"From the book's preface: "
Skya rgya is a farming village in A mdo, [Tibet]
While Tibetans largely welcome the material benefits that have
been brought to them by the march of modernity, it is also
inevitable that many of their older traditions have come to be seen
as outdated.
By juxtaposing voices from earlier periods with those that
reflect contemporary experiences, [the author] has provided us with
a fascinating window onto the processes of change and development,
as they are being experienced by Tibetans in this area.
[The author's narratives give] us a direct and vivid insight
into the lives, experiences and expectations of members of his home
community. Fernanda Pirie
The Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford University
"Also from the book's preface: "
Blo brtan rdo rje's honest rendering of the details of his
family life . . . make this a page-turning account of life in a
rural Tibetan area that is already vanishing.
When Blo brtan rdo rje was young, there was not even a bridge to
cross the Yellow River into Gcan tsha County. . . .After bridges
were built in the late 1980s, life has been changing rapidly
This is not to suggest that no change had come to this Tibetan
village before this time, as the arrival of the troops of the
Muslim warlord, Ma Bufang, prior to the Communist period are also
documented here. The forced conversion of neighboring (down-valley)
Tibetans to Islam was a crucial vehicle for the later commercial
changes introduced in the 1990s.
. . . this new book could serve as an important part of courses
on Tibetan culture, cross-cultural studies of marriage and gender
relations. I congratulate Blo brtan rdo rje andKevin Stuart on this
impressive contribution to Tibetan studies! Gray Tuttle
Department of East Asia Languages and Cultures
Columbia University
"From the author's introduction: "
I was born in 1979, the only son of a ten-people farming-herding
family on [4.3 acres] of farmland on which we cultivate wheat,
barley, peas, rapeseed, potatoes and a few vegetables for
self-consumption.
In 1985 my father (Rin chen bsod nams, b. 1954) put me on one of
our several donkeys and the two of us set out for my paternal
grandmother's (Phag mo sgrol ma, b. 1927) home in the mountains. .
. .It took us most of the day to reach Grandmother's home, which
was a single room where she lived, a long second room for the sheep
and goats and a fenced area for the yaks.
The area around Grandmother's cottage was mountainous. . . .
There was no electricity. Rapeseed-oil lamps provided light at
nights. Grandmother fetched water in a wooden bucket that she
carried on her back from a transparent stream. . . . Bread with
milk tea was our breakfast and lunch. We ate noodles with,
sometimes, a few chunks of pork but rarely vegetables.
I have three sisters. My elder sister . . . has twin, six year
old sons who had not started school in 2006. . . . My two younger
sisters are both university students and their school tuition has
become a significant worry for my family. My parents have now moved
to the local county town where they bought a cheap house with a
small yard with the money they earned from selling our family's
sheep and goats. Mother raises four milk "mdzo mo" (a female
yak-cow cross) from which she earns an average of twenty-five yuan
(about $3.50) per day by selling milk and yogurt inthe street.
Father does whatever temporary work he can find. . .that pays
fifteen to twenty yuan per day ($2.15 to $2.86). . . .Kids from
richer families call my mother 'Skya rgya Beggar' when they see her
selling milk and yogurt in the bustling streets. This humiliates
and causes much pain.
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