Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:30:00.438Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

“Speaking Bitterness”: Autobiography, History, and Mnemonic Politics on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2005

Charlene Makley
Affiliation:
Anthropology, Reed College

Extract

In the Tibetan Buddhist monastery town of Labrang, located in southwest Gansu Province, China, the past is a heavy, and very often hidden, burden for residents and visitors alike (figure 1). This is not readily apparent amidst the bustling ‘nowness’ of commercial activities in this tourist site and model town for the profitable coexistence of Tibetan Buddhist monasticism and Chinese state-sponsored development goals. But as I discovered over the course of my fieldwork there in the mid-1990s, and again in the summer of 2002, for a population living with unsanctioned memories of the traumatic ruptures of the Chinese Communist-led revolution beginning in 1949, the ‘unsaid’ of history spoke loudly in implication—in implied dialogue with multimedia official histories, in the gaps in written and oral chronologies of events, in the revived performance of the lay and monastic ritual calendars, and in the dodges and silences of my Tibetan interlocutors during our many conversations about their pasts: “I don't know anything! I'm too young, you know!” (Tibetan [Tib.] ngas shes ni ma red, nga lo chung gi mo). Ama Drolma, a village matriarch in her late fifties, repeated this adamantly to me after I and my Tibetan woman assistant had asked her for a taped interview about local “history” (Tib. lo rgyus). She would hear none of our explanations about my interest in people's personal histories and insisted that I seek out old men, they would know about “early, early, early times” (Tib. sngan na sngan na sngan na).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2005 Society for Comparative Study of Society and History

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agha Asif 1993 Structural Form and Utterance Context in Lhasa Tibetan: Grammar and Indexicality in a Non-Configurational Language New York Peter Lang
Ahearn Laura M. 2001 Language and Agency Annual Review of Anthropology 30 109–37
Adhe Ama Blakeslee Joy 1997 Ama Adhe, the Voice that Remembers: The Heroic Story of a Woman's Fight to Free Tibet Somerville, Mass. Wisdom Publications
Anagnost Ann 1989 The Transformation of Gender in Modern China Gender and Anthropology: Critical Reviews for Research and Teaching Amherst Project on Gender and the Curriculum
Anagnost Ann 1994 John Hay Who is Speaking Here? Discursive Boundaries and Representation in post-Mao China,” Boundaries in China London Reaktion Books
Anagnost Ann 1997 National Pastimes: Narrative, Representation and Power in Modern China Durham Duke University Press
Avedon John 1984 In Exile from the Land of the Snows New York Vintage Books
Bakhtin Mikhail 1981 [1937–1938] Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel: Notes toward a Historical Poetics The Dialogic Imagination Austin University of Texas Press
Briggs Charles 1986 Learning How to Ask: a Sociolinguistic Appraisal of the Role of the Interview in Social Science Research Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Chan Anita Richard Madsen, and Jonathan Unger 1984 Chen Village: The Recent History of a Peasant Community in Mao's China Berkeley University of California Press
Chang Julian 1997 Timothy Cheek and Tony Saich The Mechanics of State Propaganda: The People's Republic of China and The Soviet Union in the 1950s New Perspectives on State Socialism in China Armonk, N.Y. M. E. Sharpe, Inc
Chang Wen ho 1989 Mass Media in China: The History and the Future Ames Iowa State University Press
Cheek Timothy 1997 Timothy Cheek and Tony Saic Introduction: The Making and Breaking of the Party-State in China New Perspectives on State Socialism in China Armonk, N.Y. M. E. Sharpe, Inc
Cohn Bernard and Nicholas Dirks 1988 Beyond the Fringe: The Nation State, Colonialism, and the Technologies of Power Journal of Historical Sociology 1 2 224–29
