Description
Book SynopsisIn The Concrete Plateau, Andrew Grant examines the ways that urbanization has extended into the Tibetan Plateau. Many people still think of Tibetans as not being urban, or that if they do live in cities, this means that they have lost something. Much of this is relates to the expectation that urbanization can only erode essential aspects of Tibetan culture. Grant pushes back against this notion through his in-depth exploration of Tibetans'' experiences with urban life in the growing city of Xining, the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau.
Grant shows how Tibetans'' actions to sustain their community challenge China''s civilizing machine: a product of state-led urbanization that seeks to marginalize ethnic and indigenous groups. In their homes, neighborhoods, and businesses, Tibetans'' assertion of cultural identity and modification of the built environment has prevented their assimilation into China''s national urban project. The Concrete Plateau presents
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This study adds a more than necessary perspective on the ways in which urban Tibetans in the early twenty-first century have lived their own culture in a seemingly Han-dominated environment.
* Inner Asia *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Building the Concrete Plateau
1. Circulations and Dreams on the Tibetan Plateau
2. Remembering Xining
3. Civilized City
4. Uncivilized City
5. Building Tibetan Places
Conclusion: Urbanization as Civilizing Machine
Afterword
