Genealogy of Modern Tibetan Identity

This talk examines the development of modern chol kha (regional) identity among exiled Tibetans—a concept that plays a pivotal role in contemporary Tibetan nationalism. It contends that contrary to the popular conception, chol kha identity, as we know it today, is not an unchanged inheritance from Tibet’s ancient past but rather a modern construct. This identity emerged through historical transformations in Tibetan governance in exile, shaped by the Tibetans' encounter with the globalizing forces of colonial modernity. By highlighting the recent and contingent origins of this regional identity among exiled Tibetans, this talk aims to challenge the linear narrative of modern Tibetan identity formation.

Ugyan Choedup is a third-generation exile Tibetan born in India. He is a historian of modern Tibet and China, focusing on the questions of nationalism and modernity. Choedup completed his schooling in Tibetan refugee schools in India and earned his B.A., M.A., and M.Phil degrees from universities in India. He received his Ph.D. in History from Pennsylvania State University with a dissertation titled “Tibet’s Winding Road: Modernity, Nationalism, and Unsettled Exile.” 

Choedup's dissertation traces the genealogy of contemporary nationalist discourse among exiled Tibetans. It examines how the global circulation of the ideas of nationalism and modernity, upon entering the Tibetan-speaking world at the turn of the 20th century, gradually transformed the Tibetan conception of themselves and the world around them. In doing so, his dissertation also explores the ways in which the traditional Tibetan world and its structure of thought shape Tibetans' translation of these ideas into their own societal framework.