Film Screening and Discussion: Education for Girls of Minority Nationalities in the PRC – Lahu Case Study in Comparative Context

Film Screening and Discussion: Education for Girls of Minority Nationalities in the PRC – Lahu Case Study in Comparative Context

Film Screening to be followed by discussion led by film-maker Dr. Xing

Dr. Xing Teng of Central University of Minzu – Tibet Governance Project, Elliott School of International Affairs, Washington DC.

Dr. Xing Teng is a Professor of Education and Anthropology at the Central Minzu University in Beijing. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the film spans a five-year ethnographic case study of girls from the Lahu community along the Mekong/Lancang River on the Burmese border. The film, translated into English as “Lahu Girls’ Expectations: An Anthropological Documentary” tracks the effects of transitioning from a traditional matriarchal society to a globalized context through the formal education system. What were the expectations? What was the outcome? What was the role of education? How did the state school manage the relationship between the state’s agenda and ethnic nationalism in a multilingual society?