CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015 Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture in Asia

Greetings from the Centre! Double and rich issue of the newsletter! “Growth” is the word that best sums up what happened to the Centre in this 2015. Contents Growth in resident members: Dr. Ya-pei Kuo joined the Dept. of History at the 2 Travagnin’s Fieldwork in University of Groningen in the summer, and is now a staff member of the Centre. and (2015) In September, Dr. Andrew Wormald started his two-year Chiang Ching-kuo CSRCA New Members Foundation post-doctoral fellowship at Groningen, and became a staff member of 6 the Centre as well. Finally, Ms. Jing Jing, a PhD student from Beijing University, 7 Colloquium on Asian Religions arrived at Groningen to spend one academic year at the Centre under my supervision. 9 Berger’s new book and special issue of Asian Ethnology Growth in grant awards, research abroad and international activities: Dr. Peter Berger has been visiting scholar at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of 12 KNAW Academy Colloquium and Munich (Germany) in April/May 2015, while I have been visiting professor in the Masterclass Institute of Religious Studies at Sichuan University (China) in September/October 18 CCKF and KNAW International 2015. Thanks to the generous support of the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for Conference on China and Taiwan International Scholarly Exchange and the KNAW, the Centre will held the three- day international conference “Framing the Study of Religion in Modern China and 22 AAR 2015 Holmes Welch Taiwan: Concepts, Methods and New Research Paths” at the University of Seminar Groningen. The KNAW Academy Colloquium “Making Sense of Religious Texts” was organized under the auspices of the KNAW, a collaboration with my colleagues 24 Teaching on Religion and Prof. Sarbina Corbellini, Prof. Mladen Popovic and myself. Earlier this year Dr. Culture in Asia at the RUG Peter Berger organized another successful Summer School with also the financial 26 Summer School 2015 support of the Gonda Foundation. Stefania Travagnin

CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

TEXTUAL COMMUNITIES IN CONTEMPORARY TAIWANESE Summer 2015 Fieldwork Report

DR. STEFANIA TRAVAGNIN

I spent some time in Taiwan in the second part of this On 27 June I attended a symposium on Yinshun, which 2015, a few weeks in June-July, and a short stay in October. focused on the reading of his books Xuefo sanyao 學佛三 During those weeks I have visited Buddhist centres and 要. The symposium was held at Huiri jiangtang 慧日講堂 monastic communities linked to the scholar-monk (Huiri Lecture Hall) in , which is one of the two Yinshun 印順 (1906-2005), and updated my research on centres established by Yinshun in the 1960s, the other 大智度論 the new studies on Da zhidu lun that, I argue, are being the Fuyan jingshe 福嚴精舍 (Fuyan Vihara) in based on Yinshun’s work on the text. I also made short Xinzhu. The monks Hongyin 宏印 (abbot of Huiri Lecture trips to two of the big Buddhist associations in Taiwan, Hall), Houguan 厚觀 (abbot of Fuyan Vihara and Dean of Fagushan 法鼓山 and Foguangshan 佛光山, and thus the Fuyan Buddhist College), Kairen 開仁 (vice-abbot of investigated the recent phenomenon of starting new the Huiri Lecture Hall), Changci 長慈 and Yuanpo 圓波 ‘schools’ (zongpai 宗派) that has shaken the Buddhist (both teachers at the Fuyan Buddhist College) gave lectures sphere on the island. Finally I did research in local libraries on different chapters of Xuefo sanyao, and finally opened a and met local scholars, for an exchange of views on my discussion with the audience. A large number of lay people new project on ‘education’ in and attended the event, besides monks and nuns. The day after explore possible collaborations. the symposium I could spend the afternoon at Fuyan

Vihara in Xinzhu, with the abbot Houguan, whose lectures My findings will be published shortly; in the meantime I years ago contributed greatly to my understanding of want to give an overview of important moments in my stay. Madhyamika texts and Yinshun’s thought.

Symposium Xuefo sanyao: from the left, the monks Changci, Kairen, Hongyin, Houguan and Yuanpo 2

CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

(continued…)

I could also meet again the nun Mingsheng 明聖 at Huayu jingshe 華雨精舍 (Huayu Vihara), in Taizhong; this is the Vihara where Yinshun lived the last decades of his life and compiled his five-volume Huayu ji 華雨集. Mingsheng and a few other nuns have remained at Huayu after Yinshun’s passing.

Lugu Vihara also hosted Yinshun in the 1990s, and Yinshun’s works have been subject of our conversations during the two-day retreat.

In July I also did a one-day trip to Gaoxiong, for meeting monks and nuns of Foguangshan. The monk Huifeng 慧 峰 and I shared results from our respective studies of Da The nun Mingsheng and myself at Huayu Vihara zhidu lun and brainstormed ideas for future research on

In July I spent a weekend at Lugu jingshe 鹿谷精舍 (Lugu this text. Vihara), near Nantou, with the monk Fazang 法藏 and Professor Lin Zhenguo 林鎮國 from the National Cheng some of his lay disciples. Chi University and I discussed possibility of scholarly exchange between NCCU and the RUG.

One room of Lugu Vihara Professor Lin Zhenguo and myself

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

SICHUAN: RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AND BUDDHIST DEVELOPMENT Visiting Professorship in the Institute of Religious Studies at Sichuan University

DR. STEFANIA TRAVAGNIN

Thanks to a EU grant I had the possibility to be visiting scholar at the Institute of Religious Studies at

Sichuan University, in Chengdu, in September and

October.

This was a unique possibility for me to interact with scholars at Sichuan University and started research cooperation, and at the same time I could collect more material for my work on Da zhidu lun and the new project on ‘education’ in Chinese Buddhism.

Chengdu, crossroad of several minorities and religious traditions, stands as an excellent example of religious diversity in practice. For instance, a single district within the city hosts communities and temples/churches of Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Internal yard of one of the mosques in Chengdu Protestant Christianity and Catholicism. My findings will be integrated in the paper on religious diversity in China that I am completing these days.

