Workshop: Circulating Knowledge through the Air and Land

With Dr. Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia
April 10, 2025 | 3:05pm TO 6:30pm
Workshop
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2025-04-10 15:05:00 2025-04-10 18:30:00 Workshop: Circulating Knowledge through the Air and Land <p>Prayer flag workshop, sponsored by the RELS Department.</p> America/Los_Angeles public
Oxy Arts, 4757 York Blvd. LA CA 90042
 
There will be two workshop sessions, one from 3:05 - 4:30pm and one from 5:05 - 6:30pm. 
 
Polyester prayer flags have been enthusiastically embraced throughout the Himalayas, and throughout Buddhist communities around the world, in the last three decades. Originally, these prayer flags, known as lungta, were intended to carry prayers and blessings on the wind, and were printed as needed in villages and monasteries. Mass production using synthetic fabric and screen printing has made prayer flags more convenient to procure. However, with the discovery of microplastics in the high mountains and concern about rubbish in the glaciers and streams, recently there has been more critical discussion around these convenient prayer flags, and projects that are concerned with returning to traditional knowledge ways that promote sustainability.

This workshop will guide participants in creating prayer flags as a way for them to think about the connected issues of Indigenous knowledge, sustainability, and waste in global ecosystems and as part of material religion. 

Please RSVP - spaces are limited. 

This workshop is hosted by the Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School, the Religious Studies Department at Occidental College, and co-sponsored by Oxy Arts. Please contact the organizer Dr. Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa for information (tagchung@oxy.edu).

About the facilitator
Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia is a research associate in the Hidden Stories project at the University of Toronto. He is from west Sikkim, and works on the more-than-human histories of the Kanchendzonga region that he grew up in.  He is currently working on a monograph on the environmental history of Sikkimese Buddhism and is engaged in making biodegradable prayer flags for local communities.
Image
Photo of a person wearing a beanie and jacket, standing in front of a green hillside with flag poles behind them.
 
Close up photo of prayer flags, one yellow one blue.