Sacred Natural Sites as Nodes of Resistance and Resilience

As throughout the Himalayas, protector deities and local spirits are perceived to inhabit various features of the landscape in Bhutan, causing these places to be treated with reverence and respect. Vajrayana Buddhism and local spiritual beliefs are central to the cultural identity of the Kingdom, informing into government planning documents, town planning negotiations, and the 2008 Constitution. This elevation of local spiritual belief has been central to the maintenance and preservation of Bhutanese culture in its encounter with globally hegemonic social, economic, and political norms. Grounding spiritual beliefs in specific sites of the landscape, protector deity abodes, or citadels, sanctify the landscape, creating nodes of resistance and resilience in Bhutan, even as the pressures of global integration seek to impose hegemonic Western norms