The former and the current abbess of Jinsha’an ⾦沙庵, and a shot of another nunnery, Da’ai tang 大爱堂. 4

CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

(continued…) At the School of History of Sichuan University I gave a The network of Buddhist women in Chengdu also talk on my recent research on ‘education’ in the modern caught my attention. Interviews to nuns of a few history of Chinese Buddhism. The talk was titled nunneries and archive material found at the Chengdu Zhongguo fojiao jiaoyu jindaishi: yanjiu gainian, fangfa yu xin office of the Buddhist Association of China will be the quxiang 中国佛教教育近代史：研究概念、⽅法与新 basis of a forthcoming article on the subject. 取向. I presented a revised version of that talk at the During my stay in China I have been invited to give a Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology of few talks. At the Institute of Religious Studies of Sichuan Nanjing University. My presentation at Nanjing, titled University I gave a talk on the Madhyamika revival in Zhongguo fojiao jiaoyu jindaishi: zai tantao yu huainian twentieth-century China and the role that Yinshun fuxing gainian ji yongfa 中国佛教教育近代史：再探讨 played in it. This talk, titled Chuangcheng Longshu famen 而怀疑「复兴」概念及用法, questioned the relevance de ershi shiji gaoseng – Yinshun fashi suo yinqi de Zhongguan and appropriateness of the use of the concept of ‘revival’ fuxing yu Da zhidu lun yanjiu 传承龙树法门的二十世纪 (fuxing) as lens through which reading Buddhist 高僧－印顺法师所引起的中观复兴与《大智度论》 developments in the Republican period in early 研究 opened a comparative discussion on renjian fojiao in twentieth-century. China and Taiwan, and an analysis Yinshun’s reception, adoption but also rejection of Tsongkhapa’s Chengdu is very well known as a crossroad of religious philosophy and the Tibetan Madhyamika tradition. and ethnic groups, and is also renowned for hosting traditional tea houses. It was a honour and a pleasure to be asked to present my work in one of them, the Jianan chashi 葭南茶室 (Jianan Tea House). The owner of Jianan gifted me with an amazing selection of tea too! At Jianan I discussed my work on religion and media in China with the paper Zhongguo fojiao yu meiti: xinshi de xiuxing yu yishi 中国佛教与媒体：新式的修⾏与仪式. The audience added their own experience with mediated religions and religious media in an interesting discussion after my presentation.

Professor Zhang Chongfu introducing my talk at the Institute of Religious Studies of Sichuan University

Professor Zhang Hong of the School of Folklore and Chinese Culture at Sichuan University asked me to give a paper on Da zhidu lun, which I titled Da zhidu lun zuozhe jiqi fanyi de bianlun: Yinshun fashi yingdui Étienne Lamotte yu riben foxuejie de guandian 《⼤智度论》作者 及其翻译的辩论：印顺法师应对 Étienne Lamotte 与 日本佛学界的观点. The talk was attended by Chinese experts of the text and opened a lively debate on its authorship and translation. Talk at the Jianan Tea House, Chengdu

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

CSRCA New Members in Groningen

YA-PEI KUO is a university lecturer in the Department of History and is a historian of modern China. She received her BA from National Taiwan University and her MA and PhD from University of Wisconsin, Madison. Before joining the University of Groningen, she was a research fellow in the International Consortium of “Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe” at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, and has received visiting scholarships by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and Modern East Asian Research Center, Leiden University.

Andrew is currently investigating the reception of meditation manuals during the Republican era, and is working on a monograph which will address his research into these topics.

JING JING is a PhD student at Peking University (PRC), currently majoring in political science with a focus on political thought and intellectual history in pre-modern China. What really interests her is the relationship between religion and politics in pre-modern China, which she regards as crucial for understanding traditional Chinese society. Jing is now doing research on the period of Northern and Southern Dynasties, a time when there was a remarkable tension between secular Her research focuses on the conceptual formation of “religion” regime and Buddhists in terms of both alliance and conflict. in the semi-colonial situation of late nineteenth and early twentieth century China. Specifically, she is interested in how different historical actors projected their (mis)understandings of Christianity into the construction of “religion.” She has written in the past on the recreation of Confucius cult, the missionary’s representation of Christianity, and the Chinese congregation’s criticism of mission strategy. She is currently working on the deployment of “religion” in intellectual debates of the 1920s.

ANDREW WORMALD (PhD Bristol 2015) is a Chiang Ching-kuo Postdoctoral Research Fellow working in the Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture in Asia at the University of Groningen. His PhD thesis, entitled ‘Voices of Experience: Modernity and in Republican-era China,’ She aims to assess how Buddhism was accepted and recognized examined the place of meditation discourse within Chinese as lawful by Chinese official authorities. Jing will be an Erasmus Buddhism’s response to the intellectual and political Mundus exchange student during the academic year 2015-2016 reconstructions taking place at the beginning of the twentieth at the University of Groningen; during her stay in Groningen century. Jing will investigate issues of religion and politics by looking specifically to the Hongmingji of Sengyou. 6

CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

Colloquium on Asian Religions

The Colloquium on Asian Religions represents the regular seminar of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture in Asia, and aims to present new findings in the study of religion and culture in areas like South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia. It is a forum for discussing the conceptualization of religion in Asia as well as aspects of Asian religions from the perspectives of anthropology, history, sociology, political science and other disciplines. We plan to have six talks per academic year, and to address various aspects of the religious traditions in Asia from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Here below are the abstracts of the four talks that the Colloquium has hosted in Spring and Autumn 2015.

Prof. Jos D. M. Platenkamp ( Westfälische How may social-anthropological knowledge of the Wilhelms-Universität Münster, GERMANY) meaning and value assigned to money in present-day societies contribute to the archaeological interpretation 23 March 2015, 16-30-18.00, Oude Boteringestraat 38, old of money deposits from the past? Rather than deducing court room from such finds certain politico-economic features of Money Alive and Money Dead: Social-Anthropological the societies concerned I focus on the following Reflections on Archaelogical Finds of Money observation: Whatever considerations may have motivated people to deposit money and other valuables in the earth such actions would have entailed the withdrawal of these objects from the circulatory processes that in numerous societies constitute the very foundation of social life. I explore this phenomenon by examining the ideas and values involved in such processes of withdrawal in the North Moluccas (East Indonesia) (16th - 20th C.), the final days of the Inka Empire (16th C.), and the Anglo- Saxon world depicted in the poem Beowulf (7th – 9th C.). I shall argue that these societies all communicate - each in their own ideological discourse - a similar message: Taking the valuables out of social circulation and depositing them into the earth so as to return them to their cosmological origins signifies the ‘death’ of the valuables concerned, the alienation of people from their ancestral origins, and the dissolution of society.

