Tibetan primary curriculum and its role in nation building
This study looks at how primary education plays a central role in cultural reproduction in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) The paper compares primary level Tibetan language textbooks from different periods to explore the process by which shifting political trends are reflected in the curriculum. It looks at how Tibetan identity is recreated, at different historical moments, through selective rendering of elements of Tibetan culture to reposition it within the Chinese national context. It argues that, in contrast to Central China where the curriculum has seen explicit depoliticization in recent years, and a move towards teaching personal morality and global awareness, the Tibetan primary curriculum has seen renewed emphasis on narrow political ideology.