Abstract
The region of eastern Tibet is composed of two traditional Tibetan areas, Amdo and Kham, known together as Do Kham. The environmental parameters of this broad region and the variety of pastoralist practices available reveal that the choice to practice nomadic pastoralism is not dictated solely by physical limits. Also important is how Tibetan nomadic pastoralists self-identify as drogpa, or people of the pastures. This chapter introduces the ethnographic setting of the book by providing a general description of Tibetan nomadic pastoralists, their social organization, way of life, movements across pastures, daily labor, and relationships with animals, the environment, and others, including Tibetan farmers, monasteries, and traders. An emic perspective emphasizes the relationships as drelwa that Tibetan nomadic pastoralists have with animals, human others, and nonhuman others. These relationships are nonetheless framed according to categories of value and meaning provided by Tibetan cosmology. This sets a foundation from which to appreciate that change must be understood in its complexity not only through evidence of material products that indicate change but also through analysis of relationships that have altered.
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Notes
- 1.
As distinct from the wild yak (Bos mutus). The domesticated variety is the one referred to throughout this book.
- 2.
Horses and dogs are also household animals although their functions are quite different and they are not herded.
- 3.
This latter term sounds like another term, dzo, which is used to refer to yak-cow hybrids.
- 4.
Increasingly, the limit of herd sizes is being dictated by the Chinese state . This is discussed in more detail in Chap. 3.
- 5.
Nonetheless, Tibetan pastoralists will never talk about their family structure in this way and will care unstintingly for any ill relative.
- 6.
Markers of wealth are found in the size and health of the herd and manifest within the household in less tangible ways. In the home of a wealthy household, a pastoralist would look around and comment that it was wealthy, noting the wood and the size and number of poles of the house . Other markers of wealth included sacks of barley and the offer of fresh butter, and meat. The orderliness of space and the constant supply of fresh butter, meat and treats in some households were the visible indications of a wealth otherwise roaming the grasslands.
- 7.
Refer to Manderscheid (2000) for a discussion on the eastern distribution of the black tent. In Dzamthang County, Aba Prefecture, where she conducted her fieldwork, what she noted as the sbra-nag is similar to the nag tsang used in Dzachukha , Yushul and Golog. What she noted as the rtse-sbra is similar in shape to the sbra in Minyag, although the sbra of Minyag appears to be larger.
- 8.
Herding is one of the tasks performed by both women and men.
- 9.
More on traditional positions is detailed in Chap. 5.
- 10.
The Tibetan word used was, gasar, literally meaning lover.
- 11.
Due to its increased importance to and effect on nomadic pastoralist communities, the topic of caterpillar fungus is treated separately, in Chap. 7.
- 12.
It does not include plants and flowers. In a statement about whether plants and flowers have life, Khenpo Sodargye concludes that they do not since they do not have ‘consciousness , sense, suffering and happiness coming from the six sense organs’. http://www.khenposodargye.org/posts-on-web/page/43/, accessed 30 September 2017. For a detailed account of the concept of life for Tibetan nomadic pastoralists, refer to Tan (2016).
- 13.
By referencing this term, I acknowledge the philosophical debates on dependent-origination. However, in this book, the primary reference is to how nomadic pastoralists use the term.
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Tan, G.G. (2018). Ethnographic Setting of Nomadic Pastoralism in Eastern Tibet. In: Pastures of Change. Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76553-2_2
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