Kham Project

This conference is an outcome of the collaborative ERC-funded research project “Territories, Communities, and Exchanges in the Sino-Tibetan Kham Borderlands” (Starting Grant no. 283870).

This research project focuses on the area of the Sino-Tibetan borderlands situated within the People‘s Republic of China, and referred to as Kham by Tibetans who make up most of the population of this region divided between the provinces of Sichuan to the east, Yunnan to the south and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the west. This research project intends to explore from a comparative perspective the possible definitions of this entity called Kham, which in the course of history has never strictly corresponded to any administrative unit or coherent whole, and which ultimately should be considered as a land of encounters, a place of métissage.

The multidisciplinary team undertakes ethnographic field studies and documentary research including archival research and contribute fresh, first-hand material to the socio-cultural diversity of Kham.In-depth investigation of the internal diversity of Tibet and its connection with the outside remains sketchy and thus a particular focus of this project is to delve into the complexities of Tibetan society in China. The multi-tiered and multi-scalar approach, with an emphasis on networks, will enhance work on historical mapping, which is still practically non-existent in this region.

This project aims to strengthen international academic exchanges and to produce a strong network of collaboration on Kham studies: it is our hope that this conference will contribute significantly to this end.

For more information, please visit the project's Website: http://kham.cnrs.fr