Autonomy in Tibet: From Central Normativity to Local Praxis

Abstract

During the last decades, as a result of greater control and management exercised by the central government in China, some shifts and developments have taken place across the Tibetan landscape and population. Nonetheless, at the same time some social conflicts and opposing expectations have been inherited due to the meeting between the implementation of new policies and geographical-administrative divisions relative to the old customs and social order retained by the nomad tribes. This document integrates a range of ethnographic studies on land governance, dispute resolution, and the maintenance of social order in the Tibetan region of Amdo. For this purpose, we draw from politics and law the definition of autonomy and how it has been institutionalized in China. The document illuminates the constructive negotiation process that occurs between government officials at the local level and those who have the moral authority and power within these groups to solve disputes and build a local “moral” order.