Privilege and Positionality in Tibetan and Himalayan Fieldwork Settings

This roundtable featuring eight scholars from diverse racial, cultural, and professional backgrounds considers the complex role of privilege and positionality in Tibetan and Himalayan fieldwork settings. While scholars today know the idea of a perfectly objective researcher is a myth, we seldom acknowledge how our actual and perceived identities—gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, ability—affect the information we have access to in fieldwork settings. A researcher’s perceived identity carries with it very different privileges, disadvantages, and abilities to negotiate entry in fieldwork spaces. These realities have trickle-down effects on the production of knowledge in the Academy and in the preservation of Tibetan culture. This roundtable invites scholars to meditate on how their unique positionality—both actual and perceived—has privileged, hindered, or otherwise affected their work in the field.