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

Prof. Gareth Fisher (Syracuse University, USA) Locating the roots of this imbalance in what they see as a moral 19 May 2015, 16.00-17.30, Oude Boteringestraat 38, room decline among contemporary Chinese, these newly converted 123 lay Buddhist practitioners create new identities for themselves as moral reformers devoted to spreading Buddhist moral The Search for the Balanced Heart: Social teachings on equality and universal compassion through Inequality and Moral Purpose in the Revival of popular preaching and the reproduction of Buddhist-themed Chinese Buddhism media. The presentation will explore how these self-styled moral reformers contribute to the revival of religion in China

Dr. Vibha Joshi-Parkin (Heidelberg University, GERMANY) 2 November 2015, 16.00-17.30, Oude Boteringestraat 38, old court room Conversion to Christianity and Healing: the Naga of North East India

The Naga peoples of Nagaland in north eastern India have over two or three generations converted almost entirely to Christianity from their indigenous animistic religion. Situating the phenomenon of conversion in its socio-political and historical context, I explore how far the analytical categories of rupture (Joel Robbins) and transnational transcendence (Thomas Csordas) can be applied to conversion among Naga. I Based on over a decade of ethnographic fieldwork, this talk then conclude that the theme of healing is the connecting will examine how certain Beijing residents, disadvantaged thread which runs through the historical and contemporary role from the growing inequality that has accompanied of Christianity and its continued importance in the shift from economic restructuring in post-Mao urban China, have individual to collective healing. converted to Buddhism in an effort to redress what they see as an imbalance in social status in contemporary China.

Dr. Neil Schmid (Royal Asiatic Society China) 26 October 2015, 16.00-17.30, Oude Boteringestraat 38, old court room Liturgical Images and the Entextualization of Ritual Discourse

The Mogao Caves, an archaeological site along the Silk Road in Northwest China, offer a wealth of images, texts, and objects elucidating religious life in the medieval period. This Buddhist site, also known as Dunhuang, contains hundreds of painted caves as elite and family shrines dating from the 5th to 13th century, a dominating feature of which are large murals known as "transformation tableaux" (bianxiang 變相) or “ transformations” jingbian 經變). Each tableau, a depiction of a specific Buddhist sutra, functions simultaneously as a visual exegesis of that scripture, a donor good, an object of worship, and as a soteriological destination. Furthermore, as a Buddhist scripture, each image-text is also a speech event defining ritual space, both within the image and exterior to it in the setting of the cave-shrine. This talk investigates the mulitvocality of these votive objects through the lens of entextualization, a concept developed in linguistic anthropology that foregrounds how discourse is extracted from contexts and reified for reiteration in alternative settings. Entextualization is a particularly useful lens because it underscores the movement and performative continuity between speech, text, and visual/material objects inclusive of their ritual and soteriological uses. In particular, we will examine how these Buddhist image-texts employ parallelism, shifts in scale, the use of framing, and the transposition of agents8 and participants to achieve a level of material seduction and symbolic efficacy across multiple and highly diverse contexts.

CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

NEW BOOK FEEDING, SHARING, AND DEVOURING: RITUAL AND SOCIETY IN HIGHLAND ODISHA Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter, 2015

DR. PETER BERGER In particular I contextualize my discussion of the social structure comparatively, relating my analysis of More than ten years after I have submitted it as a PhD the Gadaba material to descriptions of other Central at the Free University of Berlin, my book on the Indian tribal societies and also to communities Gadaba has now been published as an English outside of India. translation. When writing the PhD I already wondered The second part of the book concerns the whether I should do that in a language that must be description and analysis of rituals of three domains regarded as exotic in contemporary anthropology in the Gadaba distinguish in their ritual practice: the general and the anthropology of India in particular. rituals of the life-cycle, rituals of the annual cycle Then I decided that writing in my mother tongue and rituals of healing. In all these ritual spheres food would be the wisest thing to do. But ever since I had and eating are crucial, but in very different ways. lingering doubts about this decision. All the more I am The rituals of the life-cycle construct and happy that the book is now available to all colleagues deconstruct persons by feeding them ritually with and students who have an interest in religions and sacrificial food by different kinds of relatives, agnatic cultures of Central Indian highland societies or and affinal. What is being fed is actually the quality Adivasis and the anthropology of food in relation to of a relationship and the person thus fed grows such diverse topics as economy, personhood, social ritually until with the completion of marriage rituals structure, sacrifice and other issues. The English complete persons have been produced. After death a edition was made possible by a translation award from person is fed “out of society” as it were and “Geisteswissenschaften International” in 2012 and the ultimately becomes food after his or her spirit has great work of the translator Jennifer R. Ottman. Also been transformed into a water buffalo that is working with de Gruyter as publisher was a very slaughtered and eaten and replaced by memorial positive experience. stones. What I try to do in that book is understanding Gadaba society—one on the many tribal communities in The rituals of the annual cycle are closely connected southern Odisha on a plateau of the so-called Eastern not so much to relationships of feeding (and eating) Ghats—through their rituals. In the first part of the between villages as the life-cycle rituals but with the book I provide an outline of the social structure of village community that shares sacrificial food on Gadaba society, starting with the house and “moving occasions of festivals synchronized with the up” to more inclusive levels finally discussing the idea agricultural calendar. I discuss the village festivals of of Gadaba society as a whole. I take up general the three seasons in detail and analyze the ritual discussions on Indian religions and society wherever I structures and the relationships between ritual, thought this would be relevant, for instance discussing economy, environment and society. whether or not we find a “jajmani-system” in the highlands, a system of (ritual) division of labor that had been thoroughly discussed by scholars working on Hindu religion and society.

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

(continued…)

In the third ritual domain food and eating take the violent form of devouring. Illnesses are conceptualized generally as an attack and thought of as aggressive consumption. I here discuss the local ideas of illness as “precarious relationships” their causes and means of healing. One line in the healer’s address of the attackers and causes of illness is quite telling: “You are the goat, I am the tiger.” The point of healing practices thus is to turn the hunter into prey.

