Events

This event is organized by Asia Research Institute; with funding support from Office of the Deputy of President (Research and Technology), National University of Singapore.

Singapore is the hub of Southeast Asia. All kinds of networks have Singapore as their central node. Many of the founding pioneers of Singapore established transnational business networks based on the island, linking it to Southeast Asia, China, and the global market. Early Chinese settlers placed their collective regional business offices (huiguan) inside temples dedicated to their local deities, and these temples developed rites to bolster business trust. The networks of these branch temples/huiguan connect Singapore to founding temples and regions in Southeast China, as well as to other sites around Southeast Asia.  Similar networks were developed by Indian merhants, many of whom were also Indian temple founders, and by Malay community and business leaders who founded mosques. Muslim merchants and moneylenders were involved in an extensive Arab trading network linking Singapore to the Middle East. Christian missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, built churches, schools, printing presses, and hospitals to serve a growing community of believers.

This July workshop and the larger conference to follow in March 2016 seek papers that examine different networks from a comparative perspective. Papers are welcome that map the historical evolution of religious networks, or discuss their current central nodes and secondary transmission points, investigate their internal organizations and processes, as well as their flows of investment capital, their practices, ideas of the good life, their forms of ritual knowledge and their ritual specialists, and the kinds of symbolic and associative capital developed within these networks. We also welcome papers on the transnational networks of the business firms (shanghao) and shipping companies (chuanhao) of Southeast Asian merchants and community leaders, and their involvement with religious networks of various kinds.

PROGRAM

WORKSHOP THEMES

• Religious Networks in Vietnam and Burma
• Trade and Religion In and Around Singapore
• Chinese Religious and Trade Networks in Southeast Asia
• Theoretical Approaches to Religious Networks

PAPER PRESENTERS

• Religious Interactions: Using Confucian Nom Texts to Attack Buddhism
  Claudine Ang, Yale-NUS College, Singapore

• Chinese Temples and Trade Networks in Burma
  Li Yi, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

• Islamic Trade Networks In and Around Singapore
  Kenneth Hall, Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore

• Chinese Trade and Religion in Southeast Asia
  Kwee Hui Kian, University of Toronto, Canada

• Lineages Temples from China and their Transformations in Singapore
  Ong Chang Woei & Koh Khee Heong, National University of Singapore

• Mazu Pilgrimage in Penang
  Fabian Graham, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany

• Mazu Pilgrimage in Taiwan
  Steven Sangren, Cornell University, USA

• Comparative Approaches to Chinese Ritual Networks
  Kenneth Dean, National University of Singapore

REGISTRATION

Admission is free, however registration is required. Kindly register early as seats are available on a first come, first serve basis. Please email to minghua.tay@nus.edu.sg to indicate your interest to attend the workshop.

CONTACT DETAILS

Workshop Convenor

Prof Kenneth DEAN

Asia Research Institute, and Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore
E | chshead@nus.edu.sg