Conflicting Memories is a study of how the Tibetan encounter with the Chinese state during the Maoist era has been recalled and reimagined by Chinese and Tibetan authors and artists since the late 1970s. Written by a team of historians, anthropologists, and scholars of religion, literature and culture, it examines official histories, biographies, memoirs, and films as well as oral testimonies, fiction, and writings by Buddhist adepts. The book includes translated extracts from key interviews, speeches, literature, and filmscripts. Conflicting Memories explores what these revised versions of the past chose as their focus, which types of people produced them, and what aims they pursued in the production of new, post-Mao descriptions of Tibet under Chinese socialism. Contributors include: Robert Barnett, Benno Weiner, Francoise Robin, Bianca Horlemann, Alice Travers, Alex Raymond, Chung Tsering, Da s a Pejchar Mortensen, Charlene Makley, Xenia de Heering, Nicole Willock, M. Maria Turek, Geoffrey Barstow, Gedun Rabsal, Heather Stoddard, Organ Nyima. "Conflicting Memories is a truly marvellous book. It has assembled critical readings of Tibetan memories of their fateful encounters with the Chinese Communists who came uninvited as their 'liberators' and 'friends'. Supplemented with excerpts from key Tibetan writings or oral reminiscences, the volume brings forth hitherto unheard of Tibetan voices. Yet, these were not hidden voices, but often commissioned by Chinese authorities or in dialogue with them, each trying to juggle the promissory pronouncements and an unsavoury reality. Taken together, the contrapuntal reading of these memories masterfully showcases Tibetan people's resourcefulness in dealing with a regime that often redefines its relations with Tibet while always aiming for total ownership." - URADYN E. BULAG, author of Collaborative Nationalism: The Politics of Friendship on China's Mongolian Frontier "Conflicting Memories offers an invaluable collection aiding us to think through the complex and much contested ramifications of Tibet's incorporation into Maoist China. The mix of analytical articles by some of the best scholars now working in the area and original documents translated from the writings of astute Tibetan observers is particularly welcome. The volume will be required reading for all serious students of contemporary Tibet." - MATTHEW KAPSTEIN, author of The Tibetans "This remarkable book offers unequalled access to the Tibetan experience of Communist nation-building. By examining how the Maoist encounter has been remembered and misremembered across many media-under the influence of ever-changing political conditions-the authors communicate both the trauma of those years and the persisting difficulty of coming to terms with it, for Chinese as well as Tibetans. The chapters, enhanced by numerous first-hand accounts and illustrations, represent the best scholarship of this field. Strongly recommended for readers interested in the history of the People's Republic and its ethnic minorities." - DONALD S. SUTTON, co-author of Contesting the Yellow Dragon: Ethnicity, Religion and the State in the Sino-Tibetan Borderland (with XIAOFEI KANG) "This groundbreaking work sheds unprecedented light on the various processes of historical rewriting about Tibet since the death of Mao. The multivocal composition of the book offers rich and diverse accounts of a set of key events and epochal moments that attest to the numerous obstacles in retelling the Maoist past and the experience of suffering. Countering state narratives and claims of historical truth, the volume brilliantly gives life to the deeply affective and existential components of history-making. What kind of recovery can historical narratives offer? How do remembrance and forgetfulness help to heal the wounds of past memories? Trauma caused by the period of high socialism resurfaces in often indirect, scripted ways in the intimate accounts included in this collection and, while no Tibetan scholars living in Tibet or China could openly write on such a sensitive topic, expression is given to their absent voices. This volume problematizes the "memory work" at play and the stakes involved, demonstrating that historical writing is like shifting sands - no sooner has it settled than another revisionist wave rolls in and knocks you off balance, precipitating you into an unsteady or even life-threatening situation. The contributors demonstrate the resilience of subaltern voices and the nuanced ways in which historical retellings can restore Tibetan agency in spite of continuous party-state control over history writing." - STEPHANE GROS, Centre for Himalayan Studies, CNRS, France

