Before the summit: Representations of sovereignty on the Himalayas

This article seeks to show how the concept of sovereignty is employed as a timeless or ahistorical given to reify the Himalayan region but also how the political discourse in and concerning the Himalayas can be used as a resource to deconstruct and rethink sovereignty. It examines firstly the politically significant alliance between the application of sovereignty and the logic of representation. It then moves to consider how the discourse of sovereignty objectified the Himalayas during the British colonial period, and how it currently figures in and frames the debates concerning 'sovereignty' over the issue of the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama of Tibet. It concludes by suggesting that the conventional wisdom about sovereignty tends to underestimate the political effects of the language employed to explain it.