The Tibetan Ethnic Enclave in New Delhi a Visual Perspective

Abstract

This article aims to explore the Tibetan Diaspora in India in one site. We will focus on Majnu Ka Tilla in New Delhi. This paper is based on an inquiry driven qualitative study. It will not give a total and exhaustive vision of the entire refugee population in Majnu Ka Tilla but will offer selected testimonies chosen for their high heuristic value to explore the connection between space and its social construction by the refugees highlighting the notion of “ethnic enclave” (Portes & Wilson, 1980). The narratives collected are genderly oriented as we selected feminine narrations related to the representation of space. We will discuss the heuristic value of visual methodologies such as photography, auto-photography, photovoice and participant camera. Two documentaries were shot in 2008 and 2011 in the Tibetan Diaspora in India focusing on gender issues and the place of women inside the Tibetan community (Le Houérou, 2008, 2014). These non broadcasted and non- commercial movies with an ethnographic intention are available on line with a free access on Dailymotion。The two films are both exploring the singular position of women in the Tibetan Diaspora in India stressing on their economical activity for the first one and social marginality for the second one highlighting the notion of Tibetanness in exile in a specific location. How a location can shape a diasporic memory and collective identity?