Professor Charlene Makley

Office: 312 Vollum
Phone: 771-1112, ext. 7461

Since the Dalai Lama fled to exile in India in 1959, Tibet and Tibetans have garnered emblematic status in global debates on indigenous cultures and human rights. The widespread Tibetan unrest and subsequent military crackdown during China’s “Olympic year” (2007-2008) focused renewed international attention on the issue of Tibet in the face of China’s rise as an important political and economic power. Meanwhile, tightening political constraints and rapid development under President Xi Jinping (2013-) have ushered in a new and complicated era for the transnational Tibetan community. Yet Tibet has long been both a cosmopolitan place and an object of translocal interest and desire. This course draws on visual and multimedia approaches in anthropology and media studies to understand the global roles of Tibet and Tibetans in specific historical and ethnographic contexts. We center the analysis and production of film and video as mediums for exploring ongoing, transnational debates about Tibetanness amidst rapid sociopolitical and economic change. The course pairs film screenings with relevant ethnographic and historical readings, as well as a variety of other media such as literature, popular songs, websites and blogs from in and outside of China. We focus on films, especially by Tibetan filmmakers, that address the historical and contemporary diversity among Tibetans across the Himalayan region and into the diaspora, as well as the changing political economic conditions of inter-ethnic and Chinese-Tibetan relations. Students will propose, receive training in, and workshop a semester-long short film/video project based on a film about Tibetans of their choice. Conference. Prerequisite: Anthropology 201 or 211 or permission of the instructor. This course fulfills the Department of Anthropology's area course requirement for the major. It contributes to the Film and Media Studies Minor.

Learning Outcomes:
After taking this course, students should be able to:

1) Grasp and analyze the complex histories and stakes of representing "Tibet" as a figure in a variety of films;
2) Grasp the basic outlines of modern Tibetan history and Chinese-Tibetan relations;
3) Grasp and apply specific elements of anthropological approaches to film and media studies;
4) Engage and grasp basic elements of film production and analysis in hands-on work;
5) Apply elements of film production to plan and produce a short film;
6) Grasp and apply principles of self-reflection and evaluation of one's own academic process;

Distribution Requirements:
This course can be used to fulfill one of your Group II "History and Social Science" distribution requirements. It accomplishes the following learning outcomes for the group:

  • Evaluate data and/or sources
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.