A Scholar Explains Tibetan Self-Immolation-Lobga Rangzen

A Scholar Explains Tibetan Self-Immolation The news of first Tibetan self-immolation has once again drawn attention to one of the world's most profound—and least understood—forms of political protest. Tibetans inside Tibet have turned to self-immolation as an act of resistance, sacrifice, and appeal to the international community, when Tapey, a monk from Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire in 2009.These events raise difficult questions about identity, freedom, religion, human rights, and what happens when people believe every other avenue for expressing dissent has been closed. To help us better understand this history and its continuing significance, the bridge conversation is glad to welcome Professor Carole McGranahan. Professor McGranahan is one of the world's foremost scholars of Tibet and Tibetan politics. As an anthropologist, she has spent decades researching Tibetan history, resistance, memory, and exile. She is the author of Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Memories of a Forgotten War. When the wave of self-immolations spread across Tibet beginning in 2009, Professor McGranahan became one of the first scholars to bring together a broad scholarly conversation on the subject, editing the influential Cultural Anthropology Fieldsights series Self-Immolation as Protest in Tibet in 2012. She has also written extensively and has delivered numerous lectures around the world on the meaning and history of Tibetan self-immolation. In today's conversation, we'll discuss the Lobga Rangzen's June 2nd self immolation in front of NY's UN headquarter and place it within its larger historical, cultural, and political context. We'll explore why these acts occur, how Tibetans themselves understand them, how they are viewed within Buddhist ethics, and what they reveal about the ongoing realities facing Tibet today. We approach these subjects with respect and care, seeking understanding rather than sensationalism.