Spirits of the Land: Cosmopolitical Ecologies in Bhutan’s More-Than-Human Landscapes
Tracks
Mossman Ballroom
| Wednesday, July 29, 2026 |
| 12:30 PM - 12:45 PM |
Speaker
Dr David Hecht
University of Georgia
Spirits of the Land: Cosmopolitical Ecologies in Bhutan’s More-Than-Human Landscapes
ISE Congress 2026 Abstract
In the Eastern Himalayas, Vajrayāna Buddhism and Indigenous ‘Bon’ traditions are relationally interwoven within spiritual-ecological landscapes shaped by complex cosmopolitical ontologies. Territorial deities- yul lha (ཡུལ་ལྷ་); gzhi bdag (གཞི་བདག་); gnas bdag gzhi bdag (གནས་བདག་གཞི་བདག་)- wield tenurial power in trees, forests, cliffs, mountains, lakes, and springs, and their palaces (pho brang) are sites of enforced relational governance and moral geographies. We inquire how past and present collide in Bhutan’s more-than-human landscapes, and how territorial deities resist and are sporadically subsumed by homogenizing logics of capitalist development and non-western conservation paradigms that can inadvertently overwrite local ontologies. Our effort foregrounds the spirit(s) of resistance not only via political or material agents, but also as cosmological- manifest in ritual practice, visionary cartographies, and spatial ontologies. Drawing on participatory mapping, oral histories, and iconographic traditions such as thang kha and ldebs ris, our research illuminates how communities articulate counter-geographies and reclaim ontological space for localized knowledge and non-human kin. Such cosmopolitical engagements offer critical reflections on conservation governance and anthropological responsibility, calling for reflexive scholarship attuned to the voices, worlds, and cosmologies that persist and resist at its highest peaks.
Biography
David Matthew Hecht, PhD is an interdisciplinary conservation social scientist and environmental anthropologist whose work bridges the natural and social sciences to support more equitable and inclusive conservation, stewardship, and biocultural diversity. His research centers on the integration of local ecological knowledge, cultural geographies, and lived experiences into conservation decision-making and planning, using participatory and collaborative methods that amplify community voices and illuminate the complexity of human-environment relationships.