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Upcoming Events
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I. Conferences and Workshops
II.
The Nalanda-Sriwijaya Lecture Series
III.
The Asian Civilisations Museum-Nalanda Sriwijaya Lecture Series
IV. Nalanda-Sriwijaya
Centre-Singapore Buddhist Lodge Lecture Series
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Global Crossroads:
The Port Clusters of Southeast Asia and the Middle East
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Dates:
28 - 29 July 2010
Place:
Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
Description:
An International Conference
At the two extremes of the Indian Ocean lie port
clusters which have, throughout time, assumed an immense importance
in both local and global histories. On the east lie the ports of
the Malacca and Sunda Straits and the Peninsula with its portages.
To the west are situated the ports of the Red Sea and the Persian
Gulf. Each was a bottleneck through which global commerce had to
pass, and in which goods and travelers had to disembark and linger
before re-embarking on the next stage of global voyaging.
The world’s major maritime trade route linked
together, for several thousand years, these Indian Ocean port clusters
of the Middle East and the Straits of Malacca.. The Southeast
Asian ports mediated between the Indian Ocean world and the great
markets and production centres of East Asia, while the ports situated
on the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the land bridges to the Mediterranean
linked that same Indian Ocean World with the Mediterranean and
Europe.
With goods went people and ideas. The ports of
both regions were inherently plural, drawing traders, craftsmen
and even labour from India and China as well as from each other.
There was much cultural hybridity and creole identities, but also
remarkable enduring identities kept separate by religion or caste
though living in the same crowded urban spaces. Languages, religions,
scripts, literature, foods, sculptures, works of art and sacred
texts travelled the same routes. These and diverse other aspects
of the comparisons of, and links between, these global crossroads
will comprise the foci of this conference.
Call for Papers (pdf)
Invitation letter (pdf)
Conference Programme (pdf)
Registration form (doc)
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a roundtable on
Cambodian Historical and Cultural Research:
Some Recent Developments |
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Date: 30 July
2010
Place: Seminar Rooms I & II, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
Rationale:
A Roundtable
The historical and cultural legacies of Southeast Asia remain relatively unknown
despite their
importance for understanding the region in both historical and contemporary
terms, and its role
in broader Asian and global history. This is particularly so of Cambodia,
where decades of war and
economic disruption have precluded to a large degree academic research
and dissemination of
research results. The historical importance of the Cambodian polities
and cultures in Southeast
Asian history demand a wider platform and that greater attention be
paid to the Cambodian
humanities and social sciences.
Today as a younger generation of Khmer scholars emerges and as
national conditions provide
the possibility for more concentrated study of Khmer history and
culture, we are pleased to
provide this forum for scholars engaged in the study of Cambodia
to present their research and
their ideas for possible new avenues of study. For this Roundtable,
we are bringing together a
range of scholars engaged in archaeological research, monument
studies, urban built heritage
research, Buddhism, and the building of research capacities in
the Cambodian social sciences
and humanities. The diversity of fields represented should allow
participants a broad overview of
current research in and on Cambodia and allow the presenters to
also learn from each other.
Invitation letter (pdf)
Invitation form (doc)
Programme (pdf)
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PORTUGUESE AND LUSO-ASIAN LEGACIES
IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, 1511-2011 |
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Dates:
28 - 30 September 2010
Place: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and Universiti
Teknologi MARA – Melaka Campus, Melaka
Description:
An
International Conference
From the late 15th to the early 16th centuries, the
Portuguese were the first European nation to enter the seas of South,
Southeast, and East Asia systematically, thereby accessing Asian
spice and luxury goods markets that had previously been linked to
Europe only by overland routes. With sea power, Europe was able to
insert itself into the existing trade systems of the Indian Ocean,
the South China Sea, and the western Pacific Ocean. Thus began a
new era in global trading that ultimately changed the order of magnitude
of commercial relations worldwide. It also ushered in a denser and
more complex set of political, social, economic, cultural, scientific,
and religious interactions among the peoples of the Eurasian continent
(and, by extension, Insular Southeast Asia) – especially those at
its eastern and western extremities – than had previously existed.
