ASIAR

Religious Organization Ecology: Exploring Schisms in High-Tension Religious Groups
2023-07-25 12:00 - 13:30 (Asia/Hong_Kong) | Via Zoom (Registration required)
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Religious Organization Ecology: Exploring Schisms in High-Tension Religious Groups
Date/Time:July 25, 2023, 12:00 noon (HKT)Language: English
Venue: Via ZOOM (Registration is required.)
Registration Link: https://bit.ly/ASIARJuly25

ABSTRACTPrevious studies have attempted to synthesize religious economies, new institutional, and organizational ecology theories into a single perspective. Religious organization ecology theory proposes to be that synthesis and attempts to address meso-level weaknesses in cultural studies of lived religion. By analyzing schisms within high tension religious groups (otherwise known as “cults,” “new religious movements,” or “emergent religious groups”), the importance of church to sect mechanics, authority and doctrine, and niche conditions become apparent. These findings support ROE theory expectations of schism, suggesting that this research program may be a good way to address positivist charges of a lack of empiricism. Finally, the contribution of ROE to the cultural sociological study of religion is discussed. Future studies are needed to verify the theoretical improvements posited by ROE.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERSteven Foertsch is an award-winning third-year doctoral student in the sociology of religion program at Baylor University and research assistant at the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) with experience in research, policy, and working for IGOs/NGOs. From experiences ranging from AmeriCorps to the United Nations, he focuses on socio-ontological belief. He has conducted many studies to get at these religious and political beliefs– varying from Middle Age Papal Hegemony, Satanism, Wampanoag powwows, and AI chatbots to contemporary Christofascism. With this background, Steven is looking forward to continuing his research into the intersections of belief, social and political philosophy, emerging and New Age religious groups, political economy, deviance, and pluralism.
HOSTDr Paul Joosse (Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong)
ORGANIZERSASIAR Research Cluster, HKIHSS

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Time and the River: Temporal and Material Flows and the Potency of Life on the Mekong
2023-04-26 19:30 - 21:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
Time and the River: Temporal and Material Flows and the Potency of Life on the Mekong
ABSTRACTDams suggest progress – they are a way of arresting the flow of water (and that which it contains) to convert its potential energy into something useable. But in so doing, dams reconfigure the multiple lives and non-lives within which riparian residents live. But this is a transformation, not simply an erasure: as multiple scholars have shown, modernity gives rise to new magics, and new ways of being. This lecture explores these new ways of negotiating power and potency on a changed river, asking what new horizons open as old ones close, and exploring how these new potentials disturb webs of being and dwelling on the river.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERAndrew Alan Johnson is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University. He is the author of Mekong Dreaming: Life and Death along a Changing River (Duke University Press, 2022) and Ghosts of the New City: Spirits, Urbanity and the Ruins of Progress in Urban Northern Thailand (University of Hawaii Press, 2014).
ORGANIZERS-ASIAR Research Cluster, HKIHSS, under the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G)-NYU Shanghai Centre for Global Asia

Buddhism in Russia: Introspection of Spirituality and New Modalities
2023-04-18 19:00 - 21:00 | G/F Lecture Hall, May Hall, HKU & Via ZOOM
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Buddhism in Russia: Introspection of Spirituality and New Modalities
Date/Time:April 18, 2023, 7:00 – 9:00 pm (HK time)Language: English
Venue: G/F Lecture Hall, May Hall, HKU & via ZOOM (Registration is required.)
Registration Link: http://bit.ly/RussianBuddhism

ABSTRACTBuddhism is regarded as a traditional faith in Russia and is part of the national spiritual tradition. Buddhism is a traditional religion for three regions of Russia: Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia. In the 17th century, Vajrayāna (Lamaism) Buddhism was brought to Russia by the cattle-breeding Buryats and Kalmyks who had come from Dzungaria (China) to the lower Volga. In 1741, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna recognized Lamaism in Buryatia and arranged for the formation of Buddhist monasteries. This date is considered the date of official recognition of Buddhism in Russia.
During the Soviet period, the Buddhist clergy suffered from persecution and many lamas lost their land rights. Schools and monasteries were shut down, temples were robbed, and their material possessions were confiscated and put in museums.
At the same time, Russian intellectuals used Buddhism as a way to express their discontent with the social system and as a way to escape the harshness of reality. Unofficial Buddhist communities began to develop in the USSR and then Russia. Nowadays, Buddhism is present in Russia in a variety of ways: as an organized institution, unifying the traditional Vajrayāna communities; non-institutional Buddhism in the form of small groups of Mahayana and Theravada; lay Buddhism in the form of a philosophical and everyday cultural tradition. In recent years, the government has been offering substantial backing to Buddhist clerics in their educational pursuits.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERAlexey MASLOV is a professor and the Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Moscow State University, as well as the President of the Foundation for promoting Buddhist Education and Research. He is a renowned scholar in Asian and Chinese studies in Russia, a governmental expert in East Asian relations, a visiting professor of several European and Chinese Universities, and he has published more than 20 books, including translations of Buddhist scriptures.
ORGANIZERS•ASIAR Research Cluster, HKIHSS, under the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G)
•HKU Centre of Buddhist Studies

