Agency, accommodation and negotiations: The dialectics of non-assimilation for economic relations between Tibetan refugee and Indian hosts

Abstract

This paper examined the economic implications of non-assimilation for Tibetan refugees and Indian hosts. Combining Arendt's perspective on the non-assimilation of refugees with Granovetter's thesis on the embeddedness of economic action, this paper reiterated that despite the non-assimilation framework of exile, the socio-economic relations of Tibetan refugees with the Indian hosts have elements of accommodation, conflict and negotiations. The fieldwork for this qualitative study has been conducted in Tibetan settlements in Karnataka and Goa in different phases from 2019 to 2021. Since 1959, thousands of Tibetans have been fleeing to India following the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1949. In exile, non-assimilation was the framework by which the Tibetan exile Govenrment sought to preserve their cultural identity. The over 58 Tibetan settlements have been a strong facilitator of the policy of non-assimilation yet encourage economic relations between Indian hosts and Tibetan refugees. There is a noticeable difference in economic relations between Tibetan refugees and Indian hosts in Karnataka and Goa. While the economic relations in Karnataka can at times lead to refugee-host hostility, it is overwhelmingly governed by accommodation and reciprocal dependency. The economic relations between Tibetan refugees and Indian hosts in Goa, on the other hand, are more marked by confrontation and negotiations. Unlike Karnataka, Goa has not yet implemented the TRP. In Goa, Tibetans largely work in the Tibetan markets established in these areas. Being tourist areas, the land is at a premium. Entrepreneurs from different regions of India compete for space and business in Goa. The presence of the Tibetan market in these areas, naturally leads to resentment and negotiations. Despite the non-assimilative framework of exile, the agency of Tibetan refugees in India warrants that the socio-economic relationship between refugees and host encompass elements of cooperation, conflicts and negotiations.