Carpet worlds: the cultural representation and production of Tibetan carpets

This dissertation investigates the representational politics of Tibetan carpets and the political economy of carpet production from the early twentieth century to the 2000s. I describe how socio-historical practices and processes formed the conditions from which Tibetan weavers invented their subject positions in socialist and post-socialist Lhasa. By examining the history of a Tibetan carpet factory, I analyze the interplay of patriarchy, ethnicity, and capital accumulation that has marginalized women weavers in Lhasa’s post-socialist carpet industry. The first three chapters consist of an historical analysis of representations of “Tibetan carpets.” I begin by investigating “Western” ideas of Tibetan carpets and the establishment of a carpet production centre in Nepal. I then explore the making of “Tibetan carpets” as commodities and as cultural symbols under the Tibetan government, the socialist Chinese government, and the post-socialist Chinese government. I argue that the making and marketing of Tibetan carpets directly or indirectly turned Tibetan carpets into internationally-celebrated “ethnic folk art,” thus contributing to the emergence and development of an export carpet industry in Lhasa. The second part of the dissertation is a case study of the history of Tibet’s first carpet factory, Lhasa Carpets, from the 1960s to the 2000s. I discuss the changes in meanings of carpet-weaving, weavers’ social-economic status, working conditions, and labour relations. I describe how weaving prestige carpets started as men’s work in pre-socialist Lhasa, became women’s work in socialist Lhasa, and finally became migrant women’s work in post-socialist Lhasa. I show that pro-market policies and Tibetan patriarchal family structure combine to subject women weavers to exploitative and patriarchal working conditions. Finally, I examine the legacy of socialism and Tibetan Buddhist culture that gave these women the strength to confront the local patriarchy and exploitative labour policies. I conclude by discussing the limitations of women’s collective and individual strategies for social status and economic reward.