Urban Fault Lines in Shangri-La: Population, Exclusion and Discourses of Inter-ethnic conflict in the Tibetan areas of Western China

This paper discusses three interrela ted processes in the Tibetan areas of Western China that centre on urbanisation, and how these influence both the experience of exclusion and perceptions of interethnic conflict. These three are population transitions together with migration flows, current economic growth, and the resultant dynamics in urban labour markets, examined through the lens of education and skill levels. The analysis opens with an assessment of the popular thesis of population swamping promoted by the Tibetan exile community, and closes with a consideration of the role of emergent nationalisms in both augmenting inclusive development as well exacerbating interethnic conflict.