In this dissertation, I investigate the characteristics and quality of liminality among the Tibetan exile community in Dharamsala, India, and the United States. I argue that the quality of their liminality defines this exile community’s ability to maneuver and voice their influence to geo-political community of states that surround them, all while within their liminal condition. The Tibetan exile people live as stateless foreigners in India but have a better standard of living and better opportunities to acquire transnational resources than their surrounding host community. In the U.S., Tibetan diaspora people live as asylum-seekers and naturalized Tibetan-Americans but have established a popular political campaign (which enjoys the support of considerably many Americans) addressing the plight of Tibetans imposed by China. I argue that the Tibetan diaspora have achieved this unique social and political success as a marginalized community by adopting a cultural practice that I call “flexible liminality.” Flexible liminality is a Tibetan cultural practice that helps transient people adjust to any situation, people, and geo-politics circumstance. Flexible liminality relies on two factors: first, political interest from various nation-states; second, a group’s ability to adjust their cultural practices to match external influences. In the case of the Tibetan exile community, it is important to note that they are excluded by multiple nation-states (China, India, the Western countries) in different ways simultaneously. Therefore, the world collective of Tibetan refugees are not fixed in one state of liminality but experience a variety of liminalities in relation to different nation-states. Second, the Tibetan exile community has adjusted their cultural practices to assimilate with host communities in whichever countries their exile-hood has landed them. Since Tibetans cannot acquire Indian citizenship, the Tibetan exile community uses India as a space to promote their political activism against China, and form better relationship with Western foreigners. In Dharamsala, the Tibetan community has organized institutions that guides Tibetan individuals to form relationships with foreign tourists, and acquire skills (i.e. language, behavior, education, philosophy) that would help them assimilate better when resettling in Western host countries. In both, Dharamsala and the U.S., the Tibetan diaspora have a cultivated cultural practice to advocate Tibetan political plight against China, and to communicate Tibetan religio-socio traditions with the foreign host community. As a result, Tibetans are able to achieve political popularity, and to socially draw empathy from foreign communities that aids in producing a space for Tibetan cultural preservation in exile. The case study on Tibetan exile community sheds a new light on the study of marginality/liminality. This dissertation showcases that there can be a spectrum for the quality of liminality that goes from flexible at one end to inflexible at the other end. Not all exile groups have the same condition of liminality, being an exile community can be beneficial or crippling somewhere in the spectrum. Tibetan exile community has achieved a flexible end of liminality in exile but there are other exile groups who may not have the same maneuvering ability as the Tibetan exile community. This theory of flexible liminality can be used to better understand the lives of exiles by characterizing and measuring the quality of their liminality.

