45: Arrested Histories:Tibet, CIA, Memories of a forgotten War - Professor Carole McGranahan LSE,London

This week on Druktalk Podcast, Drukthar talks with Professor Carole McGranahan author of Arrested Histories: Tibet, CIA, Memories of a forgotten War at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Carole McGranahan is Professor in and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at University of Colorado, USA, and a scholar of contemporary Tibet and the Himalayas. She is author of Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and the Memories of forgotten War (2010), co-editor of Imperial Formation (2007), and Ethnographies of U.S Empire (2018), and editor of Writing Anthropology: Essays on craft and Commitment (2020). She is currently co-editing a volume on Ethics and Ethnography and finishing book about Theoretical Storytelling. Conversations in details: 1. Can you talk about yourself and how you got interested in Tibet and Tibetan studies? 2. Before going into the details of the argument of your book Arrested Histories, Can you introduce to us a little bit about its historical background, for example the major historical period, agents, and events, especially 4R6R? for the audience who are not familiar with Tibetan history in general? 3. The name 4R6R might sound a bit unusual to some audience, can you elaborate on what it is and why it is named this way? what is the structure and declaration of (ཆུ་བཞི་སྒང་དྲུག) 4. Why do you entitle your book ‘Arrested histories’ – Tibet, CIA, and memories of a forgotten war? (short summary of the book’s main argument) 5. Why American Government, Nepal and Indian Government stop supporting the Chushi Gangdruk in1970s? 6. As you might have heard, recently a commercial film about 4R6R is being produced by a Tibetan crew and is soon to be released. Given these new developments, Do you think the arrested history of the Tibetan resistance is still under arrest or has it come to an official release? 7. Since the publication of your book thirteen years ago, What are your recent observations of the development of democracy, debates on non-violent resistance, and historical justice making in the Tibetan community in Exile? 8. Can you comment on the nowadays US government’s attitude to assisting Tibetan resistance/independence movement, as well as how Tibetan in exile perceive this assistance? 9. Let’s talk a bit about anthropological methods. As a woman and as a Western scholar, what sorts of obstacles and advantage do you find in your interviews and interactions with 4R6R veterans? (Challenges you faced during the field work) 10. Can you talk more about your current projects?