Gender Mobility among Tibetan Refugees: A Study of Settlements in Delhi
Author Name
Ayushi Agrawal and Tasha Agarwal
Author Address
Ayushi Agrawal
Research Scholar, IGNOU,
[email protected]
Tasha Agarwal
Research Scholar, NUEPA, agarwal.tasha@ gmail.com
Keywords
Migration, Refugees, Work, Gender, livelihood, Culture, Identity, Social, Economic, Education.
Abstract
The establishment of the Tibetan community in India involves a complex net of interesting aspects like: social, cultural, economic and political, to mention a few. The Chinese incursion of Tibet, and the Dalai Lama’s subsequent decision to flee in 1959, resulted in the mass influx of Tibetan refugees into different parts of India that continues even today. The present research on Tibetan’s refugee group,, tries to find out the means of their livelihood by highlighting the intergenerational changes in work habit. Some of the important research questions that the paper seeks to answer are :Is the work they are doing has certain linkages with their roots or it’s related to the demand of the host country –India? Is there any change in work practices over a period of time? The younger generation who is born and brought up in India are they still following the footprints of their older generations or they are looking out for new ventures? What is the Gender balance in paid work practices? Are the men and women equally participating in the outside work practices or is there any type of discrimination existing in the labour market ? What are the Tibetan’s work related policies implemented by Indian government? To explore such questions, snowball and purposive sampling has been used to target the desired sample. The on- going research study has been initiated in Delhi, India in a hamlet called Majnu ka Tilla which is a Tibetan colony and was established around 1960. It has got the dual significance of being a metropolitan city along with the disadvantage of being a fringe location for the settlement of Tibetan refugees. The study is located in the intersection of such factors and thereby the livelihood pattern of these refugee groups with different age cohort and gender dimensions has been explored.
Conference
International Conference on Migration, Diaspora and Development