The Tibetan Family

The Tibetan Family

Family life is the core element that defines the population of a country. It gives Identity to a group people by the way they carry out their day to day operations and the customs and ideals that are unique to that group of people. Family life can be difficult to define as it comprises so many elements; such as housing, education, gender roles, family size, health, education, and religion. These are all critical inputs that ultimately determine the situation in a family and how that group of people goes about their lives.

There are no ‘typical’ Tibetan families; some are rich, some are poor, some are nomadic others are urban, some families live in Tibet but there are also a great number living in exile in other countries. They all have one thing in common though; every Tibetan family has been either directly or indirectly affected by the Chinese occupation. The Tibetan people have been forced to abandon their old methods and principles that defined who they were as a culture and now have to try to adapt to the new ones that have been forced upon them.

This paper will examine the many ways in which Tibetan families have been directly and indirectly affected through examining the inherent components that define a Tibetan family, and how these have changed since the Chinese occupation. Family life in Tibet has changed forever and the Tibetans have been forced into a metamorphosis and restructuring of their family life to assume a new form. It looks as though their former heritage is likely to be lost forever.

Defining a ‘typical’ Tibetan family is a near impossible task because the structure and dynamics of every family are as unique as the individuals that comprise them. I will begin by first examinin...

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...Dec 28 1994, http://www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/1994/12/28_1.html

[14] Free Tibet Campaign, 11/18/03, http://www.freetibet.org/info/facts/fact6.html

[15] Free Tibet Campaign, 11/18/03, http://www.freetibet.org/info/facts/fact6.html

[16] Victor Mansfield, Oral Statement, Colgate University, 2003

[17] Households and Women in Tibetan Pastoral Region, Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 35, no. 2, pg 4

[18] Households and Women in Tibetan Pastoral Region, Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 35, no. 2, pg 4

[19] The Making of Modern Tibet, A. Tom Grunfeld 1987, pg 18

[20] Households and Women in Tibetan Pastoral Region, Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 35, no. 2, pg 5

[21] The Making of Modern Tibet, A. Tom Grunfeld 1987, pg 16

[22] Immigrant Tibetan Children in US Schools: An Invisible Minority Group, Nawang Phuntsog

[23] Ibid