Diasporic Convergences: a case-study of Tibetan refugees – DiasCo-Tib

DiasCo-Tib proposes to analyse various patterns of linguistic, spatial and social convergence at a “diasporic moment,” i.e. a critical juncture of reactivation and reconfiguration of a diaspora, as it is unfolding. The research will be based on the case of Tibetan refugees, who are currently undergoing such a “diasporic moment” with the anticipated demise of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama (b. 1935). Recent and fast-growing on-migratory trends, from South Asia towards Europe and North America, already lead to a large-scale spatial reconfiguration, with France becoming a major hub in the multipolar Tibetan diasporic network. The project’s central hypothesis is that in the context of a diasporic moment, increased spatial dispersion, paradoxically, triggers enhanced processes of social convergence. In order to produce a comprehensive analysis of diasporic convergence processes, DiasCo-Tib will mobilise an interdisciplinary team to study concomitant social phenomena and evaluate their degree of interrelatedness in the domains of language(s) and linguistic practices; social and economic translocal networks; forms of collective representation (in political, civic or artistic spheres); changing gender roles; and religious practices. Multi-sited research will account for the circulation of norms and social practices, taking into account local and cross-border forms of integration and differentiation as well as ongoing shifts in Tibetan refugees’ inscriptions in host societies. Along expected convergences, lines of segmentation will be observed and analysed as they crystallise to reconfigure the common yet plural linguistic and social practices of the Tibetan diaspora. The chosen case study will thus shed light on multi-dimensional processes of diasporisation as they are experienced and enacted by individuals and communities in their everyday lives and particular biographical trajectories.