As such, the coming of the Europeans to Asia by sea is a watershed
in understanding the making of the globalized world that we know
today.
In the evolution of this new dynamic, the Portuguese did not
prove to be the most powerful of the European interlopers
in many senses
of the word. If anything, scholars today agree that to call
the Portuguese undertaking in Southeast Asia an “empire”
is a serious stretch of
the word’s meaning. Nevertheless, the relatively fractured,
tenuous, and diasporic Portuguese presence in the region
in both formal and
informal senses remains discernable to this day in a variety
of manifestations, and the legacies of that presence continue
to be the subject of active
academic inquiry by many different disciplines.
The year 2011 will mark the 500th anniversary of Afonso de
Albuquerque’s establishment of a Portuguese presence in Southeast
Asia with the
conquest of Melaka. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
is taking the occasion of that milestone to reflect on the
past half-millennium
of these interactions with a conference entitled “Portuguese
and Luso-Asian Legacies in Southeast Asia, 1511-2011”. Co-sponsored
by
ISEAS, the Embassy and Consulate of Portugal in Singapore,
and the Universiti Teknologi – MARA (UiTM) Melaka Campus,
and with the participation
of the Nalanda Sriwijaya Centre, the conference will be held
on 28-30 September 2010 in Singapore and Melaka. An edited
volume of select
conference papers will be launched in the latter part of
2011 with plans for a Portuguese language version of the
volume
to be published
as well. Transformations, accommodations, adaptations, reciprocities,
hybridities, conflict, collaboration, and integration are
among the key themes that will be explored by an international set
of scholars hailing from such disciplines as history, linguistics,
musicology, literature, anthropology, and architecture.
For more information, contact Dr. Laura J. Pang: lpang@iseas.edu.sg
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Networks of the Gods: Mapping the Chinese Temples of Singapore Using GIS Technology
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Date: Wednesday,
21 July 2010
Time: 4.00pm – 6.00 pm
Venue: Seminar Room II, ISEAS
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Speaker:
Professor Kenneth Dean
James McGill Professor and Drs. Richard Charles
and Esther Yewpick Lee
Chair of Chinese Cultural Studies
Department of East Asian Studies
McGill University, Canada
Download announcement
(pdf)
Download reply form (doc)
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Abstract of Talk
This talk introduces an ongoing research project which seeks to map
the locations and gather data on the Chinese temples of Singapore.
Using GIS mapping technology, we are able to display the distribution
of different varieties of Chinese temples, including Daoist temples,
spirit medium altars, Buddhist monasteries and folk Buddhist
temples, Theravadin and Tibetan Buddhist temples, Teochow shantang,
and temples dedicated to religious movements such as the Xiantianjiao,
the Dejiao, and the Zhenkongjiao. The talk aims to bring out
the potential of GIS mapping for raising new research questions.
The format will be open, and audience input and suggestions are
welcome.
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About the Speaker
Kenneth Dean is James McGill Professor and Drs. Richard
Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Chair of Chinese Cultural Studies
in the Department
of East Asian Studies of McGill University. He is currently Visiting
Research Professor in the Asia Research Institute and the Department
of Chinese Studies of NUS. Prof. Dean is the author of several
books on Daoism and Chinese popular religion, including Ritual
Alliances of the Putian Plains: Vol. 1: Historical Introduction
to the Return of the Gods, Vol. 2: A survey of village temples
and ritual activities, Leiden: Brill, 2010 (with Zheng Zhenman);
Epigraphical Materials on the History of Religion in Fujian: The
Quanzhou region,
3 vols., Fuzhou: 2004 (with Zheng Zhenman); Lord of the Three in One:
The spread of a cult in Southeast China, Princeton: 1998; Epigraphical
Materials on the History of Religion in Fujian: The Xinghua region;
Fuzhou 1995 (with Zheng Zhenman); Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of
Southeast China, Princeton 1993; and First and Last Emperors: The Absolute
State and the Body of the Despot (with Brian Massumi), Autonomedia,
New York. 1992. “Bored in Heaven”, an 80 minute documentary film on
ritual celebrations around Chinese New Year in Putian, Fujian, China,
is his first film.
