From Maize to Roses: Understanding Livelihood Transformations of Tibetan Refugees in South India through Evolving Home Gardening Practices
- Hanna GeschewskiDetails
26 January 2025/१३ माघ २०८१ (आइतबार, दिउँसो ३ बजे)
Research Seminar Series
Jointly organized with South Asia Institute Kathmandu Branch Office of Heidelberg University
From Maize to Roses: Understanding Livelihood Transformations of Tibetan Refugees in South India through Evolving Home Gardening Practices
Hanna Geschewski, Doctoral Researcher, Human Geography; Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and University of Bergen, Norway
Abstract:
How are transformations in the lives and livelihoods of Tibetans in prolonged exile reflected in their changing home gardening practices? Focusing on a Tibetan refugee settlement in south Karnataka, this presentation traces the evolution of gardens initially allocated to refugee households to enhance food security into diverse home gardening systems over the past 50 years. By understanding gardens as networked, dynamic, and layered—or palimpsestic—spaces, this study highlights how changes in garden structure, management, and purpose are shaped by, and thus mirror, broader societal trends and individual transitions. In the Tibetan context, these transformations encompass livelihood diversification, de-agrarianisation, socio-economic development, evolving mobilities and social networks, and changing perceptions of exile.
About the Speaker:
Hanna Geschewski is a doctoral researcher in Human Geography at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and the University of Bergen, Norway. Her PhD research examines the socio-environmental dimensions of long-term displacement and exile, focusing on Tibetan refugees in South India and Nepal. She holds an M.Sc. in Sustainability Studies from Lund University, Sweden, and a B.Sc. (Honours) in Environmental Science from Kathmandu University, Nepal. Her work has been published in the Journal of Political Ecology and HIMAL Southasian, as well as in the book Contested Airport Land: Social-Spatial Transformation and Environmental Injustice in Asia and Africa, published by Routledge.