CAN A YAK-EATER BECOME A VEGETARIAN? A GLOBAL ANIMAL RIGHTS DISCOURSE AS THE 'INVENTED TRADITION' IN THE TIBETAN DIASPORA (Czy jakozerca moze zostac wegetarianinem? Globalny dyskurs praw zwierzat jako 'tradycja wynaleziona' w diasporze tybetanskiej)

• Authors: Bloch Natalia
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article discusses the incorporation of globally spread socio-political categories by groups from outside the Western cultural circles. The author aims to explain the reasoning behind these ideas and how they are translated into the practice of everyday life. As an illustration of the problem she has chosen the discourse on animal rights and vegetarianism as the 'new Tibetan tradition', since during several years of field research in the camps of Tibetan refugees in India she had the opportunity to follow the birth of the idea and its development. Refugees are an interesting group to analyze such phenomena, because they are part of what is called the 'international refugee regime' and are forced to engage in a dialogue with the dominant discourses. The article shows that although the participants of the dialogue do not have equal rights, it can be the source of the group subjectivity, and the group uses it to accomplish their own objectives. Eric Hobsbawm's concept of 'invention of tradition' has been used to analyze the process.

Keywords

EN

ANIMAL RIGHTS; DALAI LAMA; DHARAMSALA; INDIA; INVENTION OF TRADITION; TIBETAN DIASPORA; VEGETARIANISM

• Publisher: Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze
• Journal: Lud
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 94
• Pages: 121-142
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Bloch Natalia

• Natalia Bloch, Instytut Etnologii i Antropologii Kulturowej, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, ul. Sw. Marcin 78, 61-809 Poznan, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

11PLAAAA095917