A Korean, an Australian, a Nomad, and a Martial Artist meet on the Tibetan Plateau: Encounters with Foreigners in a Tibetan Comedy from Amdo

This article examines the complex processes by which a Tibetan comedy reaches state-sponsored stages in western China's Qinghai Province. By reflecting on my own participation in a Tibetan sketch comedy for a Tibetan-language, provincial version of the Chunjie wanhui, China Central Television&#...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of folklore research Vol. 55; no. 3; pp. 1 - 24
Main Author Thurston, Timothy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Indiana University Press 01.09.2018
Subjects
Characters
Characters and characteristics
Criticism and interpretation
Demographic aspects
Portrayals
Protection and preservation
Sketch comedies
Tibetan culture
China
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Summary:This article examines the complex processes by which a Tibetan comedy reaches state-sponsored stages in western China's Qinghai Province. By reflecting on my own participation in a Tibetan sketch comedy for a Tibetan-language, provincial version of the Chunjie wanhui, China Central Television's annual New Year's Gala, I examine the Tibetan sketch comedy as a staged vernacular ethnography of a transnational encounter. Juxtaposing Tibetan nomads with characters of Korean and Australian origin, such staged encounters create a productive friction that provides a space for public meditation on politically and culturally sensitive issues central to the negotiation of Tibetanness in the twenty-first century, including cultural preservation and ecological conservation.
ISSN:0737-7037
1543-0413
DOI:10.2979/jfolkrese.55.3.01