Corrigan Philip and Derek Sayer 1985 The Great Arch: English State Formation as Cultural Revolution Oxford Basil Blackwell
Crapanzano Vincent 1996 Michael Silverstein and Greg Urban Self-Centering Narratives Natural Histories of Discourse Chicago University of Chicago Press
Crook David and Isabel Crook 1979 Ten Mile Inn: Mass Movement in a Chinese Village New York Pantheon Books
Dai Jinhua. 1996 Redemption and Consumption: Depicting Culture in the 1990s Positions: East Asia Culture Critique 4 1 127–41
Daniel Valentine 1996 Charred Lullabies Princeton Princeton University Press
Dawa Norbu 1987 Red Star Over Tibet New Delhi Sterling Publishers
Dirks Nicholas 1992 Nicholas Dirks Introduction: Colonialism and Culture Colonialism and Culture Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press
Dirlik Arif 1978 Revolution and History: The Origins of Marxist Historiography in China 1919–1937 Berkeley University of California Press
Dhondup Choedon 1978 Life in the Red Flag People's Commune Dharamsala Information Office of H. H. the Dalai Lama
Dreyer June 1976 China's Forty Millions Cambridge Harvard University Press
Duara Prasenjit 1995 Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China Chicago University of Chicago Press
Duranti Alessandro 1994 From Grammar to Politics: Linguistic Anthropology in a Western Samoan Village Berkeley University of California Press
Epstein Israel 1983 Tibet Transformed Beijing New World Press
Evans, Harriet and Stephanie Donald, eds. 1999 Picturing Power in the People's Republic of China: Posters of the Cultural Revolution Oxford Rowan and Littlefield
Felman Shoshanna and Dori Laub 1992 Testimony: Crises of Witnessing New York Routledge
Feng Jicai. 1991 Voices from the Whirlwind: An Oral History of the Chinese Cultural Revolution New York Pantheon Books
Friedman Edward Pickowicz Mark Selden Mark 1991 Chinese Village, Socialist State New Haven Yale University Press
Gannan Zhou Zhi 1999 (Gazeteer of Gannan Prefecture) Beijing Minzu Chubanshe
Gao Zhanfu 1992 1949 Yilai de Gansu Minzu Yanjiu (Research in Gansu minority studies since 1949) Xizang Yanjiu Huixun (Newsletter of Tibetan studies) 14 20–24
Germano David 1998 Melvyn Goldstein and Matthew Kapstein Re-membering the Dismembered Body of Tibet Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity Berkeley University of California Press
Goldstein Melvyn 1997 The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama Berkeley University of California Press
Goldstein Melvyn William Siebenschuh, and Tashing Tsering 1997 The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of Tashi Tsering New York M. E. Sharpe
Gompo Tashi Angdrugtsang 1973 Four Rivers, Six Ranges: Reminiscences of the Resistance Movement in Tibet Dharamsala Information and Publicity Office
Gu Zhizhong and Lu Zhi 1935 Dao Qinghai Qu (Enroute to Qinghai) Shanghai Shangwu Yinshu Guan
Gyatso Janet 1996 Jose Ignacio Cabezon and Roger R. Jackson Drawn from the Tibetan Treasury: The gTer ma Literature Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre New York Snow Lion
Gyatso Janet 1998 Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary Princeton Princeton University Press
Hall Jacquelyn Dowd 1998 You Must Remember This: Autobiography as Social Critique The Journal of American History 85 2 (Sept.) 439–65
Hanks William 1989 Text and Textuality Annual Review of Anthropology 18 95 128
Harris Clare 1999 In the Image of Tibet: Painters of Tibet Post-1959 London Reaktion Books
Hershatter Gail 2001 “The Remembered Self: Gender and Early Socialism in the Life Stories of Rural Shaanxi Women.” Paper for the conference Gender in Motion: Division of Labor and Cultural Change in Late Imperial and Modern China 5–7 Oct. University of California, Berkeley
H. H. 1997 [1962] The Panchen Lama. A Poisoned Arrow: The Secret Report of the 10th Panchen Lama London Tibet Information Network
Hill Jane 1995 Dennis Tedlock and Bruce Mannheim The Voices of Don Gabriel: Responsibility and Self in a Modern Mexicano Narrative The Dialogic Emergence of Culture Chicago University of Illinois Press