In this way I argue that quite different kinds of relationships are at stake in these three ritual realms and that the notions of Feeding, Sharing and Devouring —as I try to epitomize the ritual system of the Gadaba—also refer to alimentary processes that are differently valued. This discussion of social structure and the ritual system is framed by a Preface and an Epilogue. In the Epilogue—based on a talk I gave for a non-anthropological audience—I discuss Table of Contents my process of fieldwork. As colleagues and students Preface encouraged me by saying that they profited from reading it, I decided to also include it in the English 1. Introduction version. The Preface —which I specifically wrote for the English translation—deals with the topic of PART ONE: THE SOCIAL ORDER change, how anthropologists can or should study 2. The Social Order: Categories, Groups, Relationships change and how it is personally experienced by anthropologists returning to the field. Also here I PART TWO: RITUALS AND FESTIVALS allowed myself to include a personal dimension. 3. Fed and Eaten: Transformations of the Person Except for the preface and one map the book is the 4. The Table of the Agnates: Rituals of the Annual Cycle same as the German edition. If you are interested 5. “You Are the Goat, I Am the Tiger”: The Rituals of you can have a look at the de Gruyter website: Healing 6. Conclusion http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/206455 Appendix

Epilogue

Bibliography

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

Special Issue – Asian Ethnology (vol. 73, 1-2, 2014)

Frank Heidemann and Richard K. Wolf (eds.)

SUMMARY BY DR. PETER BERGER Peter Berger´s ethnography of the Gadaba shows a useful difference of three forms of indigeneity, i.e. The question, who is indigenous in India, is a complicated indigenous indigeneity, ascribed indigeneity and claimed question, because almost all social groups have been on the indigeneity, which proved to be applicable to a variety of subcontinent before European colonialisation commenced. ethnographic contexts. Georg Pfeffer’s contribution There is no clear division like in Australia, New Zealand juxtaposes official and ethnographic views on the tribal and North America, where settler conquered indigenous highland population in Western Odisha and places the land. The special issue of ASIAN ETHNOLOGY, titled The making of indigenous communities in Middle India in a Bison and the Horn: Indigeneity, Performance, and larger, colonial and post-colonial context. the State in India deals with communities in Middle

India and in the Nilgiri Region in Western Tamil Nadu, who consider themselves as tribal and indigenous and make KOROM, FRANK J., AND BENJAMIN DORMAN Editors’ Note Vol 73:1-2 respective claims. The bison stands for weight, strength and 2014 rootedness to the land and the horn for its defence and is WOLF, RICHARD K., AND FRANK HEIDEMANN Guest Editors’ its artistic mouthpiece; both belong to each other and stress Introduction: Indigeneity, Performance, and the State in South Asia and what Peter Berger in this volume calls “indigenous Beyond [1–18] Vol 73:1-2 2014 indigeneity”, i.e. local and usually relational articulations of BERGER, PETER Dimensions of Indigeneity in Highland Odisha, India [19– precedence. 37] Vol 73:1-2 2014

COELHO, GAIL Placing Indigeneity: Betta Kurumba Narratives of Territory The point of departure of this volume was a conference in and Clan Structure [39–60] Vol 73:1-2 2014 Upper Bavaria, organised by the editors of this volume and supported by three other fellows of the research project WOLF, RICHARD K. Tribal and Modern Voices in South Indian Kota Society [61–89] Vol 73:1-2 2014 Religion, Culture and Society of Indian “tribal” Communities (Adivasi) hosted at the Centre for the Study HEIDEMANN, FRANK Objectification and Social Aesthetics: Memoranda of Religion and Culture in Asia: Peter Berger, Lea and the Celebration of “Badaga Day” [91–109] Vol 73:1-2 2014 Schulte-Droesch, Georg Pfeffer. DEMMER, ULRICH The Poetics and Politics of Practical Reason: Indigenous Identity, Ritual Discourse, and the Postcolonial State in the Northern Nilgiris The idea was that those who retain, or put forward, claims (South India) [111–137] Vol 73:1-2 2014 to indigenous status do so, in part, through the creation, BIRD-DAVID, NURIT The Social Life of an Ethnonym: The “Kattu Nayaka” manipulation and interpretation of their rituals, forms of of South India [139–153] Vol 73:1-2 2014 art, and uses of language. Public performances were SCHULTE-DROESCH, LEA Fertility or Indigeneity? Two Versions of the modified and adapted to what seems to be helpful in Santal Flower Festival [155–180] Vol 73:1-2 2014 expressing cultural autonomy or for demanding protection and resources from the state. SCHLEITER, MARKUS VCD Crossovers: Cultural Practice, Ideas of Belonging, and Santali Popular Movies [181–200] Vol 73:1-2 2014

Lea Schulte-Droesch compared two flower rituals of the PRÉVÔT, NICOLAS The “Bison Horn” Muria: Making it “More Tribal” for a Santals – one on a small scale for the own community and Folk Dance Competition in Bastar, Chhattisgarh [201–231] Vol 73:1-2 2014 the other on a larger scale addressing the public. Frank SCHNEPEL, BURKHARD Contact Zone: Ethnohistorical Notes on the Heidemann´s chapter deals with the a major rally of the Relationship between Kings and Tribes in Middle India [233–257] Vol 73:1-2 Badagas, the principal farming community in the Nilgiri, 2014 claiming for a tribal status, and what eventually became the PFEFFER, GEORG Ethnographies of States and Tribes in Highland Odisha celebration of the Badaga Day. Richard K. Wolf’s [259–279] Vol 73:1-2 2014 contribution deals with their neighbours, the Kota, and their music and other performances showing that being HOCKINGS, PAUL Afterword [281–291] Vol 73:1-2 2014 indigenous and modern does not create any contradiction. 11

CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

NEWS & EVENTS

In 2014, Prof. Sabrina Corbellini, Prof. Mladen Popovic and the CSRCA Director Dr. Stefania Travagnin applied and were successfully awarded a KNAW Academy Colloquium grant for the organization of a cross- tradition and interdisciplinary symposium on religious texts. The conference was held in Amsterdam, at the Trippenhuis, in late October.

