Mooring Buddhism: Chinese Infrastructures and Buddhist School Building in Central Namibia

This article addresses the introduction of Buddhism to southern Africa in recent decades as part of the growing Chinese infrastructure on the continent. Based upon over thirty months of in-depth ethnographic research conducted at a Buddhist NGO in Central Namibia between 2021 and 2024, this arti- cle argues that, rather than serving as a source of spiritual inspiration and fulfilment, Buddhism in this context has become a form of (Chinese) infra- structure that enables and disables specific ways of acting, speaking and living among the Namibians who work at the NGO. It shows how Buddhism as a form of infrastructure slowly, subtly, yet surely becomes moored in the daily lives of the local people.