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Ways To Be and Not to Be: Reading LaoZhuangZi PhiloPoetically
2023-04-18 12:00 - 13:30 | May Hall 201 AND via Zoom (Registration is required.)
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Ways To Be and Not to Be: Reading LaoZhuangZi PhiloPoetically
Date/Time:April 18, 2023, 12:00 – 13:30 pm (HK time)Language: English
Venue: May Hall 201 AND via ZOOM (Registration is required.)
Registration Link: http://bit.ly/KyooTalk

ABSTRACTReady? Set, here we go again.
“Pathways” (Dao道) in classical Daoist discourses, not really “ready-made,” tend to make themselves anew quite readily, all the way through; “way-making (dao) that can be put into words,” “eloquently couched” as such (信言不美 美言不信Daodejing 道德經CH 8), “is not really way-making” (道可道非常道), says the old sage (老子), who also says that “those who know will not say it, and those who say would not know it” (知者不言 言者不知). What is he saying? Dao is effable and ineffable. So what? What are we supposed to do?
Today, which GPS will take us to this Daoist “door of all wonders” (衆妙)? What kind of thresholding, not just gatekeeping, would be possible? Taking the auto-poetic generativity of such good old Daoist paradoxes and ironies as a philosophically renewable energy, this seminar, the first in the series, on the Daoist PhiloPoetics of transitive ambiguation introduces ways to reboot Laozi (老子) and Zhuangzi (庄子) translingually, focusing on their metamorphic—metaphorical and metaphysical—avant-gardism, their waiting (weiding未定 Zhuangzi 04) game.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERKyoo Lee aka Q is a philosopher, writer, art critic and a Professor of Philosophy and Gender Studies at the City University of New York, who works widely in the interwoven fields of the Arts and Humanities. The author of Reading Descartes Otherwise (FUP) and a forthcoming book on visual philopoetics (MIT Press), she is a recipient of faculty fellowships from Cambridge University, KIAS and the Mellon Foundation among others, and her genre-bending writings that explore co-generative links between critical theory and creative prose have appeared in Flash Art, Jacket 2, Randian, The White Review, etc., as well as numerous academic venues. Actively engaged in various editorial (currently, philoSOPHIA, SUNY Press), curatorial and public intellectual projects, recently she served as the editor for the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2022, a judge for the Poetry Translation Prizes at the Poetry Translation Center (London) and PEN America (NYC), and the faculty leader for the Mellon Seminar at the CUNY Graduate Center, “mp3: merging poetry, philosophy, performativity.”
ORGANIZERASIAR Research Cluster, HKIHSS, HKU

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The Belt and Road Initiative and Spirit Mediums: The Lower Sesan 2 Dam and Sacred Space in Northeastern Cambodia
2023-03-27 09:30 - 11:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
The Belt and Road Initiative and Spirit Mediums: The Lower Sesan 2 Dam and Sacred Space in Northeastern Cambodia
ABSTRACTThe Lower Sesan 2 Dam (LS2) is the largest and most controversial hydropower dam ever developed in Cambodia. The 400 MW capacity project, which blocks both the Sesan and Srepok Rivers in Stung Treng Province, northeastern Cambodia, was only completed by a Chinese company, Hydrolancang International Energy Company, in 2018, as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Here, I consider the relationship between LS2 and sacred spaces of rural ethnic Lao people, including how spirit mediums and the associated belief systems of local people have been impacted by LS2. Female spirit mediums have contested the LS2 since before its construction began, and have also been directly affected by the dam. Adopting a feminist political approach, the argument is that apart from having potentially important material impacts, dams such as LS2 also serve to alter nature-society relations through variously affecting spirit mediums, their practices, and beliefs associated with spirits.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERDr. Ian G. Baird is a Professor of Geography and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Most of work relates to political ecology and Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. His most recent book is Rise of the Brao: Ethnic Minorities in Northeastern Cambodia during Vietnamese Occupation (University of Wisconsin Press, 2020).
ORGANIZER
Organizer: ASIAR Research Cluster, HKIHSS, under the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G)

