Student discusses work on gender in Tibetan society

Charlene Makley, a participant in the University's Institute for Research on Women and Gender fellowship program, yesterday presented the work of her eight-month fellowship concerning gender roles among Tibetans in Labrang, a small city in Northwest China.

Makley's lecture titled "Body, Gossip and Silence: Nunhood in Tibet," is a follow-up to her research. She studied Tibetan and Chinese culture for many years, but said she was looking at the cultures in perspective of gender - a new angle for her.

JEREMY MENCHIK/Daily Rackham student Charlene Makley shares what she learned about gender in Tibetan society. She delivers a lecture yesterday afternoon on campus.

It "was a fresh viewpoint," said Makley, a Rackham student.

During her lecture, Makley described the shaven heads and similar garb worn by both monks and nuns in Labrang, yet the astonishingly different treatment each receives from the community.

She described how monks embody spiritual achievement, while nuns teeter on the boundary of monastic and lay worlds.

Makley explained a situation in which nuns are called upon by monks in Labrang to fulfill requirements of ritual fasting. Monks, she said, pass on the responsibility of fasting to women, who they believe are better suited to handle fasting. Nuns, eager to emulate the monks, accept this responsibility.

"The irony is that these women are starving themselves so they can eat," Makley said.

Makley also spoke of communists' attempts in China to systematically eradicate gender differences, and the grave consequences that befell women after that era. The reopening of the monasteries in China after the death of Communist party leader Mao Zedong left the country with new social differences and altered gender separation.

She said young men used to belong to the monastery and young women belonged to their husbands. But, over time, young women began to belong to nunhood, which created social tension between men and women.

Makley poignantly noted during her lecture that these changes may have come about because of an intense pressure on Tibetans to assimilate, with the help of the West, to modern post-Maoist life in China.

Makley said the fellowship in Labrang was crucial to her broader research plans because it allowed her to concentrate on her work and not worry about funding.

Laurie Morgan, associate director of the University's Institute for Research on Women and Gender, said she encourages graduate students interested in scholarly research on gender or women's issues to look into applying for the fellowship.

"The fellowship's objectives are interdisciplinary research and appreciation for others' work and their own," Morgan said. Fellowships may include studies in English, anthropology, political science, theater and art.

All participants end their projects with a public presentation of their findings. Makley expressed her gratitude for the opportunity the fellowship gave her and now wishes to give the same opportunity to other students.

Makley will be teaching a class at the University this spring on anthropological perspectives on modern Tibet. Her study of gender in Tibet has given her a new outlook on Tibetan society because it "really gives the Tibetans a human face," she said.

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