Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at the resilience of traditional ritual activities – including prostrations and ritual circumambulation – among Tibetan rural migrants to the city and how this perpetuates Lhasa as a sacred place. Especially on auspicious days, practitioners circle the old city as ‘ritual territory’ and set it apart from the sinicized suburban sprawl.

Paper long abstract:

For centuries a veritable power place attracting pilgrims from all corners of the Tibetan cultural world, Lhasa has undergone dramatic changes since Communist 'liberation' in 1959. Today a heavily built-up, sinicized city, one may argue that Lhasa is slowly losing its role as sacred centre (Tibetan chos 'khor) and that in Tibet, one of China's ultimate frontier zones, faith is relegated to the margins.

Based on 14 months of fieldwork in the Tibetan capital, this paper looks at the resilience of traditional ritual activities - especially prostrations (Tib. phyag 'tshal) and ritual circumambulations (Tib. skor ba) - among Tibetan rural migrants to the city and the effect that this has on the perpetuation of Lhasa as a power place. Specifically, I wish to examine what role ritual can still play in the making of place in contemporary Lhasa, how the circumambulation routes can mark a spatial distinction between different notions of 'Tibetanness', and why Tibetans may be more or less interested in ritual activities. Using ethnography and photography, this paper will give an account of the spatial practices of young migrants to the city and contrast them with those of their more 'urbanite' counterparts.

I believe that the performance of prostrations and ritual circumambulations - particularly on auspicious days (Tib. dus bzang) throughout the year - represents an attempt to draw the boundaries of identity and physically encircle the old quarter of Lhasa as ritual territory, thus setting it apart from sinicized West Lhasa (Chinese xijiao) and the suburban sprawl.