"Only Clear Water Flows East": Hero Narratives, Environmentalism, and Cultural Debt in Tibetan-Language Documentary Television of the People's Republic of China

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dc.contributor.advisorClayton, Cathryn H.
dc.contributor.authorHayes, Caitlin Rose
dc.contributor.departmentAsian Studies
dc.date.accessioned2024-03-11T22:20:07Z
dc.date.available2024-03-11T22:20:07Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.degreeM.A.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/108002
dc.subjectAsian studies
dc.subjectChina
dc.subjectdocumentary television
dc.subjectenvironmentalism
dc.subjecthero narratives
dc.subjectTibet
dc.title"Only Clear Water Flows East": Hero Narratives, Environmentalism, and Cultural Debt in Tibetan-Language Documentary Television of the People's Republic of China
dc.typeThesis
dcterms.abstractSince the latter half of the Twentieth century, the People’s Republic of China has enacted various strategies to combat grassland degradation on the Tibetan Plateau; many of these strategies have revolved around encouraging rural ethnic Tibetans to give up their traditional lifeways – such as semi-nomadic agro-pastoralism – in the name of environmental protection. One unique avenue by which the state transmits these messages is via depictions heroic and exemplary figures as portrayed in Tibetan-language satellite television programs. This paper analyses a two-part television newsmagazine documentary originally aired on a Sichuan-based satellite station and aimed at the residents of the Sanjiangyuan region of southern Qinghai Province. By amplifying the stories of a diverse array of ethnic Tibetan environmentalist workers and volunteers, this documentary series seeks to encourage and inspire Sanjiangyuan’s rural Tibetan residents to become involved in state-promoted environmental protection initiatives at the potential expense of their cultural and financial well-being. In doing so, the state seeks to instill in its ethnic Tibetan population a sense of responsibility in environmental stewardship for the benefit of the entire Chinese nation. By reframing Tibetans’ participation in environmental protection as a form of repayment for debts incurred for social and economic development on the plateau, the state seeks to insert itself into the historical and cultural relationships between Tibetans and their physical environments.
dcterms.extent100 pages
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.publisherUniversity of Hawai'i at Manoa
dcterms.rightsAll UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
dcterms.typeText
local.identifier.alturihttp://dissertations.umi.com/hawii:11273

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