Conceptualizing education as a holistic experience: A narrative inquiry study of Tibetan refugees in Kathmandu, Nepal

• In Event: Poverty, Migration and Peace Building

Proposal

Introduction: The relationship between education and identity formation for refugee communities as they negotiate cultures and educational systems can be understood through their past histories in their homeland, during their migration to their host country, and through their personal experiences in transition in their host country (Adams & Marshall, 1996; Côté, 2018; Gilroy, 1991; McConnell, 2013; Mosselson, 2005; Ndengeyingoma et al., 2014; Ozkaleli, 2018; Smith, 2012; Szabo & Ward, 2015; Ziaian et al., 2021). As refugees’ identities are constructed through these experiences, education can provide another space in which to formulate their identities. Schools and other formal educational institutions afford refugees opportunities to interact with members of their own ethnocultural and linguistic groups as well as with members of other groups, and provide spaces to formulate and perform their identities through these interactions as well as through their educational activities. In this way, education becomes a means through which refugees formulate their identities as educated individuals.

Background Context: In 1959, thousands of Tibetans fled China, following the Dalai Lama into exile after years of living under an oppressive regime in Chinese-occupied Tibet. In the decades that followed, tens of thousands of Tibetans would leave their homeland, searching for a better life abroad. Many sought refuge and new opportunities in Nepal. One of the opportunities they were seeking was access to quality education. A generation later, Tibetans born in exile are still seeking the opportunity to become educated.

There are currently over 150,000 Tibetans living as refugees outside of Tibet (Central Tibetan Administration, 2021). Nepal houses the second largest population of Tibetan refugees, with around 12,500 Tibetans residing in the country (Central Tibetan Administration, 2021a; Lokyitsang, 2018; Sharapan, 2016; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2022a). Despite the country’s large Tibetan refugee population, Nepal never signed the 1951 United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons or the 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees (Bernabei, 2011), therefore “no specific and applicable national legislation relating to asylum seekers or refugees exists” (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2004). This means that certain social services, including education, are not available for Tibetans living as refugees. These Tibetans have had to forge their own pathways to education, which has included the development of their own formal schools; transmitting Tibetan Buddhist practice and knowledge through monastery schooling; and a hybrid of these two systems of education.

Problem Statement: Seeking knowledge and becoming educated for Tibetan refugees in Nepal has encompassed a wide range of educational and lived experiences. In this presentation, I explore the relationship between educational experience and identity formation among members of a Tibetan refugee community in Kathmandu, Nepal. Specifically, my research aims to conceptualize education as a holistic experience that includes knowledges beyond the lessons taught in the classroom or monastery, comprising the whole of a person’s lived experiences as they seek to learn the skills and knowledges that are as yet unknown to them. These educational and lived experiences include school-based instruction in subjects such as Tibetan language, culture, and history, as well as monastery-based education in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and practice; vocational skills such as cooking, learning to drive and fix cars and motorbikes, and painting thangkas; and on-the-job training or approaching the learning of new knowledges and skills through a trial-and-error approach. These experiences help Tibetans construct their holistic understanding of education, encompassing the identification of knowledges to be sought after, the journey toward learning said knowledges, and the experiences the individual has during their learning journey. Thus, “education” for this Tibetan community in Kathmandu encompasses their lived experiences in transition to their host country and the educational opportunities that have been available to them in exile.

Methodology: Utilizing a narrative inquiry methodology, I spent three months in the field where I conducted a series of in-depth interviews, participant observations, and an examination of artifacts from six participants living in Kathmandu. By analyzing their experiences and perspectives, I seek to understand how Tibetan refugees have formulated their identities through their educational experiences, sociocultural contexts, and historical events, as well as how they make sense of what it means to them to be “educated” through their foundational understanding of education as a holistic, all-encompassing experience.

Findings: The findings of my research highlight participants’ understanding of education as both an action and the sum of a person’s lived experiences. My study also shows how access to education, cultural heritage, and a holistic approach to understanding what “education” means shapes Tibetans’ construction of their identities as educated members of the refugee community in Kathmandu. Influenced by these factors, the participants’ conception of an educated identity was extended to their engagement with the refugee community. The participants felt strongly about giving back to their community and sharing knowledge gained through their educational and lived experiences with other Tibetans. Through acts of knowledge dissemination and cultural preservation, including Tibetan language teaching, thangka painting, and participating in Buddhist rituals and celebrations, the participants believed that these were the actions of a truly educated person. Therefore, the journey a person takes toward becoming educated is embodied through acts of service to the refugee community. As they seek to become educated, the participants are continuing their own educational journeys as they perform their identities through their acts of service to the Tibetan refugee community in Kathmandu.

Author

• Emily Leyava, Florida State University