Call for Papers
Conference Title: Buddhist Dynamics in Premodern Southeast Asia
Dates: 10-11 March 2011
Place: Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
Buddhism was the dominant cultural force throughout much of Southeast Asia in premodernity, from the early realms of Funan, Dvaravati, Sriksetra, Srivijaya, Haripunjaya, and Champa, through the medieval kingdoms of Dai Viet, Pagan, Angkor, Majapahit, and Sukhothai, to the later polities of Mrauk U, Ava, Lan Xang, Sipsongpanna, and elsewhere. Buddhists here were responsible for an array of innovations across diverse fields of learning, ranging from medicine, law, alchemy, political science, and grammar to scriptural hermeneutics, ritual and apotropaic techniques, and art and architecture. However, the Buddhist culture of premodern Southeast Asia cannot be understood as univocal, and is marked instead by a dynamism and difference that varies across geography and time.
Today the study of Buddhism in premodern Southeast Asia stands at a critical and promising juncture. Research on regional manuscript libraries has brought to light hitherto unknown vernacular, Pali, and Sanskrit texts. New inscriptions and art historical and archaeological finds continue to be uncovered. There are redoubled efforts to make these materials available for study and, most importantly, increasing
interest in them among young scholars of Buddhism. Recent scholarship has been marked by a turn towards careful examinations of local and vernacular expressions of Buddhist culture as well as a return to long-standing questions concerning the regional diffusion and interrelationship among varied texts, aesthetic forms, and religious ideas and practices. Yet much more work remains to be done on both the local and comparative analysis of Southeast Asian Buddhist histories.
The Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies invites paper proposals for an interdisciplinary conference on premodern Southeast Asian Buddhism to be held in Singapore, March 10-11, 2011. The conference aims to bring together international scholars engaged in research on Buddhist archaeological, textual, or art historical sources produced across the region from the early first
millennium C.E. until circa the 18th century. We invite proposals that interrogate the broad interpretive thematic of the dynamic interplay between the local and the regional through the critical study of manuscripts, archaeological sites, inscriptions, images, and/or artefacts. We especially encourage proposals that are comparative and interdisciplinary in scope.
Potential papers might, for example, address:
-- Cultural and material exchange among regional Buddhist centres and monastic communities
-- Comparative Southeast Asian Buddhist texts, images, and practices
-- The engagement of Buddhism with Brahmanism and other religions in Southeast Asia
-- New archaeological, literary, or art historical discoveries
-- The cultural significance of Buddhist translation and cosmopolitan and vernacular languages
-- The place of India, Sri Lanka, and China in Southeast Asian Buddhist history
-- The importance of trade, pilgrimage, and agriculture to regional Buddhist geographies
Paper proposals should include a title and a 400-word abstract, together with a short biography of the applicant.
All participants will be provided with three nights accommodation in Singapore.
Requests for assistance with airfare, especially from Asian countries, will be sympathetically considered.
Proposals should be received by 31 August 2010 and successful applicants will be informed of their acceptance by 15 September 2010.
Proposals should be directed to:
“Buddhist Dynamics in Premodern Southeast Asia” Conference
Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Singapore 119614
Email: nscconferences@iseas.edu.sg
Web: http://www.iseas.edu.sg/nsc/
Questions about the conference may be addressed to Dr. Christian Lammerts at:
dclammerts@gmail.com
Conference Committee:
Christian Lammerts
Geoff Wade
John Miksic
Tansen Sen