REPORT BY DR. STEFANIA TRAVAGNIN, PROF. MLADEN POPOVIC AND PROF. SABRINA CORBELLINI

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

(continued…) respectively, Western Catholic and South Asian Texts and textual analysis are still a much-discussed Bengali traditions, and advanced ideas on how to topic in social and cultural research. Theorists such as conceive and study non-written texts. Ricoeur, Barthes, Foucault and Derrida, to cite a few, have provided foundational arguments on textual analysis, also contesting the role of language and logocentric expressions. In spite of this centrifugal movement from a mere textually centered approach to culture and communication, the study of religious cultures seems to be strongly text-coded, and indeed the study of and on texts has always been crucial in the academic research and teaching of religion. Thus far academic seminars and scholarship have however discussed “text” predominantly within one specific religious tradition, with the effect that “text” has been debated within the boundaries of one religious identity, and often as pivotal element in the process of “Modalities of Texts”: Wim Francois, Carola Erika Lorea and Fabio Rambelli formation of identities and communities, and not from an inter-religious and inter-cultural perspective. These issues are strictly related to the issue of Furthermore, texts have been only seldom accessed authority, which was the topic of the following two through an interdisciplinary perspective that sets the panels titled “AUTHORITY OF/ON TEXTS”. As a textual in relation and dispute with the “extra-textual” matter of fact texts, in particular religious texts, are (such as rituals and material culture). endorsed with authority, and may also endow authority. When, and how, does a text take on an The Colloquium wanted to provoke new debates on authoritative voice? What is this authority? How does research methodologies in the field. One of the main this authority relate to cultural and religious identity? aims this conference was to start a multi- and And how is authority bestowed on a text or interdisciplinary dialogue and to bring together transmitted from a text? Within a Western religious researchers working on different fields and context, Eyal Poleg debated these questions with materials, belonging to different research traditions, focus on the process of conversion of/with texts, but sharing foundational questions. Fiona Somerset and Hindy Najman looked at the process of transmission, Anders Petersen analysed The Colloquium started with the panel “MODALITIES the tension between authoritative texts and scriptures OF TEXTS”. Which functions and powers can a text assume? What happens to a text (and thus those in the three traditions of Judaism, Christianity and functions and powers) when no one is reading or Islam. Rob Campany took us to China and explored using it? And in which forms are those textual how the text can bring a process of transformation of functions shaped? Fabio Rambelli addressed these the practitioner/user of the text. Arie Molendijk first two issues by discussing the ontology of a text bridged Eastern and Western understanding of texts through reference to Japanese Buddhist theories and and authority through his recent research on Max debates. Wim Francois and Carola Erika Lorea Muller and the edition of the Sacred Books of the East, explored the third question by looking at the and also analysed Muller’s discussion of ‘walking distinction between written and oral texts in, manuscripts’.

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

(continued…) are used in conjunction with images and rituals in a liturgy, is the textual or the extra-textual to entail authority and legitimacy?

“Authority of/on Texts”: Eyal Poleg discussing textus

“Practice with Texts”: Gideon Bohak and magic in Judaism

“Authority of/on Texts”: Stefano Zacchetti asking a question to Rob Campany after the Skype presentation; Sabrina Corbellini chairing.

This issue has been also approached from another “Practice with Texts”: Lucia Dolce and the Lotus Sutra angle in the two panels titled “PRACTICE WITH Gideon Bohak and Rina Talgam addressed these TEXTS (RITUALIZING & VISUALIZING TEXTS)”. In questions within the Judeo-Christian contexts, late fact, texts can be visualized and be object of rituals, antiquity and medieval time, while Lucia Dolce which imply that texts are in a dynamic relation looked at Japanese Buddhism especially in the with images and liturgies. We then ought to medieval time. Anna Dlabacova and Nikolas Broy examine what are the paradigms of this relation, the focused on a later period, the early modern/modern interplay and hierarchy between texts, visual era, and look at new realities like the printing press culture/media and performative practices and what and a different set of rituals in, respectively, are the dynamics of dislocation and relocation of Northern European Christianity and authority within the textual and extra-textual Chinese/Taiwanese popular religions. intertwined contexts. More specifically, when texts

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(continued…) thus brings the role of media into the conversation. In the context of pre-modern China, Neil Schmid analysed the combination of texts and images into Buddhist objects and their position in Chinese medieval religiosity, while Yao Ping investigated the female practice of ritual copying of texts, and thus brings the element of gender/women studies into the discussion.

“Practice with Texts”: Nikolas Broy and popular religion in Taiwan

“Materiality of Texts”: Eibert Tigchelaar on the Dead Sea Scroll

“Practice with Texts”: Anna Dlabacova

A further aspect of religious textuality that has been scrutinized in the two panels “MATERIALITY OF TEXTS” is the relationship between materiality and textuality. Texts are indeed made of material, are material objects and have value in their materiality “Materiality of Texts”: Neil Schmid on Dunhuang besides of their contents. On the other hand, we could also take into account to what extent the shift in materiality may also result in transformation of textual power and meaning. In the Western contexts, Eibert Tigchelaar looked at the material variance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and August den Hollander assessed the media-editions of the Luther Bible, and

“Materiality of Texts”: Ritual Copying of the Lotus Sutra

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(continued…)

The conference ended with the two panes “TRANSMISSION AND TRANSLATION OF TEXTS”. Textual transmission and translation are also social processes and cultural phenomena that go beyond the sphere of religion. In the Western context, Francis Borchardt focused on royal translation projects in the antiquity, the so-called ‘auxiliary texts,’ and the case of textual ‘translation’ becoming “Transmission and Translation of Texts”: Angelo Cattaneo on maps also textual ‘correction’, Agatha Paluch looked at mystical texts in Judaism, while Ben Wright focused on the figure of the translator through the example of the works of Ben Sira. Stefano Zacchetti bridged India and China, and pointed out how the Chinese indigenous philosophical and religious traditions had influenced the lexical choices adopted by the first Buddhist translators and how the latter shaped, in turn, the Chinese understanding of . Kiri Paramore bridged China and Japan by addressing the core state regulatory texts, and thus brought the factors of sacred kingship and political ritualization in the discussion. Finally, Angelo Cattaneo bridged East And West by looking at how Western texts reconceptualised ‘Asia’.

“Transmission and Translation of Texts”: Kiri Paramore

Group photos: speakers and organizers “Transmission and Translation of Texts”: Stefano Zacchetti on Chinese

translation of Buddhist texts For abstracts and more details see the Colloquium website: https://makingsenseofreligioustexts.wordpress.com

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KNAW Masterclass The three lectures were followed by a discussion with the PhD students who gave presentations on their Textual Diversity in Context own research work, in relation to the theoretical paradigms proposed in the lectures and the 30 October 2015 preceding Colloquium.

The Colloquium was followed by a Masterclass that was attended by twelve PhD students from the Netherlands and the US. Three speakers of the conference gave short lectures while the organizers of the Colloquium served as chairs and facilitated the discussion with the audience of PhD Students.

