Reframing refugees: the power of Tibetan identity

This paper explores how Tibetans in exile as refugees, challenge typical constructs of "the refugee" and exemplify how a people are able to empower themselves even within contexts that mitigate against it. It contributes to a growing body of scholarship that attempts to reframe refugee studies and overturn conventional paradigms that conceptually marginalize and victimize people who are refugees. The paper is based on field-work conducted in Tibetan settlements in India in 1993-1994 in which the author investigated issues of Tibetan identity within the context of international politics.