I am a cultural anthropologist and historian specializing in contemporary Tibet. My research focuses on issues of colonialism and empire, history and memory, power and politics, refugees and citizenship, nationalism, senses of belonging, gender, war, and anthropology as theoretical storytelling. Since 1994, I have conducted research in Tibetan refugee communities in India and Nepal on the history and politics of the guerilla army听Chushi Gangdrug, culminating in my book听Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Histories of a Forgotten War听(Duke University Press, 2010). Thinking of 20th-21st century Tibetan histories and experiences as imperial in a global sense is a key part of my work in relation to the CIA, British India, and the People鈥檚 Republic of China. My work on empire beyond Europe can be found in Imperial Formations (2007, co-edited with Ann Stoler and Peter Perdue), and in Ethnographies of U.S. Empire (2018, co-edited with John Collins). Currently, I am completing a book about the Pangdatsang family, Tibet, and British India in the first half of the 20th century, and finishing a decade of research in France, India, Nepal, New York City, Switzerland, and Toronto titled "Refugee Citizenship: Asylum, Refusal, and Political Subjectivity in the Tibetan Diaspora." I also write about ethnography, pedagogy, and am the editor of Writing Anthropology: Essays on Craft and Commitment (2020, Duke University Press.)
I regularly teach classes on Tibet and the Himalayas, feminist anthropology, history and memory, and contemporary social theory.
Selected Publications:
- 2023. "." American Ethnologist, 49: 289-301.
- 2022. "," Anthropology Now,听14:1-2,听146-148.
- 2022 "," Anthropology Now,听14:1-2,听133-135.
- 2020听Writing Anthropology: Essays on Craft and Commitment.听Duke University Press.
- 2019听鈥淐hinese Settler Colonialism: Empire and Life in the Tibetan Borderlands.鈥� In St茅phane Gros, ed.,听Frontier Tibet: Patterns of Change in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands,听Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp听 517-540.
- 2019 鈥淎 Presidential Archive of Lies: Racism, Twitter, and a History of the Present,鈥� International Journal of Communication 13, 2019, pp. 3164-3182.
- 2018 Ethnographies of U.S. Empire. Co-edited with John Collins. Duke University Press.
- 2018 鈥淩efusal as Political Practice: Citizenship, Sovereignty, and Tibetan Refugee Status,鈥� American Ethnologist 45(3), 2018, pp. 367-379.
- 2018 鈥淓thnography Beyond Method: The Importance of an Ethnographic Sensibility,鈥� SITES: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies 15(1), 2018, pp. 1-10.
- 2017 鈥淎n Anthropology of Lying: Trump and the Political Sociality of Moral Outrage,鈥� special forum on the presidential election, American Ethnologist 44(2), pp. 243-248.
- 2017 鈥淚mperial but Not Colonial: British India, Archival Truths, and the Case of the 鈥楴aughty鈥� Tibetans.鈥澨�Comparative Studies in Society and History 59(1), pp. 68-95.
- 2016听 鈥淭heorizing Refusal: An Introduction.鈥� Cultural Anthropology 31(3), pp. 319-325.
- 2016 听 鈥淩efusal and the Gift of Citizenship.鈥� Cultural Anthropology 31(3), pp. 334-341.
- 2014听 鈥淲hat Is Ethnography?: Teaching Ethnographic Sensibilities without Fieldwork.鈥� Teaching Anthropology 4, pp. 22-36.
- 2012 鈥淎n Anthropologist in Political Asylum Court, Part I鈥� and 鈥淎nthropology and the Truths of Political Asylum, Part II,鈥澨�Anthropology News,听March and April.听PDF
- 2012 鈥淢ao in Tibetan Disguise: History, Ethnographic Theory, and Excess.鈥澨�HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory听2(1): 213-245.听听PDF
- 2012听 in听Self-Immolation as Protest in Tibet.听Special issue of听Cultural Anthropology.