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Different Cosmopolitianisms: Comparing Religous Spaces in Chinatowns of Kolkata
and Singapore
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Date: Thursday, 22 July 2010
Time: 4.00pm – 6.00 pm
Venue: Seminar Room II, ISEAS
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Speaker: Ms
Jayani Bonnerjee
PhD Candidate, Department of Geography
Queen Mary University of London; and
Visiting Research Fellow, Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre,
ISEAS
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Abstract of Talk
Although the current urban contexts of Kolkata and Singapore vary
considerably, both cities are connected in their colonial pasts,
especially through their various diasporic communities. The manner
in which the cosmopolitanisms of these two cities have developed,
is however, significantly different. Whilst the cosmopolitanism
of Kolkata is envisaged principally through its past, Singapore
has upheld its cosmopolitan legacy in the present through government
policies.
This talk focuses on religious spaces in the Chinatowns of Kolkata and Singapore
and particularly on the presence of Hindu temples in the Chinatowns
of these two cities to explore the connections and tensions between
religious spaces and cosmopolitanism. How do communities interact
through religious spaces? How do religious spaces facilitate these
encounters? How do religious spaces in the city reflect ideas and
practices of cosmopolitanisms? These are some of the questions this
talk aims to raise. Recent work has emphasised the importance of
a critical understanding of cosmopolitanism in its vernacular (Pollock
et al., 2002) and alternative (Nandy, 2000) forms. By bringing together
the different contexts of religious spaces in Kolkata and Singapore’s
Chinatowns, this talk will reflect on the nature of cosmopolitanisms
in these Asian cities.
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About the Speaker
Jayani Bonnerjee is a visiting research fellow at the Nalanda-Sriwijaya
Centre, ISEAS. She has recently submitted her PhD thesis at the
Department of Geography, Queen Mary University of London. Her doctoral
research focuses on the idea of the neighbourhood as an everyday
shared space and its impact on the identity of Calcutta’s Anglo-Indian
and Chinese communities in the city and in diaspora in London and
Toronto. She has wider research interests in the critical intersections
between cities, communities and diaspora.
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Interactions between Sumatra and South Asia
(12th – mid-17th c.) |
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Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010
Time: 4.00pm – 6.00 pm
Venue: Seminar Room II, ISEAS
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Speaker:
Dr Daniel Perret
Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient
(Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur
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Abstract
of Talk
Sea voyages and migrations from South Asia towards the Malay
world are documented through at least the last two millennia.
Until now, two major themes have dominated the historiography
of the early interactions between these two regions, namely Indianization
and trade.
We present here the initial phase of a research project on another aspect of
these interactions, since it involves the people of South Asia
themselves who visited and sometimes settled in the Malay world.
Contrary to the near silence of the South Asian sources on this
issue, the Malay world provides fragmentary information on this,
through local traditions, place-names and inscriptions from the
large western islands such as Sumatra. Since the 1970s, this early
presence has been increasingly documented through the results of
archaeological excavations in ancient settlements. Moreover, through
the European archives and travel reports, the numerous historical
studies on the sultanates of Samudra-Pasai, Melaka, Aceh and Banten,
and
the long-distance maritime trade in the region, we may be able
to obtain a clearer vision, at a global level and in the longue
durée, of the place and role of these South Asian individuals and
communities in local and regional history.
After a brief and preliminary overview of this
topic for the whole of Sumatra during the period under study, the
presentation will focus on the case of Barus, a trading settlement
on the west coast of the island, where a French-Indonesian archaeological
project conducted between 2001 and 2004 yielded a number of data
suggesting rich and various early contacts between the Malay world
and South Asia.
