Centered white text: Tibet x Decolonial Atlas against semi-transparent background showing Tibetan influences on pop culture (Avatar the Last Airbender, Dr. Strange, Yoda, etc) and map of Tibet's lakes & rivers (alt-text: rb.gy/hvckr5 ; rb.gy/fjhv4c)
 

A FREE LEARNING ARCHIVE

By Dr. Tenzin Mingyur Paldron. Banner art by Tenzin Lhamo and Tenzoni. Design by Tselha.

This archive provides pathways to learning and thinking about Tibet and connected issues through original art and 43 creative mini-lessons. It is a precursor of Tibet Learning Series, a long-term project launching in March 2024.

At the end of this page, you’ll find a message from me explaining how this archive came about, the anti-Tibetan racist backlash response it received, and the revolutionary possibilities of a world that un-learns biases and develops interconnected knowledge.

NAVIGATION GUIDE

Touch an image to be taken to the corresponding Instagram post. There are 43 educational posts and an additional two introducing the title of the takeover.

An Instagram account is not required to access the posts. Simply close the login prompt when it appears. After viewing a certain number of posts you may need to clear your cache.

 
White text centered on black background reads: Tibet x
Black text centered on a light blue background reads "Last December, Decolonial Atlas invited me to do a takeover after their ‘Watersheds of the World’ post didn't use any Tibetan names for the rivers that originate in Tibet. The map instead had name
White text centered on black background reads: Decolonial Atlas
Black text on pale yellow background reads: "Tibet engaged many countries when experiencing the first stage of its colonization in the 1950s. El Salvador was the first country to answer its plea, drafting a UN resolution in 1950 entitled “Invasion o
An artist's map of Tibet's lakes and rivers
An artist's map of Tibet and its mythic creatures
A light gray background with an artist's gray and white 3D rendering of the Potala Palace, emphasizing the shapes and contours of the Palace in shades of gray and the surrounding land in white.
A drawing of a building sitting on a hill in a valley between two mountain ranges, against a beige background. Below the image of the drawing is the following text in black: "November 17, 1950 Lhasa Tibet A 15-year-old Dalai Lama takes office as the
A side profile picture of the Potala Palace that looks like it was taken in the 1980s or 1990s. Light blue background. Below the picture in black text reads: "Born at the start of Tibet’s recorded history, the Potala is a testament to the unity of a
An interview (that plays once clicked) with text in orange below it: "Leaving Fear Behind, 2008 (interviews inside Tibet) Tibetans and the Dalai Lama bear a critical relationship to one another, forged by history. Since he was a child he has been lov
Black text centered on a beige background reads "Strasbourg Proposal By His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama". Beneath it, smaller text reads "Address to Members of the European Parliament, Strasbourg, France, June 15, 1988".
A photo (taken in the 1980s) of a snowy mountain in the background, green and brown land in the middle, and a small river curving to the left with some small bushes on the banks in the foreground. White text on the right side reads "When I think of T
A pale pink background with bold black text reads "From the backwaters of Central Asia: An exiled Indigenous voice". Below this, a course flyer. The flyer is orange at the top and fades into a photo of a rainbow with mountains, grassland, camels and
A light pink background with black text reads "The Exotic and The Abominable: A Tibetan yeti heals the Chinese spirit" with the poster for the film "Abominable" which features a large white yeti with three children lying on them, all looking up. Belo
A pale pink background with black text reads "An opportunity to reflect: The Dalai Lama and the world June 29, 2019" and notes that an edited version of this essay was published by Tricycle magazine. Side-by-side photos of the Dalai Lama and Rajini V
A comic panel. Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender stands at the open door of a house with Tibetan decorations, saying "Tashi Delek" at the same time as a Tibetan person walking to greet him. In the next panel he holds up a bag and says "I come beari
The movie poster for "The Golden Child" with Eddie Murphy wearing a suit, a black beret, crossed arms and one eyebrow raised looking forward. A red sun is behind him with palm trees and a city on one side, and snowy mountains and stupas on the other.
Beige background with three pictures imposed on it. At the top are two pictures side by side, of an elderly Buddhist Tibetan lama (gender: cis man) in maroon and gold robes. Next to the lama's picture is one of elder Yoda holding his staff with light
A still from a video. A flock of sheep walking in snow
A freeze frame from a video. Two Tibetan antelope (chiru) in a golden field.
Image and text. Light green background with an image of a panda holding onto a branch with a valley of trees in the background. Above the image bold black text reads "Pandas", below reads "...in Tibet?". In the top right corner, black text reads "Tib
Image and text. On a light brown background, a photo of a smiling young Tibetan monk on the left and black text on the right reading "On March 17, 2011 21-year-old Tibetan monk Lobsang Phuntsok set fire to himself outside his monastery in eastern Tib
A light background with black text reads "Abstract Tibet, China, and the United States: Self-immolation and the limits of understanding by Tenzin Mingyur Paldron A few years after a lockdown by the Chinese government in response to protests and rio
A freeze frame of a video. A field in western Tibet.
Black text centered against a pale lavender-gray background reads: (In bold) "No person who commits an atrocity has the right to hide. This goes for every government, too." In smaller size: "As a Tibetan aware of what happened in Tibet in the 20th ce
Black bolded text centered on an orange background reads: "we have not heard from my baba-jaan’s relatives in kashgar for almost two years now." Below this in smaller text are the words: "The work of resistance and dismantling all systems of oppressi
Image. A photo of three high mountains mostly covered in snow. Gray clouds cover most of the picture, and just barely cover the top of the three peaks. A bird with a wide wingspan soars overhead. Brown earth is visible at the bottom of the photo.
Text and image. White capitalized text reads: LONG & INHUMANE PRISON SENTENCES OF UYGHURS BY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. The background is a black chalkboard. Left of the text are three vertical white chalk lines with one horizontal slash through through
Text and image. Navy blue background with a gray outline of a closed fist to the right. To the left in gray text: UYGHU SURVIVOR STORIES to remind you what you're righting for. At the lower right corner: @freeuyghurnow
Image and text. A red background with red handprints and bold white text that reads: "There is still a genocide happening in China right now." At the bottom right corner in beige text is @freeugyhurnow
Image and text. ID: A light blue background with a photo of a person riding horse, overlooking mountains and clouds in the background. The photo is credited to SnowLion Tours. Bold black text reads "D is for Drokpa" with the Tibetan text below. In th
Image and text. A light gray background with a photo of two Tibetan women in colorful traditional clothes walk on a snowy path, with rocks, snow, and prayer flags in the background. The photo is credited to SnowLion Tours. Bold black text reads "E is
Photo and text. ID: Photo of Tibetans doing prostrations in a line with Tibetan buildings in the background. Black text reads "C is for Chak-Tsel" with the Tibetan spelling "ཕྱག་འཚལ།" below. In the bottom left, black text reads "produced by @nineteen
Image and text. A black and white photo shows six people carrying packs walking with large mountains in the background. In the bottom left white text reads "Rituals of Resistance, Image of Tibetan guerrilla fighters. Directed by Tenzin Phuntsog and
A light green background with black text reads "DOLMA (b. ~1950) Because I believe Dalai Lama is a embodiment of compassion, so Dalai Lama’s Middle Path is really the oppressed and oppressor, both have a benefit. But because of this greed, there’s a
Image and text. A light brown background with an image of red splattered paint in a circular pattern. In the middle, a blue circle outlined in black with the number "59" in white. A trenga (Sanskrit: mala) surrounds the circle in the shape of Tibet.
Image and text. ID: A beige background with a centered painting by Gade of Tibetan Buddhist deity Nagpo Chenpo 'The Great Black One' (Sanskrit: Mahakala) depicted in blue-black skin and flaming red hair with skull adornment. The deity holds clothing
Image and text. An image of a door with Tibetan prayer flags at the top and various stickers and signs adorning it, including a photo of Angela Davis, a sign that says "FACK I.C.E.", "FUCK TRUMP", and a map showing the shrinkage of Palestinian territ
Image and text. ID: A black background with a centered painting by Chen Danqing of five Tibetan men in traditinal Khampa clothing of thick lined chubas, as well as traditional Khampa jewelry, shoes, and hairstyles. Four of the men's faces are visible
Image and text. ID: Gray background with bold black text reads "My heartfelt Appeal to the Chinese Government" and below this reads "Gartse Jigme". Below this, a photo of a Tibetan in red robes speaking into a micrphone with a painting of the Buddha
Video and text. ID: Freeze frame of a video of Tibetans dancing energetically with drums in a town square. Black text reads "A is for Actions you can take". In the bottom left, black text reads "1942 video of 'Ralpa’ dance performed on the streets of
Image and text. ID: A large painting of a green bird-like creature with a snake in its mouth against a black sky, with a panel of blue sky and yellow clouds in the middle. The bottom of the painting shows dark ground with a train running across. Blac
Image and text. ID: An illustration of a fox with it's head through a purple Tibetan letter "ཝ" looks at the moon on a dark blue background. White text on the bottom left reads "Tibetan Alphabet Series Tenzin Menlak, Tibetan artist" and on the bottom
Image and text. ID: A colorful painting of a Tibetan petroglyph-style man on a horse, the night sky with sun, moon, and stars behind. Below, bold black text reads "A is for Artists". In the bottom left, black text reads "Crystal Rock Man, 2004 Losan
Photo and text. ID: A beige background with a photo of a Tibetan overlooking mountains and a lake, looking at the camera with prayer flags across the top of the photo. Below, black text reads "I took a mini-bus and went on pilgrimage to Tsethang and
 

MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR

Support my work

Background for Tibet x Decolonial Atlas

In December 2020 the online platform/collective Decolonial Atlas invited me to do a takeover. I was finishing my PhD at UC Berkeley so I launched the takeover the following year on November 17, a date of significance in Tibetan history.

I created Tibet x Decolonial Atlas as a volunteer social practice. Original commissioned art was created for this series by Tibetan artists and preexisting work was also shared. Compensation for artists was raised through a community fundraiser I organized.

Due to longstanding dis-/misinformation about Tibet and anti-Tibetan racism, this takeover received a racist backlash. Such problems are on the rise and suppress brighter possibilities for the world. I am following up this takeover with Tibet Learning Series, a multimedia education project launching in 2024 that will provide the public, the media, and the academy with expanded opportunities to:

  1. Un-learn biases and re-evaluate what they think they know about Tibet and Tibetans;

  2. Connect this knowledge to other issues in order to better impact the world;

  3. Learn about our persecuted Muslim neighbors currently enduring genocide from China, which Tibetans endured in the 20th century and are now experiencing through forced assimilation.

All views represented here were my own unless otherwise cited or specified. Posts include alt-text and image descriptions for reading devices, written by an anonymous Tibetan volunteer and myself.

Visit Tibet Learning Series to learn more, including how you can support my work.