Better Solidarity Across Difference: Non-Tibetans and Collective Identity in The Tibetan Freedom Movement

• In Event: 106 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 08. Mechanisms for Solidarity

Abstract

The Tibetan freedom movement has long sought Western support as well as emphasized the necessary centrality of Tibetans. Historically, Western-based transnational activism was mostly a one-way relationship that flowed from those with power to those without. Today, however, some activists and movements are critiquing the tradition of outsider support that romanticizes local culture without supporting local agency. Based on in-depth interviews with non-Tibetan activists and participant observation in the movement, this paper finds that some non-Tibetan activists purposefully navigate their relative positions as outsiders by adopting a close but nuanced collective identity with Tibetans. The ways that they develop this identity are culturally specific and purposefully distanced from activists they see as unreflective. Despite its specificity to the Tibetan context, these activists’ efforts also resonate more broadly with other transnational social justice movements. Though there is extensive literature on transnational social movements, solidarity activism from the perspective of participants remains weakly understood. This research suggests that further study is needed on power-conscious solidarity activism to understand how activists understand and make meaning of their work in ways that are a purposeful departure from earlier traditions of uncritical activism across cultures.

Author

• Samuel Maron, Northeastern University