Prof. (emer.) Barend Jan Terwiel, Universität Hamburg, Thai Studies

"What Happened to the Phra Rup of 1876?"

Wednesday, 17 April 2013, 18:00 – 20:00, room 117

We are hosting a lecture series which runs throughout the year featuring some of the most renowned scholars from various disciplines working on Thailand (Laos and Cambodia). Our invited speakers are contributing to the international dialogue on the study of Thailand in Berlin that our Research Group is promoting. For the years 2012/13 the lecture series' thematic foci are religion (Benjamin) and democratisation (Serhat) but alternative topics are welcome too. One of the research group's central concerns is the analytic comparison with regional neighbors, especially Laos and Cambodia. We are therefore interested in receiving lecture proposals from scholars doing research on one of these two counries too. Scholars on a visit to Berlin are always welcome to contact us (Benjamin or Serhat) about a potential "Thailand@HU-Guest Lecture".

Vom 3. - 4. Mai 2013 veranstaltet die Burma-Initiative der Asienstiftung in Kooperation mit der Abteilung für Südostasienwissenschaft der Universität Bonn und der Evangelischen Akademie im Rheinland die Fachtagung

"Myanmar on the Way towards Social and Ecological Justice?"

After 50 years of military dictatorship the post-military government launched a first and timid opening towards democracy. The opposition including Peace Nobel Award winner Aung San Suu Kyi is now participating in this political process. As a consequence, most western states have lifted or loosened sanctions. A particular question arises whether the reforms can be really lasting and reliable. How a social and ecological development can be ensured so that the people could adequately benefit from the enormous wealth potential of the country. And how could Europe and Germany support this perspective?

Wir bitten Sie / Euch sich spätestens bis zum 22. April anzumelden aufgrund der begrenzt verfügbaren Plätze.

Hier geht es zur Anmeldung und zum online Programm!

Ein Berg, zwei Konfessionen, viele Pilger: Multireligiöse Aspekte der Wallfahrt an den Gunung Rinjani auf Lombok, Indonesien.

PD Dr. Volker Gottowik (DORISEA/Universität Heidelberg)

Mittwoch, den 8. Mai 2013, 17.00 Uhr Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universitätsstraße 7, 4. Stock, 1010 Wien

Die ostindonesische Insel Lombok wird vom Gunung Rinjani dominiert, einem etwa 3700 Meter hohen, aktiven Vulkan. Dieser Berg gilt sowohl der muslimischen Mehrheitsbevölkerung, den Sasak, als auch der Minderheit der Hindu-Balinesen als sakrales Zentrum der Insel. Beide Gruppen unternehmen Pilgerfahrten an den Gunung Rinjani, um ihren Göttern näher zu sein und diese um ausreichende Niederschläge zu bitten.

Im Verlauf dieser Pilgerfahrten kommt es immer wieder zu Begegnungen zwischen den beiden ethnisch und konfessionell distinkten Gruppen, die jedoch friedlich verlaufen. Dass es Muslim-Sasak und Hindu-Balinesen bislang gelungen ist, sich das sakrale Zentrum der Insel einvernehmlich zu teilen, ist eingespielten Verhaltensweisen und einem hohen Maß gegenseitiger Toleranz geschuldet. Diese Toleranz basiert nicht zuletzt auf Gemeinsamkeiten in den kosmologischen Vorstellungen, die sich Muslime und Hindus, Sasak und Balinesen mit jeder Pilgerfahrt an den Gunung Rinjani selbst vor Augen führen.

In den letzten zwei oder drei Jahrzehnten ist jedoch eine religiöse Dynamik in Gang gekommen, die diese Gemeinsamkeiten unterläuft und eine wachsende Zahl von Muslimen davon abhält, an dieser Wallfahrt teilzunehmen. Die genannte Dynamik und ihre Implikationen sowohl für das multireligiöse Geschehen am Gunung Rinjani als auch für das Zusammenleben von Muslim-Sasak und Hindu-Balinesen auf Lombok stehen im Mittelpunkt dieses Vortrags.

