The Embodied Experience of Prostration (chaktsal)
Senses, Aesthetics, and Politics in the Eastern Himalayas
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54337/ojs.jos.v11i1.10009Abstract
This study explores the embodied experience of prostration among Tibetan Buddhists through ethnographic research in the Eastern Himalayas. I extend somaesthetics theory by using a sensory ethnographic approach to analyze the intersubjective relations and bodily sensibility that intersect in the daily experience of prostration. By focusing on the interactions among their senses, aesthetics, and politics, I argue that prostration embodies the Monpa art of living as a creative act that enhances one’s good life. This study contributes to discussions of embodiment, sensory anthropology, Tibetan Buddhist studies of the body, and the politics of ritual.
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