Hinton William 1966 Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village New York Vintage Books
Huang Zhengqing 1989 Huang Zhengqing yu Wushi Jiamuyang (Huang Zhengqing and the Fifth ’Jam-dByangs bZhad-pa) Lanzhou Gansu Minzu Chubanshe
International Commission of Jurists 1960 Tibet and The Chinese People's Republic: A Report to the International Commission of Jurists Geneva International Commission of Jurists
Jacka Tamara and Josko Petkovic 1998 Ethnography and Video: Researching Women in China's Floating Population Intersections 1 (Sept.) n.p
Jaschke H. A. 1992 [1881] Tibetan-English Dictionary Delhi Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
Jun Jing 1999 Villages Dammed, Villages Repossessed: a Memorial Movement in Northwest China American Ethnologist 26 2 324–43
Kansteiner Wulf 2002 Finding Meaning in Memory: a Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies History and Theory 41 2 179–97
Keane Webb 1997 Signs of Recognition: Powers and Hazards of Representation in an Indonesian Society Berkeley University of California Press
Kunga Samten Dewatshang 1997 Flight at the Cuckoo's Behest: The Life and Times of a Tibetan Freedom Fighter New Dehli Paljor Publications
Krech Shepard 1991 The State of Ethnohistory Annual Review of Anthropology 20 345–75
Laub Dori 1992 Shoshanna Felman and Dori Laub Bearing Witness or the Vicissitudes of Listening Testimony: Crises of Witnessing New York Routledge
Li Shangcheng, ed. 1987 Gannan Zangzu Zizhi Zhou Gaikuang (An introduction to Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) Lanzhou Gansu Minzu Chubanshe
Liu Qizhong and Chen Gengtao, eds. 1991 Profiles of 50 Tibetans (Jinri Xizang ren) Beijing Xinhua Publishing House
Luo Faxi ed 1987 Labuleng Si Gaikuang (An introduction to Labrang Monastery) Lanzhou Gansu Minzu Chubanshe
Ma Haotian 1942–1947 [1936] Gan Qing Zang Bianqu Kaocha Ji (Travel record of investigations in the border regions of Gansu, Qinghai, and Tibet) 3 vols. Shanghai Commercial Press
Ma Jiang ed 1993 Gannan Zangzu Zizhizhou Shoumu Zhi (Gazeteer of pastoralism in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) Lanzhou Gansu Minzu Chubanshe
Makley Charlene 1998 Jennifer Dickinson et al, eds. Ann Arbor, Michigan Discussions in Anthropology The Power of the Drunk: Humor and Resistance in China's Tibet Linguistic Form and Social Action 13 39–79
Makley Charlene 2002 On the Edge of Respectability: Sexual Politics on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 10 3 575 630
Makley Charlene 2003 Gendered Boundaries in Motion: Space and Identity on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier American Ethnologist 30 2 597 619
Marcus Julie 1992 Judith Okeley and Helen Callaway Racism, Terror and the Production of Australian Auto/biographies Anthropology and Autobiography New York Routledge
Mueggler Erik 2001 The Age of Wild Ghosts: Memory, Violence, and Place in Southwest China Berkeley University of California Press
Neitupski Paul 1999 Labrang: A Tibetan Buddhist Monastery at the Crossroads of Four Civilizations New York Snow Lion
Nora Pierre 1989 Between History and Memory: Les Lieux de Memoire Representations 26 (Spring) 7–24
Norbu Jamyang 1992 Atrocity and Amnesia: Another Assault on Goldstein's Attempt at Revising Tibetan History Tibetan Review 27 5 22 24
Norbu Jamyang 1986 [1979] trans., 1986 Warriors of Tibet: The Story of Aten and the Khampas' Fight for the Freedom of their Country London Wisdom Publications
Norbu Thubten Jigme and Heinrich Harrer 1960 Tibet is My Country London Rupert Hart-Davis
Ochs Elinor and Lisa Capps 1996 Narrating the Self Annual Review of Anthropology 25 19 43
Palden Gyatso 1997 The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk Tsering shakya, trans. New York Grove Press
Rent Collection Courtyard: A Revolution in Sculpture 1967 Special supplement in China Reconstructs
Richardson Hugh 1998 [1986] Adventures of a Tibetan Fighting Monk Foreword, Tashi Khedrup Montreal Orchid Press