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About
the Speaker
Daniel Perret has been a researcher at the Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient
(EFEO) since 1995. He has been the EFEO representative in Jakarta
(2000-2002, 2005-2006), in Kuala Lumpur (1995-1999) and again
in Malaysia since September 2007. His researches are mostly focused
on the history of the Malay Peninsula and the northern part of
Sumatra, with the impact of the Dutch colonization on the emergence
of ethnic identities in Northeast Sumatra as his initial field
of interest. More recent works include archaeological investigations
on ancient settlements in the province of North Sumatra (Barus,
and currently Padang Lawas) and in South Thailand (Pattani),
as well as researches on old Muslim tombstones known as 'batu
Aceh'.
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The Asian Civilisations Museum - Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Lecture Series |
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Murugan – A 'Dravidian' Deity – and the Tamil Diaspora |
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Date: Tuesday, 04 May 2010
Time: 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm
Venue: Ngee Ann Auditorium, Asian Civilisations Museum, 1 Empress Place,
Singapore 179555
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Download
notice (pdf)
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NĀLANDĀ AND CHINESE BUDDHIST PILGRIM MONKS |
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Date: Monday, 10 May 2010
Time: 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm
Venue: Singapore Buddhist Lodge,
17-19 Kim Yam Road,
Singapore 239329
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Speaker: Professor Wang Bangwei
Institute of Oriental Studies
Peking University
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Abstract
of Talk
As one of the most important Buddhist monasteries and the centre
of Buddhist scholarship in ancient India, Nālandā was a sacred place
to Chinese Buddhist believers. The great Chinese pilgrim monk, Master
Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty studied at Nālandā for several years.
After him, Master Yijing stayed at the place for over ten years.
And around the same time many other Chinese Buddhist monks visited
Nālandā as well. In this sense, Nālandā not only belongs to India
but also to all Asian Buddhists. From the pilgrimage experience of
those Chinese Buddhist masters we learn the spirit of Buddhism and
find new inspiration in strengthening the cultural links among Asian
people.
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About the Speaker
Wang Bangwei teaches as a professor at the
Institute of Oriental Studies, the Research Centre of Eastern Literature
and the Centre for India Studies of Peking University at Beijing. Since
1984 he has published a number of academic books and articles, mostly
in China, some in Germany, France, India, Sweden, Japan and Estonia.
These include the research on the history of Chinese Buddhist pilgrimage
and the Accounts of Xuanzang and Yijing. Others are on the history
of Sino-Indian cultural relations. He is also a member the Nalanda
Mentor Group for the project to re-establish a new Nalanda University
in India.
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那烂陀-室利佛逝中心-佛教居士林讲座系列：
那烂陀与中国求法僧的朝圣之旅
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日期：2010年5月10日 （星期一）
时间：7.00pm-8.30pm
地点：新加坡佛教居士林7层（17-19 Kim Yam Road, Singapore 239329）
入场免费
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王邦维
教授
北京大学东方学研究院
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讲座简介：
那烂陀是印度古代最重要的佛教寺院之一，也曾经是印度的佛教学术中心。对于中国古代的佛教徒来说，那烂陀更是一处圣地。中国唐代的玄奘法师，西行求法，最主要的目的地就是那烂陀。玄奘法师在那烂陀学习佛教经典数年之久。玄奘之后，又有义净法师来到那烂陀，学习时间超过十年。其他曾经那烂陀留学过的中国僧人还有许多。那烂陀在历史上成为联系印度佛教和中国佛教，印度与中国乃至亚洲各国的文化纽带。今天重新审视这段历史，能够帮助我们理解佛教的精神和加强亚洲各国人民的友谊。
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演讲人简介：
王教授主要从事梵语文学、梵语与汉语佛教文献、印度和中国佛教史、中印文化关系史等方面的教学和研究。其研究对象还包括了中国佛教徒朝圣历史，高僧玄奘，
义净的记载以及中印文化交流历史。他于1996年出版了《唐高僧义净生平及其著作论考》一书。同时王教授也是那烂陀顾问团的成员， 对位于印度的那烂陀大学的重建项目提供指导。
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