The Tibetan Plateau is the largest elevated landmass in the world and profoundly influences atmospheric circulation patterns such as the Asian monsoon system. Therefore this area has been increasingly in focus of palaeoenvironmental studies. This thesis evaluates the applicability of organic biomarkers for palaeolimnological purposes on the Tibetan Plateau with a focus on aquatic macrophyte-derived biomarkers. Submerged aquatic macrophytes have to be considered to significantly influence the sediment organic matter due to their high abundance in many Tibetan lakes. They can show highly 13C-enriched biomass because of their carbon metabolism and it is therefore crucial for the interpretation of δ13C values in sediment cores to understand to which extent aquatic macrophytes contribute to the isotopic signal of the sediments in Tibetan lakes and in which way variations can be explained in a palaeolimnological context. Additionally, the high abundance of macrophytes makes them interesting as potential recorders of lake water δD. Hydrogen isotope analysis of biomarkers is a rapidly evolving field to reconstruct past hydrological conditions and therefore of special relevance on the Tibetan Plateau due to the direct linkage between variations of monsoon intensity and changes in regional precipitation / evaporation balances. A set of surface sediment and aquatic macrophyte samples from the central and eastern Tibetan Plateau was analysed for composition as well as carbon and hydrogen isotopes of n-alkanes. It was shown how variable δ13C values of bulk organic matter and leaf lipids can be in submerged macrophytes even of a single species and how strongly these parameters are affected by them in corresponding sediments. The estimated contribution of the macrophytes by means of a binary isotopic model was calculated to be up to 60% (mean: 40%) to total organic carbon and up to 100% (mean: 66%) to mid-chain n-alkanes. Hydrogen isotopes of n-alkanes turned out to record δD of meteoric water of the summer precipitation. The apparent enrichment factor between water and n-alkanes was in range of previously reported ones (≈-130‰) at the most humid sites, but smaller (average: -86‰) at sites with a negative moisture budget. This indicates an influence of evaporation and evapotranspiration on δD of source water for aquatic and terrestrial plants. The offset between δD of mid- and long-chain n-alkanes was close to zero in most of the samples, suggesting that lake water as well as soil and leaf water are affected to a similar extent by those effects. To apply biomarkers in a palaeolimnological context, the aliphatic biomarker fraction of a sediment core from Lake Koucha (34.0° N; 97.2° E; eastern Tibetan Plateau) was analysed for concentrations, δ13C and δD values of compounds. Before ca. 8 cal ka BP, the lake was dominated by aquatic macrophyte-derived mid-chain n-alkanes, while after 6 cal ka BP high concentrations of a C20 highly branched isoprenoid compound indicate a predominance of phytoplankton. Those two principally different states of the lake were linked by a transition period with high abundances of microbial biomarkers. δ13C values were relatively constant for long-chain n-alkanes, while mid-chain n-alkanes showed variations between -23.5 to -12.6‰. Highest values were observed for the assumed period of maximum macrophyte growth during the late glacial and for the phytoplankton maximum during the middle and late Holocene. Therefore, the enriched values were interpreted to be caused by carbon limitation which in turn was induced by high macrophyte and primary productivity, respectively. Hydrogen isotope signatures of mid-chain n-alkanes have been shown to be able to track a previously deduced episode of reduced moisture availability between ca. 10 and 7 cal ka BP, indicated by a 20‰ shift towards higher δD values. Indications for cooler episodes at 6.0, 3.1 and 1.8 cal ka BP were gained from drops of biomarker concentrations, especially microbial-derived hopanoids, and from coincidental shifts towards lower δ13C values. Those episodes correspond well with cool events reported from other locations on the Tibetan Plateau as well as in the Northern Hemisphere. To conclude, the study of recent sediments and plants improved the understanding of factors affecting the composition and isotopic signatures of aliphatic biomarkers in sediments. Concentrations and isotopic signatures of the biomarkers in Lake Koucha could be interpreted in a palaeolimnological context and contribute to the knowledge about the history of the lake. Aquatic macrophyte-derived mid-chain n-alkanes were especially useful, due to their high abundance in many Tibetan Lakes and their ability to record major changes of lake productivity and palaeo-hydrological conditions. Therefore, they have the potential to contribute to a fuller understanding of past climate variability in this key region for atmospheric circulation systems. / Das tibetische Hochplateau ist die größte gehobene Landmasse der Erde und beeinflusst maßgeblich atmosphärische Zirkulationsmuster wie den Asiatischen Monsun. Um die Auswirkungen zukünftiger Schwankungen der Monsundynamik auf das regionale Klima besser einschätzen zu können, ist es wichtig, ein fundiertes Verständnis vergangener Klimaänderungen zu entwickeln. Daher ist das Tibetplateau in den letzten Jahren mehr und mehr in den Fokus paläoklimatischer Studien gerückt. Die große Anzahl an Seen in der Region bietet ein unerschöpfliches Klimaarchiv und viele Studien haben sich bereits mit Seesedimenten zur Klimarekonstruktion befasst. Dabei wurde in erster Linie auf biologische, sedimentologische und geochemische Parameter zurückgegriffen, wohingegen organische Biomarker bisher recht selten benutzt wurden. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Anwendbarkeit dieser potentiellen Klimaindikatoren auf dem Tibetplateau. Hierbei wurde ein Schwerpunkt auf die Analyse kutikularer Blattwachse von Wasserpflanzen gelegt, da diese wegen ihres starken Auftretens in tibetischen Seen einen erheblichen Beitrag zur organischen Substanz im Sediment leisten. Um den Einfluss von Wasserpflanzen auf das Sediment über einen weiten klimatischen Gradienten zu untersuchen, wurden Oberflächensedimente und Wasserpflanzen vom zentralen und östlichen Tibetplateau auf ihre Biomarkerzusammensetzung sowie auf ihre Kohlen- und Wasserstoffisotopensignatur untersucht. Dadurch wurde das Verständnis über beeinflussende Faktoren auf diese Parameter in Sedimenten vertieft. In einem Sedimentbohrkern des Koucha-Sees (östliches Tibetplateau) konnten diese Parameter dann im Hinblick auf Änderungen der Produktivität im See sowie der hydrologischen und klimatischen Bedingungen der letzten 15000 Jahre interpretiert werden. Es zeigte sich, dass der See bis 8000 Jahre vor Heute stark mit Wasserpflanzen bewachsen war, während die letzten 6000 Jahre Algen dominierten. Mit Hilfe von Wasserstoffisotopen wurden eine Zunahme des Monsuns und steigende Niederschläge zwischen 15000 und 10000 Jahren vor Heute sowie eine relativ trockene Periode zwischen 10000 und 7000 Jahren vor Heute rekonstruiert. Durch Kombination von Biomarkerkonzentrationen sowie deren Kohlenstoffisotopensignal wurden außerdem kurzzeitige Kälteperioden um ca. 6000, 3100 und 1800 Jahren vor Heute nachgewiesen, die vorher bereits in anderen Klimaarchiven in Tibet sowie auf der nördlichen Hemisphäre belegt wurden. Mit Hilfe von organischen Biomarkern konnte so ein detailliertes Bild über die Entwicklung des Koucha-Sees seit dem letzten Glazial gewonnen werden. Organische Biomarker haben sich somit als geeignet erwiesen, einen Beitrag zur Klimarekonstruktion auf dem Tibetplateau zu leisten.