Ricoeur Paul 1981 W.J.T. Mitchell Narrative Time On Narrative Chicago University of Chicago Press
Robinson James Burnell 1996 Jose Ignacio Cabezon and Roger R. Jackson The Lives of Indian Buddhist Saints: Biography, Hagiography and Myth Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre New York Snow Lion
Rofel Lisa 1994 Yearnings: Televisual Love and Melodramatic Politics in Contemporary China American Ethnologist 21 4 700–22
Sakya Jamyang and Julie Emery 1990 Princess in the Land of the Snows Boston Shambhala Publications
Sand Jordan 1999 Introduction History and Memory 11 2 (Fall/Winter) 117–26
Schwarcz Vera 1992 Memory and Commemoration: The Chinese Search for a Livable Past Popular Protest and Political Culture in Modern China Boulder Westview Press
Schwarcz Vera 1996 Gail Hershatter et al How to Make Time Real: From Intellectual History to Embodied Memory Remapping China: Fissures in Historical Terrain Stanford Stanford University Press
Scott Joan 1991 Judith Butler and Joan Scott Experience Feminists Theorize the Political New York Routledge
Smith Warren 1996 Tibetan Nation: A History of Tibetan Nationalism and Sino-Tibetan Relations Boulder Westview Press
Strong Anna Louise 1959 Tibetan Interviews Peking New World Press
Taring Rinchen 1986 [1970] Daughter of Tibet London Wisdom Publications
Tashi Khedup 1998 [1986] Adventures of a Fighting Monk Bangkok Orchid Press
Tedlock Dennis 1995 Bruce Mannheim and Dennis Tedlock Interpretation, Participation, and the Role of Narrative in Dialogical Anthropology The Dialogic Emergence of Culture Chicago University of Illinois Press
Tenzin Gyatso (H. H. The Dalai Lama) 1960 My Land and My People Clayton Warner Books
Tenzin Palbar 1994 (Alags Tsa yus tshang) nga'i pha yul gyi ya nga ba'i lo rgyus (The tragic history of my fatherland) Dharamsala Narthang Publications
Thurston Ann 1987 Enemies of the People New York Knopf
Trungpa Chogyam and Roberts E. Cramer 1977 Born in Tibet Boulder Shambhala
Tshering Shakya 1999 The Dragon in the Land of the Snows New York Columbia University Press
Tshering Shakya 2000 Tsering Shakya and Herbert Batt The Waterfall and Fragrant Flowers: The Development of Tibetan Literature Since 1950. In, “Song of the Snow Lion: New Writing from Tibet.” Manoa 12 2
Unger Jonathan 1993 Introduction Using the Past to Serve the Present: Historiography and Politics in Contemporary China Armonk M. E. Sharpe
Upton Janet 1999 “Schooling Sharkhog.” Ph.D. dissertation University of Washington
Upton Janet 2000 “Rivers of Change and Oceans of Tears: Three Contemporary Poems from the Amdo Region.” MS
Van der kuijp Leonard 1996 Jose Ignacio Cabezon and Roger R. Jackson Tibetan Historiography Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre New York Snow Lion
Volosinov V. N. 1986 [1929] Marxism and the Philosophy of Language Ladislav Matejka and I. R. Titunik, trans. Cambridge Harvard University Press
Xiahe Xian Zhi 1997 (Gazeteer of Xiahe County) Lanzhou Gansu Minzu Chubanshe
Xibei Minzu Xueyuan Yuanshi 1950–1984 1984 (The history of the Northwest Nationalities Institute 1950–1984) Xining Qinghai Renmin Chubanshe
White Hayden 1981 W.J.T. Mitchell The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality On Narrative Chicago University of Chicago Press
Whyte Martin 1979 Small Groups and Communication in China: Ideal Forms and Imperfect Realities Moving a Mountain: Cultural Change in China Honolulu University of Hawai'i Press
Young James 1997 Between History and Memory: The Uncanny Voices of Historian and Survivor. History and Memory 9 1–2 47–58
Zhabs drung tshang (skal bzang dkon mchog rgya mtsho). c. 1952 Kun mkhyen po rje brtsun blo bzang 'jam dbyangs ye shes bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po'i rnam par thar ba dpag bsam ljon pa zhes bya ba (The wish-fulfilling tree: The biography of the 5th <'Jam dByangs bZhad pa)
Zhang Qingyou ed 1991 Zhonggong Xiahe Xian Wei Dangshi Ziliao Zhengji Bangongshi (Materials on the history of the Communist Party in Xiahe) Lanzhou Xiahe Dangshi Ziliao 1