The Last of the Tibetans
As long as Tibet remains part of China, it is hard to see how its distinct cultural identity can survive any more than the Apaches’ way of life survived in the United States. Outside Tibet, however, the establishment of thriving diaspora society might well ensure cultural survival in a more traditional form than would be possible even in an independent Tibet.
NEW YORK -- Are the Tibetans doomed to go the way of the American Indians? Will they be reduced to nothing more than a tourist attraction, peddling cheap mementos of what a once-great culture? That sad fate is looking more and more likely, and the Olympic year already has been soured by the Chinese government’s efforts to suppress resistance to it.
NEW YORK -- Are the Tibetans doomed to go the way of the American Indians? Will they be reduced to nothing more than a tourist attraction, peddling cheap mementos of what a once-great culture? That sad fate is looking more and more likely, and the Olympic year already has been soured by the Chinese government’s efforts to suppress resistance to it.