Interactions between Islamicate and Indic Societies in South and South-East Asia:

Comparative Perspectives

Jeudi 4 février 2021, 15h – 18h

Alexandra de Mersan (Inalco, CASE), «What religious history does Buddermokan/Buddhomo shrine (Arakan / Burma) bear witness to?»

This presentation will focus on the shrine dedicated to the tutelary spirit of Sittwe, the main town of Rakhine State (Burma/Myanmar). Colonial and post Independence sources refer to the place as a kind of shared-shrine visited by local Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims groups. However, at the turn of the twenty first century, the Burmese cultural influence and hegemony became dominant through Buddhism in this peripheral region of the nation. Through an ethnography carried out over the past fifteen years, we will see how the evolution and the transformations of the site reflect on the one hand a still on-going process of appropriation, provisionally qualified as “Burmanisation”, through Buddhism and weikza cults (also known as esoteric Buddhism). On the other hand, the most recent transformations echo the local context of intercommunal violence that reappeared from 2012. Therefore, to what extent can this analysis of the evolution of the Buddermo sanctuary shed light on sociology as well as the representations and religious practices of this region? To do this, I will compare my field data with the work of historians.

Richard M. Eaton (University of Arizona), «Reconsidering “Conversion to Islam” in Indian History»

Since a third of the world’s Muslims live in South Asia, understanding how that happened is a major historical problem.  Arguing that the word “conversion” has done more to obscure than to clarify such an understanding, the lecture will propose instead the notion of “creative adaptation” by populations that had never before been fully assimilated as caste Hindus.  Using historical and geographical evidence dating from the sixth century BC, the paper will examine the two regions comprising the bulk of the South Asia’s Muslims – Punjab and Bengal.  In both regions, new understandings of cosmology, ritual, and community identity accompanied broader socio-economic transformations along the fringes of the ancient region of Aryavarta.  

Le séminaire aura lieu en ligne sur la plateforme Big Blue Button : https://webinaire.ehess.fr/b/spe-9rk-2yw.

Pour participer il suffit de se connecter à l’horaire prévu du séminaire, le jeudi de 15h00 à 18h00.

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Organisation : Fabrizio Speziale - Hélène Njoto - Aditia Gunawan

Pour plus d’informations, voir : http://case.ehess.fr/index.php?3027; https://enseignements.ehess.fr/2020-2021/ue/813