In the masterclass ‘text’ was assessed theoretically and methodologically in three different contexts:

1. Text in Verbal Context [lecture by Hindy Najman]

2. Text in Ritual Context [lecture by Fabio Some of the PhD students Rambelli]

3. Text in Material Context [lecture by Angelo Cattaneo]

Masterclass teachers: Fabio Rambelli, Hindy Najman, Angelo Cattaneo. On the right Mladen Popovic

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

CSRCA Director Dr. Stefania Travagnin has been awarded a Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange conference grant and a KNAW Conference Grants Fund towards the organization of the three-day conference “Framing the Study of Religion in Modern China and Taiwan: Concepts, Methods and New Research Paths”. Dr. Stefania Travagnin is the organiser of the conference. This conference is linked to the new research project Critical Concepts and Methods for the Study of Religion in ModernChina and Taiwan , which is hosted at the CSRCA and coordinated by Dr. Travagnin.

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

DR. STEFANIA TRAVAGNIN Within this emerging field of study, however, there is an ongoing – and largely unresolved – debate regarding what methods and theories are appropriate The Study of Religion in Modern China and to be employed in this new research area. Taiwan: A Field in Progress This debate has been well grasped and launched in the last few years, and the preliminary results, The last two decades has seen a rapid increase in the authored by Chinese and Western experts, are number of publications addressing various aspects of published in the volume Social Scientific Studies of religion in modern China and Taiwan. Book series Religion in China: Methodology, Theories, and Findings, and journals on religion in modern Chinese societies edited by Fenggang Yang and Graeme Lang (Brill, have been founded as well. This publishing 2011). The rationale of this meeting is rooted in this production has been paralleled by the organization first debate and its results, from which the conference of conferences, the establishment of research centres, however departs and evolves on several levels. and the creation of national and international team- projects. At the apex of the second generation of scholarship, it is time to review the past history of the field, This flood of new research reflects the fact that the reconsider the present state of analytical and subject of ‘religion in modern China’ has become a methodological theories, and start a new page in the new and challenging field of study in Chinese and history of theories and methods for the field. This is Western academia. To date, monographs and edited also the proper time to feature interdisciplinary and volumes have focused on specific historical events, cross-tradition debates on a trans-regional horizon in prominent individuals and local religiosities, as well light of globalization; therefore, methodologies for as the rituals and material cultures of modern the study of religion in an East Asian region should Chinese and Taiwanese religious traditions. be engaged with Western theories of the field in an active and propositional manner. These works and activities can be considered as already a ‘second generation of scholarship’ in the The speakers invited to this conference are the ideal field, which is based on primary sources and voices because they gained experience in both archive ethnographic research, but also on a ‘first generation research and ethnographic studies, are familiar with of scholarship’ that had initiated the field between both Chinese and Taiwanese academic and religious the end of the nineteenth century and 1960s, and fields, and capable to comment on the overall theme thus created the very first methodological and of the conference and therefore could intervene in theoretical foundations of the field itself. I am the discussion after each of the panels. The speakers referring here to, among the others, Robert adopt different disciplinary approaches and focus on Morrison (1782-1834), James Legge (1815-1897), various religious traditions (Christianity, Islam, Kenneth Latourette (1884-1968), Ren Naiqiang 任乃 Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, popular 强 (1894-1989), Zhuang Xueben 庄 本 (1909– religions); they are affiliated to institutions located in several countries, and are so representatives of a wide 1984), Holmes Welch (1924-1981), Dongchu 東初 spectrum of academic environments. (1907-1977), Guo Peng 郭朋 (1920-2004). Part of this ‘first-generation-scholarship’ was produced by Important factors that will be debated throughout the explorers or photographers, and therefore enriched conference are the relations between the academic with also non-academic perspectives. and the religious fields. We will address questions such as:

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(continued…) CHRISTOPHER DAILY will debate the problems of Are the key concepts that developed in the academic the early study of Chinese Christianity in terms of study of religion based on their application in the an unsolved tension between Theology and Study of religious field or vice versa? Is the religious field Religion, and solutions to this tensions, as well as a informing the academic framework or vice versa? major attention to Chinese Christians, Daily argues, Other issues that are debated in all the panels are the will facilitate a improvements and new research relation between sacred and secular, the issues of paths in the field. VINCENT GOOSSAERT analysed nation and nationalism, ideas and ideology of the impact of the organization of textual Daoism (an globalization, channels of relation with the divine, ongoing project that was initiated by Kristofer institutionalization of belief (and thus the tension Schipper and later rethought and continued by, between religious inclusion, diversity and pluralism in the social context). among the others, Monica Esposito) on the structure of the academic study of Daoism; Goossaert will The conference will be structured around three main propose new research techniques and analytical themes, and organized into five sessions. This format frameworks in textual studies that will impact and will facilitate the analysis of the field in its major update the field. WAY-HIP HO will outline the components – early history, adopted methodology, trajectories followed by the academic study of Islam critical concepts, and relevance beyond the Chinese in China, and suggest new and challenging regions – and through both diachronic and perspectives that will open new research paths in the synchronic developments. field and provide new insights on the subject. RONGDAO LAI and AMY HOLMES- The conference will open with YANG FENGGANG’s TAGCHUNGDARPA will evaluate the pioneers in the definition of ‘Social Scientific Study of Religion’, and study of Han and in modern argue to what extent this methodology is a better fit China, and critically point out the analytical for a ‘religion’ that is shaped in a new political categories and conceptual binaries (decline vs. economy and globalizing world. revival, reformists vs. conservatives, nationalism vs. cosmopolitanism) that have shaped our The first panel, titled From Alexandra David-Néel to understanding of the recent , Kristofer Schipper: Pioneers in the Study of Religion in but also obscured other important portraits. Lai and Modern China and Taiwan will assess earliest works Holmes-Tagchungdarpa will conclude by putting and individuals who started the study of religion in forward new paradigms, like the ‘rescuing Buddhism modern China and Taiwan. Those pioneers include from the nation’ approach and the re- Western and Chinese religious practitioners, conceptualization of ‘borderland’. academic figures, explorers and photographers. The earliest works that constitute the ‘first-generation- The second panel From History to the Social Scientific scholarship’, and so the basis of the field, are Study of Religion: Challenges and New Research Paths predominantly textual, historical and ethnographic will discuss methodological and disciplinary studies. Who are the pioneers in the study of religion approaches that are currently used in the study of in modern China and Taiwan? What were their first religion in modern China and Taiwan, with disciplinary approaches, conceptual categories, and constructive conclusions on future potential changes research objects? How did those selections of in research-trajectories and improvement of research approaches and topics shape the beginning of the methods. The papers address methodological field but also the academic study of today? What were disciplines like anthropology, sociology, political their contributions but also limitations, and how can science and history. we overcome those shortcomings? 20

CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

(continued…)

BRIAN J. NICHOLS will tackle the social scientific analytical categories, will include kinship (JASON study of religion by addressing the case of CLOWER), divine justice (PAUL KATZ), women’s anthropology of Buddhism in today China; Nichols religious agency (MAYFAIR YANG), education will debate the meta-narratives of anthropology of (STEFANIA TRAVAGNIN), discipline (ESTER BIANCHI), Buddhism and the problematic relations that this scripture (GREGORY ADAM SCOTT), gender (ELENA discipline has with the macro-context of the field of VALUSSI), science (ERIK HAMMERSTROM), religion . Then, SUSAN MCCARTHY and (YA-PEI KUO), globalization (WEISHAN HUANG), ANDRÉ LALIBERTÉ will question the lack of ecology (JAMES MILLER), religious sector-ization and cooperation between scholars of religious studies and venue-ization (ADAM YUET CHAU). political scientists in, respectively, Western academia and Chinese academia. Thes different frame with a The conference will end with a roundtable, titled The real interaction between the two disciplinary Global Relevance of the Study of Religion in Chin’, on approaches that McCarthy and Laliberté will put how analytical and theoretical concepts that forward would benefit research results and advance developed within the context of the study of Chinese methodological theories. YEN- TSAI will argue religions could be applied to the study of religion in that food fellowship can function as a key lens for the other societies, including Western societies. KOCKU investigation of religious communities. Finally, VON STUCKRAD, who is Dean of the Faculty of REBECCA NEDOSTUP will suggest that the idea of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of nation and nationalism, which so much informed Groningen, and eminent scholar in the area of research trajectory in the study of religion and other theories and methods in the study of religion in academic areas, should be reconsidered in light of a Europe, will chair the roundtable, so to facilitate new construction of the ideas of space and time. academic exchange and provide feedback from his own expertise. The second day of the conference will include the revaluation of concepts that inform scholarship in This conference is linked to the research project the field in question. The ‘Critical Terms for the Critical Concepts and Methods for the Study of Study of Religion in Modern China and Taiwan’ Religion in Modern China that is hosted at the newly themed day will look at Chinese-inner concepts and established Centre for the Study of Religion and Western-inherited ideas that are foundational in the Culture in Asia, and coordinated by Stefania Chinese and Taiwanese religious landscape. Some Travagnin, who is also the conference director. Some papers will address the introduction of new concepts of the speakers invited to this conference are already or the reshaping of traditional ones in light of the fellows of the Centre’s new research project. intellectual, political and social atmosphere of late This conference is funded by the CCKF (Chiang nineteenth and first Republican period in China, Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly while others will assess ideas that permeate the Exchange) and the KNAW (Koninklijke Nederlandse religious sphere of China and Taiwan today. Akademie van Wetenschappen). Interestingly, all these concepts are actually interrelated because they participate in the same For more information see the conference website: contextual dichotomies and paradigm shifts. The https://studyofreligioninmodernchinaandtaiwan.wor ‘critical terms’, taken in the sense of conceptual and dpress.com

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

AAR 2015 HOLMES WELCH AND THE STUDY OF BUDDHISM IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY CHINA SEMINAR

SATURDAY - 1:00 PM-3:30 PM decline, he did not offer a larger framework that HYATT-222 (2ND LEVEL) exhaustively explained the reasons for the existence of such narratives of decline among Chinese Buddhists PRESCRIPTIVE IDEALS (SECTARIAN AND in the modern period. INSTITUTIONAL) IN HOLMES WELCH’S WORK ON Building on Welch’s arguments, this paper attempts CHINESE BUDDHISM to formulate such a framework by examining notions of decline found in the rhetoric of a number of This is the second year of a five-year seminar prominent Buddhist figures at the end of the celebrating and building upon the significant nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth scholarly contributions made by Holmes Welch centuries by locating them in their historical context (1924-1981) to the study of twentieth-century and link these Chinese Buddhist narratives decline to Chinese Buddhism. This year’s session will focus on transnational intellectual flows in East Asia at the the role played by prescriptive ideals in Welch’s time. analyses. The papers to be discussed will highlight some of the ways in which such ideals influenced Wei Wu – Princeton University both Chinese Buddhists’ conceptions of their own Distinction and Inclusiveness: The Rise of A identities during the early twentieth century, and the Tibetan Esoteric School in Anti-Sectarian manner in which Welch himself constructed his Trends in Republican China narratives of Chinese Buddhist practice. This seminar The paper will investigate two paradoxical dynamics is dedicated to the discussion of full, chapter-length observed by Holmes Welch in the Buddhist Revival in papers, which will be made available to all members China, namely, the rise of Esoteric School (mi zong) of the AAR on its website several weeks before the against an anti-sectarian trend in Republican China. annual meeting. Papers will not be presented during The paper will examine the rise of a Tibetan esoteric the seminar session, and Seminar Chairs expect that founded by Nenghai at Chengdu to reveal the all session attendees will have read the papers prior to tensions and interactions among the various the session. Buddhist groups. The importation of Tibetan Buddhism entailed doctrinal dissensions among the Erik Schicketanz - University of Tokyo Chinese Buddhists, and they had to redefine and Narratives of Buddhist Decline and Sectarian categorize Buddhist knowledge under the newly Formations in Modern China introduced “esoteric and exoteric” doctrinal structure Modern narratives of Chinese Buddhist history have (xian mi zhi zheng). At the same time, the esoteric long been characterized by positing a fundamental practitioners strategically adapted Tibetan teachings process of decline, which only began to be reversed and practices to Chinese reality. In the rise of the during the late Qing dynasty. While Holmes Welch Esoteric School, the esoteric Buddhists preserved critically questioned and ultimately rejected the what they regarded as distinct features of Esoteric notion that modern Chinese Buddhist activities Buddhism while looking for common grounds with indeed constituted a “revival” from such a state of the exoteric Chinese Buddhists.

