Cultural Survival and Political Struggle: Insights from the Documentary The Tibet Within

Tibet claims that it has been forcefully occupied by China since 1951 with a well-plannedstrategy to destroy its national and cultural identity. On the contrary, China asserts that Tibethas always been an inseparable part of China and dismisses the argument that it forciblyannexed it. China claims that it has focused on the growth and infrastructure developments inTibet but Tibetans refute this claim. Instead, the Tibetans vouch for severe human rightsviolations and cultural genocide carried out by China in Tibet. The paper attempts to study thekey issues addressed in the documentary film The Tibet Within, made by Eva Cirnu, a Canadianfilmmaker. Through this study, the researchers attempt to analyse how the film represents Tibetand strive to find out the ways by which Tibetans carry out their struggle for freedom asdepicted in the documentary film. The researchers conducted thematic content analysis of thefilm and found that the film stresses on two key aspects: the repression of Tibetans, theirlanguage and culture in their homelands; and the struggles of those in exile to preserve theTibetan identity and culture.