Some Reflections on How 'Shépa: The Tibetan Oral Tradition in Choné' Was Received by the Choné Tibetan Community

By Bendi Tso, Marnyi Gyatso, Naljor Tsering, Mark Turin

When we first shared Shépa: The Tibetan Oral Tradition in Choné online in October 2023 and later brought hard copies back to oral narrators and textual collectors who had supported our work in the summer of 2024, many expressed their appreciation for its trilingual format and the transparency it embodied.

The act of returning the book was understood not simply as a gesture of completion but as a form of accountability. The book functions as a form of recognition that the stories, knowledge, and insights generated through a research project need to circulate back to community members who made them possible. Also, the trilingual format of the book, combined with the accessibility of the e-version, made it easy for readers across Choné and across the generations to engage with the work through downloading and sharing, reinforcing the community’s ownership of its own cultural knowledge, and helping to extend the book’s visibility beyond physical and geographical constraints.

Those who read the book closely observed that it did not resemble academic writing as they imagined it, but rather read as a rich description grounded in their own words and lived experiences, while also situated within the wider Tibetan knowledge system. This shifted how they perceived themselves and the value of their knowledge, with one member commenting, “Our culture does indeed have deep meanings and roots,” and another reflecting, “It feels good to hold in my hands proof that my narration matters.”

This reception highlighted that Shépa was not only learned from the community, but developed collaboratively with the community. While our academic training helped situate these voices within broader conversations on Tibetan oral traditions and cultural continuity, it was the community’s participation that made the work so meaningful. This dialogic process became a form of co-learning, where knowledge was not extracted and represented but continually exchanged, negotiated, and co-produced, reinforcing both the ethical and intellectual commitments of collaborative research.

At the same time, a significant number of readers expressed a wish for an audio version, telling us that hearing the voices would make the experience more inclusive, especially for those not literate in Tibetan, Chinese, or English, and for those who live outside Choné. Their feedback has inspired us to develop a mobile app which is currently being built, enabling access through sound and interactive features. This aspiration reveals an important lesson in community-engaged research: it is not a linear, outcome-driven product but a relational process that continues to evolve as the work circulates and is reinterpreted by the community.

Returning the book to the people from whom it emerged and listening to their feedback not only fulfills an ethical commitment, but also reaffirms that Shépa is a living expression of Choné memory and a collaborative process shaped by the knowledge and voices of the community itself.