Research Catalog

Title

In the circle of white stones : moving through seasons with nomads of eastern Tibet / Gillian G. Tan.

Author

Tan, Gillian G.

Publication

• Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2017]
• ©2017

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxiv, 147 pages : illustrations, maps; 23 cm

Summary

"In this ethnographic narrative of subsistence on the Tibetan plateau, anthropologist Gillian Tan describes the life-worlds of Tibetan nomads in a region traditionally known as Kham. The people of Dora Karmo (Circle of White Stones) are pastoralists who move with their yaks from pasture to pasture and depend on the milk production of their herd for sustenance. Tan's story, based her on own experience of living through seasonal cycles with the people of Dora Karmo between 2006 and 2013, examines the community's powerful relationship with a Buddhist lama and their interactions with external agents of change. As Buddhists, they believe in the never-ending cycle of life and death through reincarnation. Death, then, is not regarded as permanent loss but as the opportunity for continual change. Portrayals of personal loss through natural causes and revenge feuds, as well as sky burials, illustrate how impermanence permeates daily life. These pastoralists have adapted since 1959 to conditions imposed by the Chinese state through a combination of acquiescence, strategy, and resistance. They have also started to participate in the markets of a rapidly modernizing China, and in projects of international development that originate outside their own belief systems and social structures. In showing how the people of Dora Karmo perceive their environment and dwell in their world, Tan calls on development agents to consider this different worldview before they initiate projects among and for nomads"--Provided by publisher.

Series Statement

Studies on ethnic groups in China

Uniform Title

Studies on ethnic groups in China.

Subjects

• Ethnology > Tibet, Plateau of
• Nomads > Tibet, Plateau of > Social life and customs
• Tan, Gillian G > Travel > Tibet, Plateau of
• Tibet, Plateau of > Ethnic relations
• Buddhists > Tibet, Plateau of > Social life and customs
• Tibet, Plateau of > Description and travel
• Pastoral systems > Tibet, Plateau of
• Tibet, Plateau of > Religious life and customs
• Seasons > Tibet, Plateau of
• Tibet, Plateau of > Social life and customs

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 141-144) and index.

Contents

Foreword / by Stevan Harrell -- Transcription, transliteration, and names -- The people -- Timeline -- Getting to Dora Karmo -- The house and the tent -- Life in the summer pasture -- A world of impermanence -- The Lama -- Leaving and arriving.

Call Number

JFE 17-2512

ISBN

• 9780295999470
• 0295999470
• 9780295999487
• 0295999489

LCCN

2016011419

OCLC

966181465

Author

Tan, Gillian G., author.

Title

In the circle of white stones : moving through seasons with nomads of eastern Tibet / Gillian G. Tan.

Publisher

Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2017]

Copyright Date

©2017

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Studies on ethnic groups in China

Studies on ethnic groups in China.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 141-144) and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 17-2512