Frontier Tibet
Patterns of Change in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands
Published on 17. December 2019
Book
Hardback
554 pages
978-94-6372-871-3 (ISBN)
Description
Frontier Tibet: Patterns of Change in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands addresses a historical sequence that sealed the future of the Sino-Tibetan borderlands. It considers how starting in the late nineteenth century imperial formations and emerging nation-states developed competing schemes of integration and debated about where the border between China and Tibet should be. It also ponders the ways in which this border is internalised today, creating within the People's Republic of China a space that retains some characteristics of a historical frontier. The region of eastern Tibet called Kham, the focus of this volume, is a productive lens through which processes of place-making and frontier dynamics can be analysed. Using historical records and ethnography, the authors challenge purely externalist approaches to convey a sense of Kham's own centrality and the agency of the actors involved. They contribute to a history from below that is relevant to the history of China and Tibet, and of comparative value for borderland studies.
Reviews / Votes
"Frontier Tibet: Patterns of Change in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands is certain to be a captivating read for scholars of Kham history. Those who are interested in Amdo as well as other Tibetan peripheries are also likely to be inspired by the various modes of expansion and bottom-up approaches. I would further recommend the theoretical pieces in the volume for inclusion in any syllabus on frontier studies. Frontier Tibet is positioned to become a model for the field, and I look forward to seeing what this scholarly community produces in the future."- Xiaobai Hu, Nanjing University, Waxing Moon: Journal of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies, Vol. 1 (2021)
"This collection of essays strikes me for its "thickness" in terms of its comprehensive content, heuristic novelty, longitudinal lens (mostly nineteenth to twenty-first century), and interdisciplinary cross-fertilization (mostly between history and anthropology). Largely for that reason, I see this volume as both an encyclopedic handbook and an original monograph on Kham and Sino-Tibetan borderlands, or even as a critical scholarly guidebook for borderlands studies writ large."
- Tenzin Jinba, National University of Singapore, The Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 79 Issue 4 (2020)
"Stephane Gros must be congratulated on editing this volume. Frontier Tibet is a unique survey of borderland-oriented research in the context of Sino-Tibetan (or, if one wishes, "Sino-Kham") studies, a rapidly evolving field of scholarship, and the book is an indispensable basis for further research."
- Per Kvaerne, Asian Ethnology 79/2 (2020)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Academic
Illustrations
29 s/w Abbildungen
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
992 gr
ISBN-13
978-94-6372-871-3 (9789463728713)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 12/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€71.30
Not yet published
E-Book
10/2025
Routledge
€56.49
Available for download
E-Book
10/2025
Routledge
€56.49
Available for download
E-Book
12/2019
Amsterdam University Press
€0.00
Available for download
Person
Willem van Schendel, Professor of History, University of Amsterdam and International Institute of Social History, the Netherlands. He works with the history, anthropology and sociology of Asia. Recent works include >A History of Bangladesh> (2020), >Embedding Agricultural Commodities> (2017, ed.), >The Camera as Witness> (2015, with J. L. K. Pachuau). See uva.academia.edu/WillemVanSchendel. >La Part Manquante> (2012), and he recently guest-edited two special issues of relevance to Southwest China ('Worlds in the making', Cahiers d'Extreme-Asie, no. 23) and Eastern Tibet ('Frontier Tibet', Cross-Currents, no. 19).
Content
Foreword and Acknowledgements, List of Illustrations, Chronology of Events, PART I: BORDERS INSIDE OUT, PART II: MODES OF EXPANSION AND FORMS OF CONTROL, PART III: STRATEGIC BELONGINGS, AFTERWORD, Index