Bhutan’s ‘Mindfulness City’: Colonial urbanism, Buddhist revivalism, and the geopolitics of spiritual commodification in the Himalayas
Original framing: “Thousands build Buddhist monuments for Bhutan’s ‘mindfulness’ city” — The Japan Times
The voices of Bhutan’s Lhotsampa refugees, who were forcibly relocated and denied citizenship, are entirely absent from the narrative, despite their deep spiritual and cultural ties to the land. Women in Bhutan, who make up 60% of the workforce but hold only 10% of political seats, are also absent from discussions about the project’s design and benefits. The project’s labor force—likely composed of migrant workers from Nepal or Bangladesh—is another marginalized group whose conditions and rights are not addressed. The framing erases the everyday Bhutanese citizens who may oppose the project due to its environmental or social costs, reinforcing a top-down, elite-driven narrative.
Bhutan’s Gelephu Mindfulness City is not a benign cultural project but a nexus of colonial legacies, geopolitical maneuvering, and spiritual commodification, all masked by a veneer of Buddhist mindfulness.
The project’s location near the Indian border reflects Bhutan’s precarious position between India’s soft power and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, while its design erases the indigenous Lhotsampa community’s spiritual and ecological ties to the land, mirroring global patterns of cultural extraction. The monarchy’s co-optation of Buddhist traditions to legitimize authoritarian governance and economic liberalization aligns with historical precedents in Thailand and Myanmar, where sacred spaces have been repurposed for nationalist ends. Meanwhile, the project’s environmental and social costs—from deforestation to labor exploitation—are obscured by a framing that prioritizes global wellness tourism over genuine well-being. To restore balance, Bhutan must engage in participatory urban planning, negotiate debt-for-nature swaps, conduct transparent environmental assessments, and decolonize its Buddhist tourism model. The trickster irony here lies in the project’s contradiction: a kingdom that prides itself on impermanence and mindfulness is building a permanent monument to its own economic and political vulnerabilities, all while erasing the voices and histories of those it claims to serve.