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(continued…)

Jimmy Yu - Florida State University Holmes Welch and the Study of Buddhism in Centralized and De-centralized Approaches to Twentieth-Century China Seminar the Study of Chinese This paper critiques Home Welch’s seminal study of STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: Buddhist Monastic institutions, The Practice of This seminar will celebrate the significant scholarly Chinese Buddhism, in light of recent approaches to contributions made by Holmes Welch (1924-1981) to the same topic and suggest new lines of inquiry for the study of twentieth-century Chinese Buddhism, scholarly study. Buddhist institutional structure, and also explore how we might advance the field monks and their ordination process, and patristic beyond the boundaries and scope of his original ideas have long been a favorite of scholars of East Asia and through the use of new sources and methodologies. the West. In Welch’s book, he approached Revisiting and expanding Welch's scholarship is monasteries as mere “containers” in which the urgently needed, since his work continues to function central foci are the institutional bureaucracy of as both a standard resource for specialists and as an monasteries and the monastics who engaged their authoritative summary of Chinese Buddhism during religious career. Recent scholars have given greater this era for non-specialists. The final goal of this attention to the mechanisms—institutional and seminar is to produce a critical collected volume otherwise—by which such constructs are locally covering the major aspects of Welch's work, in which engendered, sanctioned, and disseminated that break contributors will update his findings and approaches down the boundaries of monasteries. Looking at with their own cutting-edge scholarship. The Chinese Buddhist institutions by way of social and publication of this volume will roughly coincide with cultural practices, this paper exposes Welch’s the upcoming fiftieth anniversaries of the implicit “modernist biases” and provides alternative publications of Welch’s volumes The Practice of approaches to examine Buddhist monasteries as sites Chinese Buddhism and The Buddhist Revival. for the construction—or, as the case may be, LEADERSHIP: contestation—of Buddhist values, roles, and identities within the larger field of Chinese religious CHAIR life. Erik Hammerstrom, [email protected] Term: 2014 – 2019 Gregory Adam Scott, [email protected] Term: 2014 - 2019

STEERING COMMITTEE Eyal Aviv, [email protected] Term: 2014 - 2019 J. Brooks Jessup, [email protected] Term: 2014 – 2019 Rongdao Lai, [email protected] Term: 2014 - 2019 Justin R. Ritzinger,[email protected] Term: 2014 – 2019 Stefania Travagnin, [email protected] Term: 2014 - 2019

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

Teaching Religion and Culture in Asia at the University of Groningen – COURSES HIGHLIGHTS

Iconography 1 Iconography 2

This course focuses on representations of the Divine in the iconography of three religious traditions, namely 1) Judaism, 2) Buddhism and 3) Christianity. Specific topics include: is it allowed to picture the Divine? (in the light of prohibitions, fear of idolatry, iconoclasm, compromises). If yes, how should this be done, or has this been done traditionally? (development of the God-image, physical representations, attributes). The relevance of religious iconography for historical research into religions is clarified by applying the iconographic method (iconography as discipline, iconography vs. iconology, etc.). This method is put to practice during the excursion and in a written assignment for which students must analyse three representations according to the iconographic method.

This course further elaborates upon the contents of Iconography 1 by a deepening orientation in the imagery of three religious traditions (Judaism, Buddhism, Daoism and Christianity). The central focus is on the coherence between religious images, ritual practice and space/material objects. Among the selected case studies, the lecturers will present a number of topics from their own research. The emphasis will be both on religious contents and methodology. Parallel to the classes, students (in pairs) write a paper on a previously determined iconographic subject, which will be discussed in a concluding session.

Lecturers: Prof. Jacques van Ruiten (Judaism), Dr. Justin Kroesen (Christianity), Dr. Stefania Travagnin (Asian - China/Japan component)

Lecturers: Prof. Jacques van Ruiten (Judaism), Dr. Justin ECTS: 5.0 Kroesen (Christianity), Dr. Stefania Travagnin (Asian - China/Japan component) Schedule: Semester II (February-May 2016)

ECTS: 5.0 Form: lectures and seminar sessions

Schedule: Semester II (February-May 2015)

Form: lectures and seminar sessions 24

CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015

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SUMMER SCHOOL 2015 **** INDIAN TRIBAL CULTURES Studying their Life-worlds, Doing Fieldwork & Writing Ethnographies

REPORT BY MR. BEN DEN OUDEN The collective case studies and experiences in the field generated much discussion with sessions often From the 29th of June to the 3rd of July 2015, the continuing well past scheduled breaks. During this Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the time the summer school was also fortunate to be University of Groningen hosted a five-day summer visited by SARBESWAR SAHOO of IIT Delhi, a school focusing on the topic of Indian Tribal University of Groningen’s partner institution, who Cultures or Adivasis. Set against the backdrop of an is currently working with Peter Berger on a research unexpected heat wave seven students from India, project covering Adivasi and conversion. Germany, New Zealand and Israel joined four academics hailing from England, the Netherlands, The final day was reserved for student Germany and India to discuss case studies of tribal presentations, where each student was allotted a cultures, the process of doing fieldwork and the time to present their research and have the process of writing ethnographies. opportunity to discuss it with guidance from the visiting teachers. This proved to be a highlight The summer school was run with four sessions a day, amongst the students and the teachers as it was a where PETER BERGER and LEA SCHULTE-DROESCH fantastic opportunity for students to gain the advice hosted the first two days. Berger shared his fieldwork of collectively over one hundred years of with the Gutob-Gadaba of highland Orissa and ran ethnographic experience. The presentations were as an entertaining and thought provoking workshop on diverse as the attendants with projects ranging from the process of writing ethnographies. In turn Lea comparative literary studies seeking to preserve Schulte-Droesch shared her PhD thesis work on the shamanic poems to conversion amongst Adivasis Santal and their complex relationship with political and gender roles amongst Assamise Tribes. Outside and social institutions of the Indian state. ERIK DE of the busy and informative summer school a city MAAKER from Leiden University hosted the next tour, social activities with local students of the two days and shared with the students and visiting University of Groningen and a farewell dinner were academics his work with the Garo and their organized. This left visiting students with a well- changing cultural practices in the rise of conversion rounded experience of student life in Groningen, to Christianity. The final speaker was PIERS and many with new contacts or possibilities to work VITEBSKY from the University of Cambridge who on future academic ventures. shared almost forty years of ethnographic experience, starting from his first works with the Sora Adivasi's of Orissa, to his return to the field almost fifteen years after his initial fieldwork.

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CSRCA Newsletter Spring/Autumn 2015 Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture in Asia

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