ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a distinctive form of Buddhist space, called an ‘encampment’ (gar), that is being built by Tibetan Buddhist nuns in Yachen. By ethnographically focusing on the nuns’ material engagements, I show how the inherent incompleteness and inclusiveness of an encampment provide a space for the nuns to flourish in a politically restrictive situation. I also explore the spatial politics occurring between the nuns and the Chinese state in and through Kham in the post‐Mao era. I argue that Yachen is continually being made and transformed by various actants, including the nuns and their material activities, within the unique geopolitical malleability of Kham, and that the emergence of this encampment allows us to see Yachen as an unfolding process.
