Screening Tibet : approaching new Tibetan cinema from a postcolonial perspective and the field of subaltern studies

Abstract

This research will identify and explore the intersections of social space and film space in new cinematic representations/aesthetics of Tibet. It will explore questions of postcolonialism, subaltern status, and the power of elite groups/domination, as captured by the different social/cultural discourses and relations that characterise Tibetan social, cultural and historical issues. This will be done through a sociological analysis of the screening of Tibet in the New Tibetan Cinema. The research will also draw on the field of subaltern studies to provide an innovative and critical perspective on, and an empirical and theoretical understanding of, postcolonial power in the context of Tibet. Two key concepts underpin this thesis. Firstly, the research will move beyond the conception of colonialism commonly applied to the cultural and representational issues of Tibet. More specifically, these issues will be explored using postcolonial theory in conjunction with subaltern studies, which can be considered to be of great significance in discussing Tibetan issues. Secondly, the research will ask: “Who are the subaltern subjects within the New Tibetan Cinema?” It will examine this from different socio-political and cultural perspectives: Western, Han Chinese and Tibetan. In this respect, the research will discuss the central question of subaltern studies – that is, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (Spivak, 1988) – through the analysis of New Tibetan Cinema. If the subaltern can speak, who is speaking and from where do they speak? This research will concentrate on a subaltern studies approach to the positioning of the cinematic representations of Tibet/Tibetan issues in the interdisciplinary space. In so doing, sociology and film studies will speak to each other within the broad context of postcolonial studies. The research will be developed using a series of methodological approaches. These are cinematic approaches; they include discourse, textual/contextual analysis (semiotics analysis, narrative analysis and the auteurist approach), and a variety of sociological perspectives, including postcolonial and subaltern analysis.