Tim Thurston, Theorizing Cultural Sustainability with thoughts from Jyanak Mani

The Jyanak Mani stone pile, a pile of carved holy stones in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and the largest such pile in the world, is a key site for community and commerce.  Although the carving of holy stones and related worship taking place for over three centuries, recent years have seen significant economic, political, technological and geographical changes that have reshaped peoples' relationships to the holy stones. Based on multiple field trips between 2013 and 2023, Tim discusses the changes to the Jyanak Mani stone pile over recent years, and examines how attention to the continuities and ruptures to the carving and worshipping tradition can offer important insights on how issues of cultural transmission and change in contemporary China.