- 2012听听 .听Special issue of听Cultural Anthropology.听Co-edited with Ralph Litzinger.
- 2010听听Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Memories of a Forgotten War.听Duke University Press.
- 2010听 鈥淣arrative Dispossession: Tibet and the Gendered Logics of Historical Possibility,鈥澨�Comparative Studies in Society and History听52(4), pp. 768-797.听听PDF
- 2007听听Imperial Formations. Co-edited with Ann Stoler and Peter Perdue. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.
- 2007听 鈥淚ntroduction: Refiguring Imperial Terrains,鈥� with Ann Stoler, in听Imperial Formations,听Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, pp. 3-47.听听PDF
- 2007听 鈥淓mpire Out-of-Bounds: Tibet in the Era of Decolonization,鈥� in听Imperial Formations,听Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, pp. 187-227. 听PDF
- 2006听听Public Anthropology.听Guest Editor of Special Issue of听India Review听5(3-4).听听PDF
- 2006听 鈥淭ibet鈥檚 Cold War: The CIA and the Chushi Gangdrug Resistance, 1956-1974,鈥澨�Journal of Cold War Studies听8(3), pp. 102-130.听听PDF
- 2005听 鈥淚n Rapga鈥檚 Library: The Texts and Times of a Rebel Tibetan Intellectual,鈥澨�Les Cahiers d鈥橢xtreme-Asie听15, special issue on Tibet, pp. 225-276.听PDF
- 2005听 鈥淭ruth, Fear, and Lies: Exile Politics and Arrested Histories of the Tibetan听Resistance,鈥澨�Cultural Anthropology听20(4),听pp. 570-600.听听PDF
- 2003听 鈥淔rom Simla to Rongbatsa: The British and the 鈥淢odern鈥� Boundaries of Tibet,鈥澨�The Tibet Journal听28(4), pp. 39-60.听PDF
- 2003听 鈥淜ashmir and Tibet: Comparing Conflicts, States, and Solutions,鈥澨�India Review听2(3), pp. 145-180.
- 2002听听鈥淪a sPang mda鈥� gNam sPang mda鈥�:听Murder, History, and Social Politics in听1920s听Lhasa,鈥� in Lawrence Epstein, ed.,听Khams pa Local Histories: Visions of People,听Place, and Authority,听Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 103-126. 听PDF
- 1996听 鈥淢iss Tibet, or Tibet Misrepresented?: The Trope of Woman-as-Nation in the听Struggle for Tibet,鈥� in Colleen Ballerino Cohen et al., eds.,听Beauty Queens on the听Global Stage: Gender, Contests, and Power,听New York: Routledge, 1996, pp. 161-184.听PDF
Graduate Studies Information
Research Interests
- Colonialism and empire
- History and memory
- Power and politics
- Refugees and citizenship
- Nationalism
- Senses of belonging
- Gender
- War
- Anthropology as theoretical storytelling
*Professor McGramahan听is not accepting graduate students for Fall 2023
More about Professor McGranahan
Thinking of 20th-21st century Tibet histories and experiences as imperial in a global sense in relation to the CIA, British India, and the People鈥檚 Republic of China is a key part of McGranahan鈥檚 work. Her work on Tibet as an 鈥渙ut-of-bounds鈥� empire can be found in 鈥淚mperial Formations鈥�, an SAR volume she co-edited with Ann Stoler and Peter Perdue. Currently, she is working on two new projects: a Wenner-Gren funded project with John Collins on 鈥淓thnographies of U.S. Empire,鈥� and a new solo research project with Tibetans in India, Nepal, New York City, and Toronto titled 鈥淩efugee Citizenship: Tibetan Practices of Political Subjectivity in Diaspora.鈥�
View an interview with Professor McGranahan about her new book,听.听
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*Professor McGranahan is not currently accepting Ph.D. applicants鈥� for Fall 2024
