Publication date:
20 December 2016Length of book:
232 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9781498544665
This volume is unique in the literature concerning both the sociology of education and Tibetan society. It aims to propose a Tibetan sociology of education, something that no other author has attempted, as well as to provide insights into the nature of Tibetan society both historically and currently through the application of Giddens’ structuration theory supplemented by the work of ancient Tibetan philosopher Je TsongKhapa. Previous Western accounts of Tibetan history and society have lacked “insider” perspectives as well as access to original documentation in the Tibetan language. The author of this volume is Tibetan and does not experience these limitations. He has also taught sociology at the university level and in 1999 published a general textbook on sociology in Tibetan, which attempted to draw on Western theories and apply them to the Tibetan context. In short, the author appears to be highly credible in taking on this extremely ambitious project.
In Social Structuration in Tibetan Society, Jia Luo offers a groundbreaking exploration of Tibetan education—oral, monastic, and state—as viewed through the complex prism of its institutions, spiritual life, and philosophical history. At the heart of the task, the long philosophical tradition emanating from Je Tsongkhapa is brought face to face with the thinking of Anthony Giddens as a canonical figure of Western sociology. This study is an illuminating contribution to a Tibetan sociology of education.