Genre Trouble in Tibet: Ethnic Identity and Literary Labels in Tashi Dawa and Ma Yuan

This article examines how the ethnicity of Tashi Dawa, a Sino-Tibetan writer, influences the perception of his works. He is most often categorized as an “ethnic” or “magic realist” writer, despite his narrative style aligning closely with avant-garde literature. This perception arises from a focus by both Chinese and Western critics on Tibetan cultural elements in his stories, shaped by his mixed ethnic background. By contrast, Han Chinese writer Ma Yuan, who also writes about Tibet and his texts also contain elements of magic realism, is viewed as purely avant-garde, underscoring the role of ethnicity in literary categorization. This paper analyzes Tashi Dawa’s narrative construction and metafictional frameworks to argue for his recognition as an avant-garde writer.