Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Anthropology Theses Department of Anthropology 12-2009 Body, Speech and Mind: Negotiating Meaning and Experience at a Tibetan Buddhist Center Amanda S. Woomer Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Woomer, Amanda S., "Body, Speech and Mind: Negotiating Meaning and Experience at a Tibetan Buddhist Center." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2009. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/32 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Anthropology at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. BODY, SPEECH AND MIND: NEGOTIATING MEANING AND EXPERIENCE AT A TIBETAN BUDDHIST CENTER by AMANDA S. WOOMER Under the Direction of Dr. Emanuela Guano ABSTRACT Examining an Atlanta area Tibetan Buddhist center as a symbolic and imagined border- land space, I investigate the ways that meaning is created through competing narratives of spiri- tuality and “culture.” Drawing from theories of borderlands, cross-cultural interaction, narratives, authenticity and material culture, I analyze the ways that non-Tibetan community members of the Drepung Loseling center navigate through the interplay of culture and spirituality and how this interaction plays into larger discussions of cultural adaptation, appropriation and representa- tion. Although this particular Tibetan Buddhist center is only a small part of Buddhism’s exis- tence in the United States today, discourses on authenticity, representation and mediated under- standing at the Drepung Loseling center provide an example of how ethnic, social, and national boundaries may be negotiated through competing – and overlapping – narratives of culture.