Tibetan Transitions uses the dual lenses of anthropology and demography to analyze population regulating mechanisms in traditional Tibetan societies, and to document recent transitions from high to low fertility throughout the Tibetan world. Using the author's case studies on historical Tibet, the Tibet Autonomous Region, the highlands of Nepal, and Tibetan exile communities in South Asia, this book provides a theoretical perspective on demographic processes by linking fertility transitions with family systems, economic strategies, gender equity, and family planning ideologies. Special attention is devoted to how institutions (governmental and religious) and the agency of individuals shape reproductive outcomes in both historical and contemporary Tibetan societies, and how demographic data has been interpreted and deployed in recent political debates.

Tibetan Transitions, Geoff Childs, BRILL, Hardcover, 324 pages, $161.00

Geoff Childs, Ph.D. (1998) in Anthropology and Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University, is a professor of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. He has published extensively on the demography and culture of Tibetan societies, including Tibetan Diary (University of California, 2004).