A study of the effects of the Ladakhi nuns' emancipation movement on the position of Buddhist nuns of the Indian Himalayan Leh Region of Ladakh.

This doctoral research intends to explore how the Ladakhi Buddhist nuns' emancipation movement –launched in 1995 by a group of non-local and local nonconformist monastics– has changed the traditional subservient status of nuns from the Himalayan and predominantly Tibetan Buddhist Leh region of the Union Territory of Ladakh in India. The goals of the study are threefold. First, it aims at exploring the factors that currently drive nun formation and disrobing in the nunneries of the wider Leh area. Second, it seeks to examine the nuns’ views pertaining to Buddhist topics and to issues that are discussed within the global Buddhist community. Third, it will analyze how the nuns’ increased incorporation into international networks has altered the outlook and the religious and social status of the nuns and nunneries around Leh. Research will mainly be conducted via ethnographic fieldwork by means of participant and non-participant observation (1) at nunneries of the Leh region, (2) at institutes outside of Ladakh in India where Leh nuns are pursuing higher monastic studies, such as at Dharamshala and Mundgod, and (3) at sites the Leh nuns travel to for pilgrimage, such as Bodhgaya.