Abstract:
This study presents a review of digital technologies and their globalizing effects
regarding Tibetans living in diaspora. Specifically, this research involves Tibetan-Americans
living in the mid-western United States and their responses to the use of digital technology in
diasporic cultural maintenance and transnational hegemony. Two topics of interest are primarily
dealt with herein. First, the issue of digital technology and its use in global surveillance and
political suppression, specifically regarding conflicts between Chinese state apparatuses and
diasporic Tibetan activist groups. Second, this thesis shows the various ways Tibetans in
diaspora use digital technology to negotiate, maintain, and participate in their cultural
community. In this way, the thesis demonstrates both the freeing and constricting effects digital
technologies bring to social groups in the digital age.