SCA-UK Newsletter, vol. 10 (November 2014)

The newsletter covers some latest news and articles on Shan cultural activities and updates on Shan studies

Curating the Sacred, Enchanting the Ordinary: Things, Practices and Local Museums in Northeast Thailand

Die Dissertation untersucht problematische Beziehungen zwischen Kolonialismus, Wissen und kuratorischen Praktiken, da diese sich auf Sammlungen beziehen, die in lokalen Museen im Nordosten Thailands mit dem ‚Sakralen‘ zu tun haben oder damit verbunden sind. Diese qualitative Forschung verwendet einen theoretischen Rahmen, der sich aus der postkolonialen Theorie, der Akteur-Netzwerk-Theorie und Mikhail Bakhtins chronotopischem und dialogischem Ansatz ableitet. Zwei Hauptargumente der Studie sind, lokale Museen als ‚Museumsverstrickungen‘ und ‚verstrickte Museen‘ zu sehen. Zunächst spricht diese Dissertation dagegen, diese lokalen Museen entweder als ‚nicht-professionelle‘ oder als‚ nicht-westliche‘ Museen zu betrachten. Stattdessen schlägt sie vor, sie als in den kolonialen Kontexten Südostasiens verortet zu verstehen und ihre Praktiken als Antworten auf, sowie Gesprächspartner im Dialog mit, vorherigen Museen zu sehen, die die gleichen Materialsammlungen sammeln und kuratieren und die vom Kolonialismus und Nationalismus beeinflusst wurden. Überdies schlägt diese Dissertation vor, diese lokalen Museen nicht ausschließlich als ‚indigene Museen‘ zu betrachten, sondern sie als ‚verstrickte Museen‘ zu betrachten, die das Ergebnis von Koexistenzen und Interaktionen verschiedener Arten von Wissen sind, die sich auf unterschiedliche Weise aus Religionen, Magie und Wissenschaft ergeben. Im Nordosten Thailands beinhaltet das Kuratieren heiliger Dinge – wie Buddha-Reliquien und religiöse Statuen - den Umgang mit erkenntnistheoretischen Unterschieden, die im Buddhismus, Hinduismus, Animismus, in der Magie und so weiter begründet sind. Diese Unterschiede führen zu vielfältigen dialogischen Praktiken, die sich dem Heiligen widmen, z.B. Verdienstabgabe, Opfergabe, Verehrung und Wünsche äußern. Diese Praktiken erscheinen manchmal neben wissenschaftlichen Museumspraktiken.The thesis examines problematic relationships between colonialism, knowledge and curatorial practices as these relate to collections that are concerned, or linked, with ‘the sacred’ in local museums in Northeast Thailand. This qualitative research deploys a theoretical framework derived from post-colonial theory, actor-network theory and Mikhail Bakhtin’s chronotopic and dialogical approach. Two major arguments of the study are about seeing local museums as ‘museum entanglements’ and ‘entangled museums’. Firstly, this thesis argues against seeing these local museums as either ‘non-professional’ or ‘non-western’ museums. Instead, it proposes to understand them as situated in the colonial contexts of Southeast Asia, and to see their practices as responses to, and interlocutors in dialogue with, prior museums that collect and curate the same material collections, and that have been influenced by colonialism and nationalism. Secondly, instead of seeing these local museums exclusively as ‘indigenous museums’, this thesis proposes to see them as ‘entangled museums’ that are a result of co-existences and interactions of different kinds of knowledge, which diversely derive from religions, magic and science. In Northeast Thailand, curating sacred things – such as Buddha relics and religious statues, involves dealing with epistemic differences that are based in Buddhism, Hinduism, animism, magic, and so on. These differences lead to diverse dialogic practices dedicated to the sacred e.g. merit-making, offering, worshipping and making wishes. These practices sometimes appear alongside scientific museum practices

Transfer of Buddhism Across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries)

Transfer of Buddhism across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries), ed. Carmen Meinert, offers a transregional and transcultural vision for religious transfer processes in Central Asian history. It explores Buddhist localisations in the Tarim basin, the Transhimalaya and Tibet.; Readership: All interested in an interdisciplinary approach towards understanding religious transfer processes across a Central Asian Buddhist network, best known as the Silk Road(s)

Interactions Between Rivals: The Christian Mission and Buddhist Sects in Japan (c.1549-c.1647)

This volume presents comprehensive research on how southern European Catholics and the Japanese confronted each other, interacted and mutually experienced religious otherness in early modern times. In their highly variable and asymmetric relations, during which the politi¬cal-military elites of Japan at times not only favoured, but also opposed and strictly controlled the European presence, missionaries – particularly the Jesuits – tried to negotiate this power balance with their interlocutors. This collection of essays analyses religious and cultural interactions between the Christian missions and the Buddhist sects through processes of coopera¬tion, acceptance, confrontation and rejection, dialogue and imposition, which led to the creation of new relational spaces and identities

Transfer of Buddhism Across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries)

Transfer of Buddhism across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries), ed. Carmen Meinert, offers a transregional and transcultural vision for religious transfer processes in Central Asian history. It explores Buddhist localisations in the Tarim basin, the Transhimalaya and Tibet.; Readership: All interested in an interdisciplinary approach towards understanding religious transfer processes across a Central Asian Buddhist network, best known as the Silk Road(s)