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Women As Visionaries, Healers and Agents of Social Transformation in the Himalayas, Tibet and Mongolia

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Women As Visionaries, Healers and Agents of Social Transformation in the Himalayas, Tibet and Mongolia Women as Visionaries, Healers and Agents of Social Transformation in the Himalayas, Tibet and Mongolia. Revue d’Études Tibétaines, no. 34 Nicola Schneider, Mona Schrempf To cite this version: Nicola Schneider, Mona Schrempf. Women as Visionaries, Healers and Agents of Social Transformation in the Himalayas, Tibet and Mongolia. Revue d’Études Tibétaines, no. 34. 2015. hal-03210245 HAL Id: hal-03210245 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03210245 Submitted on 27 Apr 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines special issue Women as Visionaries, Healers and Agents of Social Transformation in the Himalayas, Tibet and Mongolia edited by Mona Schrempf and Nicola Schneider numéro trente-quatre — Décembre 2015 Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines numéro trente-quatre — Décembre 2015 ISSN 1768-2959 Directeur : Jean-Luc Achard. Comité de rédaction : Alice Travers, Jean-Luc Achard. Comité de lecture : Ester Bianchi (Università degli Studi di Perugia), Fabienne Jagou (EFEO), Rob Mayer (Oriental Institute, University of Oxford), Fernand Meyer (CNRS-EPHE), Françoise Pommaret (CNRS), Ramon Prats (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona), Charles Ramble (EPHE, CNRS), Françoise Robin (INALCO), Brigitte Steinman (Université de Lille), Alice Travers (CNRS), Jean-Luc Achard (CNRS). Périodicité La périodicité de la Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines est généralement bi-annuelle, les mois de parution étant, sauf indication contraire, Octobre et Avril. Les contributions doivent parvenir au moins six (6) mois à l’avance. Les dates de proposition d’articles au comité de lecture sont Novembre pour une parution en Avril, et Mai pour une parution en Octobre. Participation La participation est ouverte aux membres statutaires des équipes CNRS, à leurs membres associés, aux doctorants et aux chercheurs non-affiliés. Les articles et autres contributions sont proposées aux membres du comité de lecture et sont soumis à l’approbation des membres du comité de rédaction. Les articles et autres contributions doivent être inédits ou leur ré- édition doit être justifiée et soumise à l’approbation des membres du comité de lecture. Les documents doivent parvenir sous la forme de fichiers Word, envoyés à l’adresse du directeur ([email protected]). Comptes-rendus Les livres proposés pour compte-rendu doivent être envoyés à la Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, 22, avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 Paris. Langues Les langues acceptées dans la revue sont le français (en priorité), l’anglais, l’allemand, l’italien, l’espagnol, le tibétain et le chinois. La Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines est publiée par l'UMR 8155 du CNRS, Paris, dirigée par Nicolas Fiévé. Cover design Rémi Bébin Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines numéro trente-quatre — Décembre 2015 Women as Visionaries, Healers and Agents of Social Transformation in the Himalayas, Tibet and Mongolia edited by Mona Schrempf and Nicola Schneider Mona Schrempf & Nicola Schneider — Editorial Female Specialists between Autonomy and Ambivalence pp. i-viii Elisabeth Benard Born to Practice: The Sakya Jetsunma Phenomenon pp. 1-20 Anne de Sales Heroic Destinies and Petty Claims: Women and the Transformation of Shamanic Practices in the Hills of Nepal pp. 21- 34 Hanna Havnevik Female Temple Founders, Ritualists, and Clairvoyants in Post- Socialist Mongolian Buddhism pp. 35-52 Theresia Hofer Gender and Medicine in Kham: An Analysis of the Medical Work and Life of Derge Phurpa Dolma pp. 53-77 Sarah Jacoby Relational Autonomy in the Life of a Contemporary Tibetan Ḍākinī pp. 79-113 Françoise Pommaret Empowering Religious Women Practitioners in Contemporary Bhutan pp. 115-138 Johanna Prien Fieldnotes on my Stay with a Neljom Teacher and her Disciples in Western Bhutan pp. 139-151 Françoise Robin Caring for Women’s Words and Women’s Bodies. A Field Note on Palmo and her “Demoness Welfare Association for Women” pp. 153-169 Nicola Schneider Self-Representation and Stories Told: the Life and Vicissitudes of Khandro Choechen pp. 171-188 Mona Schrempf Becoming a Female Ritual Healer in Eastern Bhutan pp. 189-213 * Notes on Contributors pp. 215-217 * Editorial Female Specialists between Autonomy and Ambivalence Mona Schrempf & Nicola Schneider his special issue is based upon an international symposium on autonomous religious women held during 2013.1 It offers T a new, comparative perspective