This narrative of subsistence on the Tibetan plateau describes the life-worlds of people in a region traditionally known as Kham who move with their yaks from pasture to pasture, depending on the milk production of their herd for sustenance. Gillian Tan's story, based on her own experience of living through seasonal cycles with the people of Dora Karmo between 2006 and 2013, examines the community's powerful relationship with a Buddhist lama and their interactions with external agents of change. In showing how they perceive their environment and dwell in their world, Tan conveys a spare beauty that honors the stillness and rhythms of nomadic life.

In the Circle of White Stones: Moving through Seasons with Nomads of Eastern Tibet, Gillian Tan, University of Washington Press, Paperback, 176 pp, $33.50

Gillian G. Tan is assistant professor of anthropology at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia.

CONTENTS: In the Circle of White Stones
Foreword by Stevan Harrell		ix
Preface		xi
Acknowledgments		xv
Transcription, Transliteration, and Names		xvii
The People		xix
Timeline		xxiii
Chapter 1	Getting to Dora Karmo	3
Chapter 2	The House and the Tent	15
Chapter 3	Life in the Summer Pasture	36
Chapter 4	A World of Impermanence	63
Chapter 5	The Lama	86
Chapter 6	Leaving and Arriving	116
Glossary		137
Suggested Reading		141
Index		145