ABSTRACT
The Chinese state’s categorical distinction between mumin (herder) and nongmin (farmers) views the former as a mode of production conducted out of environmental necessity in places unable to be productively cultivated by dominant agrarian settlements. Such a view has been integral in narratives of Chinese state legibility. Focusing on a contemporary community in eastern Kham and their everyday practices as well as narrative choices to remain drokpa, or pastoralists, this chapter re‐examines pastoralism as a degree of specialization. In the process, it seeks to demonstrate how local specificities and experiences not only clarify a general understanding of Tibetan pastoralism but also complicate a presentation of Chinese state governmentality.