on women as visionaries, healers and agents of social transformation in Tibet, the Himalayas and Mongolia. The contributions form a collection of ethnographi- cally based case studies of autonomous female specialists from across this wide, but rarely compared region, which is culturally coherent in respect to the sharing of both shamanic and Buddhist traditions, and yet historically, politically and socially diverse. Notably, most of these case studies share certain dramatic and fundamentally disruptive socio-political changes that had previously created a vacuum of religious and secular education and practices. These were followed by revivals or recoveries of religion and education— whether this concerns Tibet after the Cultural Revolution beginning in the 1980s, post-socialist Mongolia and democratisation in Bhutan starting in the 1990s, or post-Maoist democratisation and outmigration of Nepalese male labourers in the new millennium. These times of revivals made space for innovation and new opportunities, which several female specialists have seized in different ways, allowing them to become more autonomous. The case studies also allow comparison of different religious and ritual specialists, from female shamanic to meditative Buddhist practitioners, along with two female professionals in Tibetan literature and medicine. Concerning the religious practitioners, however, boundaries between their specialisations are blurred, meanings differ locally, and their roles—at times in need of recognition by a higher (male) authority—can change within one 1 As editors of this special issue and organisers of the international symposium ”Women as Visionaries, Healers and Poisoners–Autonomous Female Religious Specialists in Tibet, the Himalayas and Inner Asia”, we would like to thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for funding this event and the Institute for Asian and African Studies for their institutional help. Convened by Toni Huber, the symposium was held at the Central Asian Seminar, Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University Berlin, 3rd - 5th May 2013. For a conference report, see Schrempf 2013. Schrempf, Mona & Nicola Schneider, “Editorial—Female Specialists between Autonomy and Ambivalence”, Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no. 34, Décembre 2015, pp. i-viii. ii Mona Schrempf & Nicola Schneider woman’s lifetime. We have decided, therefore, to avoid arbitrarily categorising their specialisations, so as not to undermine the vital diversity and autonomy of each subject’s case. The articles appear in alphabetical order and suggest a reading across certain overlapping themes; all these women share some fundamental experiences, often facing similar conundrums and social pressures while attempting to define, assume and act out their specialist roles. In various ways, they all encounter or struggle with a ”surface politics of the body” within their male-dominated societies, where the gender and bodies of women are defined within strict social boundaries via institutions such as marriage, motherhood, and traditional monasticism, all of which limit women’s agency or tend to marginalise their specialist roles.2 On the one hand, whenever they transgress these boundaries, conflicts or illness arise. On the other, solutions vary, and the studies and life stories of these women demonstrate their struggles to reassert and reposition themselves accordingly. 1. Agents of social change through innovation There are novel ways in which women create or take up new roles or gain agency for themselves and others. Hanna Havnevik offers an example of how, in post-socialist urban Mongolia, ”female religious entrepreneurs” are creating an innovative kind of New Age specialist, while at the same time they continue to be practising Buddhists. Some of them might still remain closely connected with religious institutions or offer their services in temples, practicing in parallel, an eclectic New Age mix of different ritual healing techniques, divination and clairvoyance for the modern urban everyday life concerns of their clientele. Among these innovators there are also founders of new nunneries—which previously did not exist in Mongolia—who were inspired by global Buddhism, and exiled Tibetan lamas. At around the same time, and propelled by similar forces, Françoise Pommaret describes how new nunneries were also founded in Bhutan, beginning in the 1990s. Some individual Bhutanese nuns who had studied in Tibetan exile nunneries in India, established these institutions back in their homeland. Inspired by Western feminist Buddhists, such as Karma Lekshe Tsomo, and supported by the royal queens (Ashis), they enabled nuns’ education to equal that of monks’ by forming an association for nuns.
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