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I examine the state of Tibetan Buddhism that exists in China in the 21st century and what are the best methods to increase religious freedom and political autonomy. I look at what cause China and Tibet to reach this point, and why do the respective nations do what they do. Man people fundamentally misunderstand the reasons why the Chinese Communist Party oppresses Tibetan Buddhism; they aren't concerned with eradicating religion, they want to simply maintain longterm political legitimacy in Tibet.

<p>The burden of hypertension and subsequent in Tibet is quite profound and disproportionate when compared to other Chinese populations. Thus, there has a recent impetus to focus on low-cost sustainable health interventions to ameliorate this tremendous burden. Factors of compliance of first-line low dose hypertensive medications are not known in semi-nomadic Tibetan herdsmen at high altitude.</p><p>A retrospective analysis of a de-identified database for a single blinded equal allocation randomized control trial for a dietary reduced sodium salt substitute completed in 2009 using STATA 11.2 (STATA INC. College Station, TX) and logistic regression was performed. Patients were recruited from two townships at 4300 m altitude and northwest of Lhasa, the regional capital. Eligibility criteria included: age 40 years and older, with hypertension (&#8805; 140mmHg / &#8805; 90 mmHg) , enrollment in salt substitute trial, and prescription of hypertensive medication. Primary outcome was compliance to medication at three and six months of follow-up. Factor variables included and adjusted for included: sex, age, blood pressure, township, class of medication, and trial arm assignment.</p><p>The overall rate of non-compliance was 33.0% (38/115) after three months and 12.9% (28/217) after six months. After three months follow-up patients with Stage I and Stage II hypertension were at an adjusted odds ratio of 0.03(95%CI: 0.002-0.70) and 0.13(95%CI: 0.012-1.37) times lower odds of non-compliance when compared patients with only isolated systolic hypertension, (p=0.028 and 0.089, respectively). Furthermore, at six months of follow-up patients prescribed combination pharmacologic therapy had an adjusted odds ratios of 0.20 (95%CI: 0.05-0.81) times lower odds than those patients on diuretic only, p =0.023.</p> / Thesis

Ce mémoire porte sur la résilience du religieux à l'intérieur des institutions politiques tibétaines. Il suit le parcours politique des Tibétains à partir de la fin des années 1940 jusqu'au début des années 2000 en remettant en question la théorie de la sécularisation, puisque le religieux n'a jamais cessé d'être omniprésent dans l'arène publique, notamment dans l'expression du nationalisme tibétain. Il y est question du système traditionnel de l'union du politique et du religieux (chos srid gnyis 'brel), symbolisée par le Dalaï-Lama, le rôle des oracles d'État ainsi que de l'expérience politique de la diaspora tibétaine en Inde. Nous analysons les réformes démocratiques du gouvernement tibétain en exil sous l'angle de la continuité avec le régime précédent, tout en faisant la lumière sur les ruptures face au passé politique. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Institutions politiques, Sécularisation, Bouddhisme, Nationalisme, Tibet, Tibétains, Dalaï-Lama, Exil, Diaspora.

Bachelor's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Masteropgave. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Traditionally recognized as the first of the great Buddhist treasure revealers, Nyang-rel Nyima Özer (1124-1192) historiographically reconstructed the Imperium into a golden age of Tibetan Buddhism. An analysis of his two early biographies demonstrates that he was among the first to recall an unbroken series of preincarnations in real historical time, which was a crucial link that led to the ascension of concatenated reincarnates like the Karmapas and Dalai Lamas. For Nyang-rel, his past life as emperor Tri Song-détsen (d. 800) provided the teleological karmic basis for his life as a finder of the old texts and relics deemed "treasure." According to his biographies and the two narratives that are attributed to him, Nyang-rel’s treasures were uniformly material objects extracted via quite mundane methods, though the discovery of old manuscripts seems to have been only an initial step in a process of compilation, redaction and composition that resulted in their reintroduction. Allegedly among these treasures was the first complete biography of the eighth-century Tantrika, Padmasambhava, which later became renowned as The Copper Palace. Much of this narrative was incorporated into the history of Buddhism entitled Flower Nectar: The Essence of Honey that is also attributed to Nyang-rel. Based on a comparative analysis of available recensions, however, I propose three hypotheses as equally viable alternatives to what has been asserted concerning the composition of these two texts. First, Nyang-rel did not consider his biography of Padmasambhava to be a treasure, but the tradition later manufactured a recovery narrative and accompanying title that promoted it as such. Second, Nyang-rel did not compile the Flower Nectar history. Third, based on oral, textual and mnemonic fragments, Nyang-rel produced a narrative of Tri Song-détsen and Padmasambhava that others developed into The Copper Palace and Flower Nectar. In sum, Nyang-rel was a progenitor of some of the most definitive aspects of Tibetan Buddhism, yet these very innovations ensured that he would be eclipsed by later adepts who, in adopting his claims and methods, revealed new iterations of his scriptures and narratives. He thus remains one of the most influential yet unsung figures of the Tibetan renaissance.