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Paper short abstract

This paper will examines how attention to storyworlds can help tradition bearers and interested culture brokers to better support the sustainability of endangered cultures through an attention to the links between narratives, storyworlds, and natural environments..

Paper long abstract

The borders between the Tibetan story world and the natural world is porous. It is inhabited by a human, more than human, and more than natural beings with whom Tibetans interact on a daily basis. Understandings of this world and knowledge of it are passed down through narrative and ritual. But what happens to the storyworld when Tibetan language and Tibetan narratives fall silent? What happens when Tibetans move away from the land? This is a key concern that has been expressed to me in recent trips to Tibetan communities in Western China’s Qinghai Province?

Reflecting on over 16 years conducting ethnographic fieldwork in Tibetan communities of China, this paper will first examine Tibetan narratives of the (story)world across a range of formal and informal narrative genres including epic, proverbs, and personal experience narrative. Next, I examine Tibetan concerns over the loss of these stories and of environmental knowledge. Finally, I examine how findings from this research can help to give new thoughts about how attention to storyworlds can help tradition bearers and interested culture brokers to better support the sustainability of endangered cultures.