This project aims to combine the strengths of NUS and USPC in the area of religious studies in Southeast Asia to set the groundwork to develop an international collaboration with local academic research institutions. Our objective is to examine the intersections that can bring together the individual interests of scholars working on issue of religious mobility in Asia, in order to establish an academic network that will enable us to collaborate on research projects and funding proposals, as well as on joint publications and conferences. Focusing on the diverse ways in which religious ideas, practices and objects circulate in the region, our initiative emphasizes how technologies of mobility and networks that enable circulation contribute to the shaping of religious communities.

With this joint research initiative, we aim to develop a strong partnership with the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) of the National University of Malaysia (UKM) and IRASEC (Bangkok)/Chiang-Mai University (CMU), Thailand, that will enable us to broaden the reach of our network by incorporating local scholars and institutions. Doing this, we hope to bring universities like NUS and USPC into closer interaction with regional players. Our guiding research question asks how can religious mobility – approached from perspectives originating in the study of different Asian religious traditions and from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds – offer new ways of imagining human and material religious circulation across Asia. By directing our research lens toward aspects of mobility and materiality, we propose an innovative and dynamic approach to the study of religion in Southeast Asia that interrogates conventional models focused on unidirectional flows between center and periphery, as well as patterns that conceive of stability as norm vs. movement as exception. Our ultimate goal is to generate a lasting partnership between the institutions and between individual scholars. To do this, we hope to offer an interdisciplinary space to envision long-term and creative collaborations in the field of religion and mobility.

Project Duration: 2 May 2017 – 30 April 2018