The ‘internal orientalism’: new encounter in Tibet tourism

Based on Orientalism theory and the fieldwork conducted in Tibet, this article proposes the concept of ‘Internal Orientalism’ to illustrate the gap between the way in which the Tibetan people are gazed upon by tourists and the way they actually exist. This concept from Said’s Orientalism is now beyond geographical limitations, placing its explanatory power in tourist encounters. By analyzing the field material and postcards collected in Tibet using the software of Maxqda12, this research explores how the stereotypes of Tibet are produced, fabricated, and spread by the tourists, culture brokers, and even the hosts themselves. It reveals the contradiction between Tibet’s reality and the images created to meet tourists’ pursuit of pureness. The images used to promote Tibet characterize its culture as a weakened, feminized, and childrenized one, resulting problems for the locals’ identities, especially for the children–they are belittled to satisfy outsiders’ will for generosity. This process is sabotaging the self-growth of the children and damaging their self-perception. The fieldwork of this study was conducted in Tibet in 2017 and the main method used is qualitative analysis.