Governmentality, Sexuality, Subjectivation: Buddhist Traditions through Foucauldian Lenses

This paper argues for the utility of a Foucauldian lens for Buddhist studies, while also drawing attention to how Buddhist histories complicate and expand Foucault's methods. While Foucault is often rightly criticized for focusing on western contexts, this paper suggests that some of the operations of power that he analyzed found parallels in central Asian contexts. If mechanisms of confession and surveillance apply, so too do creative practices of "self-fashioning. Examining resonance and rift across cultural contexts enables us to trace how Foucault's analysis of the history of sexuality allows us to think not only about Buddhist's ancient monastic codes and their incitements to discourse, but also how these codes were applied in Tibetan-specific configurations of emerging modernity.