History As Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People's Republic of China

by John Powers

Despite Chinese efforts to stop foreign countries from granting him visas, the Dalai Lama has become one of the most recognizable and best loved people on the planet, drawing enormous crowds wherever he goes. By contrast, China's charismatically-challenged leaders attract crowds of protestors waving Tibetan flags and shouting "Free Tibet!" whenever they visit foreign countries. By now most Westerners probably think they understand the political situation in Tibet. But, John Powers argues, most Western scholars of Tibet evince a bias in favor of one side or the other in this continuing struggle. Some of the most emotionally charged rhetoric, says Powers, is found in studies of Tibetan history. narratives.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

John Powers is Professor of Asian Studies in the School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities.

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting cover of the issues behind the Tibet-China situation going on.
Was very thought provoking for me, as I am academically inclined and think about stuff like this a lot.
This book was more expository and evidence-based (good scholarly stuff) so all of the critical thinking I did on my own, which made this fun for me - maybe not for others, but it's good scholarly analysis.

As for what it provoked my thoughts about, it made me think about the role of information technology, big government, historical narratives, the nature of truth and metanarratives, postmodernism at home and abroad, and the extent to which these issues relate to us.

Interesting: Chinese govt can suppress rights in Tibet on basis of building a 'more beneficial' narrative to history than the truth, which Democracy doesn't like.
At the same time, the Left in the West approaches the postmodern denial of a unifying truth or morality, mostly anti-Christian, but still expects the world to be pro-human rights.
One government is powerful and succeeds because it denies a sound narrative of truth/morality, while the other flounders because it can't stick to a coherent moral and existential philosophy.
At stake is whether the world belongs to some form of a Big Red Brother, and whether we will allow history to be completely re-written for the next few thousand years.
Just some of the things I thought about.

[R C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched book that is great for referencing. This book looks at the developing narratives in the debate on Tibet.