Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education

Rethinking Tibetan Education: Theory and Praxis

Tibetan education encompasses a rich diversity of educational traditions, formal and informal learning, and educational policies, practices, and experiences across Tibet, the Himalayan region, and the global diaspora. It is a topic of critical importance, with its theory and practice shaped by complex and dynamic historical, political, cultural, and transnational processes and systems that transcend geographic and institutional boundaries. This special issue of Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education (DIME) seeks to explore diverse approaches to Tibetan education globally, including in the People's Republic of China (PRC), across Tibetan settlements in South Asia, and across the global the Tibetan diaspora.

This issue builds on a two-day workshop co-hosted by the Modern Tibetan Studies Program of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and colleagues at Teachers College, Columbia University, held in April 2026 and offers a timely response to a range of challenges facing Tibetan educators globally (https://mtsp.weai.columbia.edu/events/tibetan-education-theory-praxis-workshop). We welcome contributions addressing education policies, initiatives, and practices across the lifespan, including early childhood, primary, secondary, postsecondary, adult education, vocational training, and community-based learning. We particularly welcome engaged scholarship that examines formal and informal education practices, as well as research on innovative home-based and grassroots approaches to education. Priority will be given to submissions grounded in fieldwork and Tibetan education in the twenty-first century, as well as work engaging critical methodologies and theoretical perspectives in the fields of education and indigenous studies. Other possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Pedagogical strategies for furthering linguistic and cultural learning in minority-education settings;
• Innovative partnerships between state and community actors—in school, university, and community settings;
• Diachronic studies of education policies and practices vis a vis intersecting developments;
• Institutional commitments to engaged scholarship and lifelong learning;
• Funding structures and policy advocacy for sustaining Tibetan education initiatives
• Regional variation or comparative studies of policy implementation
• Recent developments in Tibetan education in the PRC and in the diaspora
• Socioeconomic impacts of changes in higher education;
• Recent developments and variant models of boarding schools.
• Education, language, and governance.