From Faith Statements to Faith Stakeholders – The Growth of the Faith Environment Movement Worldwide | by Martin Palmer
2023-03-22 16:30 - 18:20 | Knowles Building 223, The University of Hong Kong
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Special Lecture of CCHU9014 Spirituality, Religion and Social Change
From Faith Statements to Faith Stakeholders – The Growth of the Faith Environment Movement Worldwide
Date/Time:
March 22, 2023, 16:30 – 18:20 (HK time)
Language: English
Venue: Knowles Building 223, The Univerisity of Hong Kong
Registration is required (except for CCHU9014 students): https://bit.ly/2023March22
ABSTRACT
The world’s faiths run 50% of all schools; a third of all universities; more than a third of all medical facilities; own about 8% of the habitable surface of the planet; and are probably the fifth largest investing group in the world. In 1986 at the request of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh as International president of WWF, Martin Palmer organised the first ever meeting between the world’s major faiths and the environmental movement. Nearly forty years on, every major faith in the world has created environmental statements based on their beliefs and teachings. Since then, hundreds of thousands of temples, mosques, churches etc now run environmental projects. The UN has described the faith environment movement as “the largest civil society environmental movement in the world.”
But faith groups aren’t just moral voices – they are also direct stakeholders. In 2019 The Duke of Edinburgh and Martin Palmer founded Faithinvest to work with all the major faiths on helping them be Faith-Consistent in their Investments. Four years on, many faiths are now reviewing their investment policies and demanding better environmental and sustainable opportunities to put their teachings into practice through their assets and investments.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Martin Palmer is co-founder with HRH The late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh of the Alliance on Religions and Conservation (ARC), and founding President and CEO of Faithinvest. He is a Fellow of the Club of Rome and Special Advisor to many faith networks as well as to the UN and World Bank.
Martin studied Theology, Religious Studies and Chinese at Cambridge (1973-6) after a year as a volunteer in Hong Kong from 1972 -3 where he learnt to read Classical Chinese and speak Cantonese. Martin is a regular contributor to BBC programmes and has written over twenty books on faiths. He is one of the foremost translators of Chinese Classics, including the Dao De Jing, the Yijing and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, most of these for Penguin Classics.
He is an active Anglican Lay Preacher and is married to the writer and former SCMP journalist Victoria Finlay.

ORGANIZERS
Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster (ASIAR), HKIHSS, HKU
Center of Buddhist Studies, HKU
Faith and Global Engagement, HKIHSS, HKU
The New Mindscape (CCHU9014 Spirituality, Religion and Social Change | HKU Common Core)

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Africa in and beyond China’s BRI: Development and Security in a New Era of Global Competition
2023-02-28 18:00 - 19:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
Africa in and beyond China’s BRI: Development and Security in a New Era of Global Competition
ABSTRACTThis seminar will examine Africa in the evolving BRI with special interest in security. It will firstly take stock of Africa in the BRI at a time of change and questions about the trajectory of a transcontinental nature that has been repositioning Africa’s previous salience in China’s foreign policy in the global South. Almost all African states have signed up to the BRI, which has also been integrated into the official China-Africa cooperation framework. In practice, however, the BRI remains a work in progress. Second, and drawing on such cases as Mali and South Sudan, it will examine the multifaceted theme of security in Africa’s engagement with the BRI and in terms of how China’s multi-level engagement has been evolving. In doing so, particular attention will be dedicated to examining China’s official rationale concerning the efficacy of economic development as key to overcoming security challenges.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERDr. Daniel Large is Associate Professor at Central European University, Vienna, Austria, and a Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute, Nairobi. His book publications include China and Africa: The New Era (Polity, 2021), and New Directions in the Study of Africa and China (Routledge, 2018), co-edited with Chris Alden, and recent journal articles include “China, Africa and the 2021 Dakar FOCAC.” African Affairs (2022) and, with Lina Benabdallah, “‘The Key to solving all problems’? Unpacking China’s development-as-security approach in Mali.” Third World Quarterly (2022).
ORGANIZER
Organizer: ASIAR Research Cluster, HKIHSS, under the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G)
Co-organizer: NYU Shanghai Center for Global Asia

