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Urbanizing Tibet_Differential Inclusion & Colonial Governance in the People’s Republic of China _ACCEPTED.pdf (7.35 MB)

Urbanizing Tibet: differential inclusion and colonial governance in the People’s Republic of China

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posted on 2021-07-28, 04:11 authored by Gerald RocheGerald Roche, James LeiboldJames Leibold, Ben Hillman
This article examines the urbanization of Tibet. We argue that urbanization is a new technique of colonial governance for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and is characterized by what Yen Le Espiritu calls ‘differential inclusion’: a form of forcible incorporation resulting in particular spaces and populations being ‘deemed integral to the nation … only or precisely because of their designated subordinate standing’. We explore how urbanization achieves the differential inclusion of Tibet and Tibetans through three distinct processes: segregation (the separation of Tibetan and Han Chinese spaces), congregation (the creation of Tibetan-dominated towns) and negation (urbanization as an administrative process that undermines Tibetan political autonomy). We argue that these three processes form an integrated strategy of colonial governance aimed at achieving differential inclusion. We conclude by arguing that our case study of the urbanization of Tibet offers a model for thinking about the role urbanization plays in enforcing differential inclusion as a means of colonial governance elsewhere in the PRC, and beyond.

Funding

The authors acknowledge funding from the Australian Research Council [grant number DP180101651].

History

Publication Date

2020-12-01

Journal

Territory, Politics, Governance

Pagination

21p. (p. 1-21)

Publisher

Routledge

ISSN

2162-2671

Rights Statement

The Author reserves all moral rights over the deposited text and must be credited if any re-use occurs. Documents deposited in OPAL are the Open Access versions of outputs published elsewhere. Changes resulting from the publishing process may therefore not be reflected in this document. The final published version may be obtained via the publisher’s DOI. Please note that additional copyright and access restrictions may apply to the published version.

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