Dancer Robert Barnett trained under legendary choreographer Bronislava Nijinska. His professional ballet career was launched when he joined the Colonel de Basil Original Ballet Russe company. In the late 1940s, when George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein formed the New York City Ballet, Barnett was among of the first generation of dancers. Under Balanchine's direction, he rose from corps de ballet to soloist. In 1958 he became principal dancer and associate artistic director of the Atlanta Ballet-the oldest continuously operating company in America-and served as artistic director for more than thirty years. He was head coach of the American delegation to the International Ballet Competitions in Varna, Bulgaria, in 1980, and in Moscow in 1981. Today he serves as a guest teacher and coach at schools and companies throughout the U.S., and remains remains active with Atlanta Ballet. Barnett's autobiography recounts the life of a dancer and director, offers insight on what is involved in pursuing a professional career in dance and provides a history of ballet in America from the early 1920s through 2018.

There are many Lhasas. One is a grid of uniform boulevards lined with plush hotels, all-night bars, and blue-glass-fronted offices. Another is a warren of alleyways that surround a seventh-century temple built to pin down a supine demoness. A web of Stalinist, rectangular blocks houses the new "nomenklatura." Crumbling mansions, once home to noble ministers, famous lovers, nationalist spies, and covert revolutionaries, now serve as shopping malls and "faux"-antique hotels. Each embodiment of the city partakes of the others' memories, whispered across time and along the city streets.

In this imaginative new work, Robert Barnett offers a powerful and lyrical exploration of a city long idealized, disregarded, or misunderstood by outsiders. Looking to its streets and stone, Robert Barnett presents a searching and unforgettable portrait of Lhasa, its history, and its illegibility. His book not only offers itself as a manual for thinking about contemporary Tibet but also questions our ways of thinking about foreign places.

Barnett juxtaposes contemporary accounts of Tibet, architectural observations, and descriptions by foreign observers to describe Lhasa and its current status as both an ancient city and a modern Chinese provincial capital. His narrative reveals how historical layering, popular memory, symbolism, and mythology constitute the story of a city. Besides the ancient Buddhist temples and former picnic gardens of the Tibetan capital, "Lhasa" describes the urban sprawl, the harsh rectangular structures, and the geometric blue-glass tower blocks that speak of the anxieties of successive regimes intent upon improving on the past. In Barnett's excavation of the city's past, the buildings and the city streets, interwoven with his own recollections of unrest and resistance, recount the story of Tibet's complex transition from tradition to modernity and its painful history of foreign encounters and political experiment.

There are many Lhasas. One is a grid of uniform boulevards lined with plush hotels, all-night bars, and blue-glass-fronted offices. Another is a warren of alleyways that surround a seventh-century temple built to pin down a supine demoness. A web of Stalinist, rectangular blocks houses the new "nomenklatura." Crumbling mansions, once home to noble ministers, famous lovers, nationalist spies, and covert revolutionaries, now serve as shopping malls and "faux"-antique hotels. Each embodiment of the city partakes of the others' memories, whispered across time and along the city streets.

In this imaginative new work, Robert Barnett offers a powerful and lyrical exploration of a city long idealized, disregarded, or misunderstood by outsiders. Looking to its streets and stone, Robert Barnett presents a searching and unforgettable portrait of Lhasa, its history, and its illegibility. His book not only offers itself as a manual for thinking about contemporary Tibet but also questions our ways of thinking about foreign places.

Barnett juxtaposes contemporary accounts of Tibet, architectural observations, and descriptions by foreign observers to describe Lhasa and its current status as both an ancient city and a modern Chinese provincial capital. His narrative reveals how historical layering, popular memory, symbolism, and mythology constitute the story of a city. Besides the ancient Buddhist temples and former picnic gardens of the Tibetan capital, "Lhasa" describes the urban sprawl, the harsh rectangular structures, and the geometric blue-glass tower blocks that speak of the anxieties of successive regimes intent upon improving on the past. In Barnett's excavation of the city's past, the buildings and the city streets, interwoven with his own recollections of unrest and resistance, recount the story of Tibet's complex transition from tradition to modernity and its painful history of foreign encounters and political experiment.

Additional Contributors Include Michael J. Shortley, Lee Meyerson, Berthold Lowenfeld, And Many Others. Selected Papers From The Proceedings Of The University Of Michigan Conference For The Blind, 1947.