Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät - Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

Im kommenden Wintersemester bietet Dr. Benjamin Baumann, Universität Heidelberg, im Rahmen des T(h)ai-Studies-Network-Germany (TSNG) ein Online-Seminar mit dem Thema "Gender and Religion in Buddhist Southeast Asia" an.

Time: Thursdays 10:00 – 12:00 Uhr (1st session 17. October 2024)

Abstract:

This seminar looks at the intersections of gender and religion in the predominantly Buddhist societies of mainland Southeast Asia. Buddhism is generally portrayed as a male dominated sphere of life. We will,
therefore, look at the roles Buddhism plays in imagining and reproducing manhood in Southeast Asia.However, this seminar will also look at the ways Buddhism influences imaginations of womanhood and how women preserve the Buddhist faith through their active roles as nuns or pious lay practitioners. Combining perspectives from anthropology and religious studies as well as gender and queer studies this seminar will also look at the increasingly prominent roles that transwomen and homosexual men are playing in spirit possession cults, magical ritual and healing traditions in the predominantly Theravada Buddhist cultures of mainland Southeast Asia. This rapidly growing phenomenon contrasts with much past research on religion and queer genders and sexualities in mainland Southeast Asia, with many earlier studies emphasizing the roles of female ritual specialists in spirit cults while queer studies has tended to view religion as intolerant of gender and sexual diversity.

Registration:
External students register directly with the lecturer by writing an email to: benjamin.baumann (at) eth.uni-heidelberg.de

Studierende aus dem IAAW können sich das Seminar im ÜWP-Bereich anrechnen lassen.