Practices Laid to Waste: Symbolic Classification, Healing and Pandemic Ritual Transformation in a Bhutanese Village

In the village of Ketokha in southwestern Bhutan, Buddhist and shamanic traditions once coexisted, with female mediums (nejom) and male mediums (pawo) protecting villagers' health and prosperity. By 2018, infrastructure development and modernist discourses elevated Buddhism to dominance, and mediumship was discontinued. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this shift, establishing a refashioned protective ritual called Aum Bogum as the community's primary ritual identity. This photo essay focuses on that ritual and the life story of 94-year-old Tandin Om, the oldest living nejom, examining how archaic shamanic practices were discarded. Using Discard Studies, it unpacks the marginalization of elderly ritual practitioners as community elites promote a more progressive Vajrayana Buddhist order.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This report from the field in the form of a photo essay explores the shifting religious landscape of Ketokha, a village in the Chhukha district of southwestern Bhutan. Historically, Buddhist and shamanic traditions coexisted in Ketokha, negotiating varied positions of power, influence and healing. The nejom (female medium) and pawo (male medium) played pivotal roles in ritually protecting the villagers’ health and prosperity until 2018, when, with infrastructure development and through modernist discourses, Buddhism became the dominant religion and mediumship was discontinued. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this transformation, marked by the decline of shamanic traditions and the establishment of a refashioned protective ritual called Aum Bogum as the primary marker of the community’s ritual identity. This report focuses on this ritual and the life story and perspectives of 94-year-old Tandin Om, the then oldest living nejom, and examines the laying to waste of the community’s archaic shamanic practices. Using insights of Discard Studies that treat waste as a system of symbolic classification and moral politics, this essay unpacks the marginalisation of elderly ritual practitioners as community elites propagate the adoption of what they consider a more progressive socio-religious order of Vajrayana Buddhism. The photographs document elements of these shifts, offering visual cues of Ketokha’s changing community and ritual lives.