study of international relations. In this masterfully synthetic work, Anand establishes that postcoloniality provides new insights into themes of representation and identity and demonstrates how IR as a discipline can meaningfully expand its focus beyond the West.

Paperback

First published February 1, 2009