Criss-crossing religious boundaries: ritual practices and spiritual concepts on Lombok, Indonesia.

Paper to be presented at the conference on “Contemporary Religion and Spirituality”, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Mai 28-29, 2013

PD Dr. Volker Gottowik, Heidelberg University/DORISEA, Germany

The study of religion perceives existing differences in this field as dividing people and nations. In this paper I emphasise that ritual practices and spiritual concepts may also provide mechanisms of conflict regulation which are able to bridge differences between distinct ethnic and religious groups. By referring to my recent research on the Indonesian island of Lombok, I will introduce two ethnographic examples to demonstrate that the study of contemporary religion and spirituality misses the principal ambivalence of its subject in focusing on its divisive aspects alone.

My first ethnographic example refers to Mount Rinjani (3726 m), which is perceived as the spiritual centre of the Indonesian island of Lombok. Hindu-Balinese and Muslim-Sasak pilgrims trek to the summit of this active volcano to pray to their gods, and both take spiritual cleansing baths in the hot springs that are frequent in this area. These joint ritual practices both create and express communalities between the ethnic and religious groups involved, thanks to which Hindu-Balinese and Muslim-Sasak are able tolerate each other at Mount Rinjani. Most important in this context, however, is the fact that none of the religious and ethnic groups involved claims any exclusivity to the spiritual centre of Lombok, i.e. they abstain from erecting any permanent buildings like mosques or temples in this area. Furthermore, since both groups are not acquainted with strong concepts of spiritual pollution, the holy springs remain accessible to the respective religious other. As a result, common ritual practices based on shared spiritual concepts are able to bridge the differences between the ethnic and religious groups involved, which in other contexts are perceived as being rather hostile to each other.

My second ethnographic example refers to the Lingsar festival, which is held annually in November and is frequented by Hindu-Balinese and Muslim-Sasak alike. This festival is focussed on a sacred building called “Kemaliq” that is maintained by both confessions. Ritual activities are performed separately by the two groups, but Muslim-Sasak and Hindus-Balinese also meet for common prayers and processions. However, the tensions between these two religious and ethnic groups, which derive not least from the historical period, when the Balinese conquered the island and occupied the land, emerge in a ritual event for which the Lingsar festival is famous: “Perang Topat”, a symbolic war using rice cakes as missiles. This “rice cake war” (the literal translation of “Perang Topat”) is performed with great seriousness and is not entirely free from open aggression. However, at the end of this cathartic event, Muslim and Hindu farmers pick up the rice cakes and take them to their fields to enhance the fertility of the soil.

By referring in my paper to these ethnographic examples, I aim to show that ritual practices and spiritual concepts can emphasise and criss-cross given religious boundaries at the same time. Both sides have to be taken into consideration to match the principal ambivalence, i.e. the uniting and dividing aspects of contemporary religion and spirituality.

Literature: http://www2.uni-frankfurt.de/43645412/gottowik

The Substance of Sacred Place: An Interdisciplinary Workshop on Locative Materiality
organisiert von Laura Veneskey und Annette Hoffmann

Datum: 20.-21. Juni 2013
Ort: Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Italien

Der Call for Papers ist hier verfügbar.

"Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia"

Datum: 26. - 29. Juni 2013

Ort: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Deutschland

Veranstalter: BMBF-Kompetenznetz "Dynamiken von Religion in Südostasien" (DORISEA)

Informationen zum Programm, zu den Vortragenden und zur Anmeldung sind hier verfügbar...

7th EuroSEAS Conference

Datum: 2. - 5. Juli 2013

Ort: School of Social and Political Sciences of the Technical University of Lisboa (ISCSP/UTL), Lissabon, Portugal

Informationen zu DORISEA bei der EuroSEAS finden Sie hier. Das Programm und praktische Informationen sind über die offizielle EuroSEAS-Website verfügbar.

Asian Migration and the Global Asian Diasporas

Datum: 6-7 September 2013
Ort: City University of Hong Kong

Der Call for Papers ist hier verfügbar.