Healing Our World 療癒我們的家園 | World Religion Day 2023
2023-02-05 14:00 - 17:00
[Re-activated]
World Religion Day 2023
Healing Our World: Spiritual Inspirations, Conversations, Actions
療癒我們的家園：知—行—共勉
Interfaith dialogue, devotions and music with members of different religious and non-religious communities in HK. Come to share and learn about healing our world at the personal, community and planetary levels
Date: Feb 5 (Sun), 2023
Time: 2 – 5 pm (HKT)
Language: English
Venue: EY Wavespace, 22/F Citic Tower, 20 Tim Mei Avenue, Central, Hong Kong.
Format: Prayers, singing & chanting performances + Interfaith dialogue + Panel sharings
Register TODAY: Email <secretariat@bahai.hk> or call +852 2367 6407 for registration.
(Limited quotas are available, first come first serve)*Further details will be sent to you upon successful registration

Bringing local values into the ESG framework in Asia | Green Finance Forum
2023-01-16 16:30 - 18:30 | Hybrid – HKU Social Sciences Chamber (Jockey Club Tower, 11/F) and via Zoom
BRINFAITH | ESG BRI
Green Finance Forum: Bringing local values into the ESG framework in Asia
Opening Remark:Dr Ma Jun, Co-chairman, G-20 Sustainable Finance Study Group; Chairman, Hong Kong Green Finance Association

Keynote Speeches
The changing definitions of ESG investment in Asia
Speaker: Anthony Cheung, Managing Director, ESG at Polymer Capital; Convenor of Green Finance, Board Governor at Friends of the Earth (HK)
Abstract: ESG has gained prominence in Asia including Hong Kong for a relatively short period of time. Yet, its definitions and applications are already shifting. Through examining a selection of latest initiatives and regulations, this introduction will illustrate how the definitions of ESG investment are changing in Hong Kong and across the region and what are the key implications.

Bringing local values into the ESG framework: the WeValue InSitu method
Speaker: Prof Marie Harder, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai
Abstract: A significant challenge for ESG systems is to find ways to obtain useful indicators about local shared values, which are considered very difficult to elicit in an authentic, communicable, and useful form which also allows comparisons across localities. In this presentation we introduce the method named WeValue InSitu, which takes groups of local persons through a crystallization process whereby their lived-values are made more explicit through specially designed cycles of meaning-making dialogic activity. We will use illustrations from cities such as Shanghai and Vienna and BRI countries in Asia and Africa studies to explore the usefulness of the WeValue InSitu approach for use in ESG.

Respondents
Prof Tarani Chandola, Director, Methods Hub, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU

Lufei Yang, SDG Finance Lead, Asia, UNOPS

Joy Song, Co-chair of ESG Disclosure and Integration Working Group, HKGFA

Roundtable Discussion

Co-organisers
BRINFAITH, ASIAR research cluster, HKIHSS, HKU
The Methods Hub, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU

Supporting Institutions (no particular order)
Hong Kong Financial Services Institute
Hong Kong Green Finance Association
LL.M. Arbitration and Dispute Resolution, Faculty of Law, HKU
Centre for Global Asia, NYU Shanghai
Friends of Earth (HK)
The Hong Kong Independent Non-Executive Director Association
CPA Australia

Sailors and Slaves in Medieval Maritime Asia: from baghdād to baghpūr
2022-11-16 20:00 - 21:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
Sailors and Slaves in Medieval Maritime Asia: from baghdād to baghpūr
ABSTRACTThis talk presents some of the preliminary ideas and findings of Dr. Ha Guangtian’s ongoing project which examines the role of multi-racial, multi-religious, and multi-lingual sailors and slaves in facilitating Muslim trans-regional trade in medieval maritime Asia. He asks what is entailed if we are to shift our attention away from trade and diplomacy; and how we are to reconstruct an alternative subaltern trans-regionalism where race, religion, and class intersect — in ways that may compel us to reconsider current paradigms centred on the trans-Atlantic world.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERDr. Ha Guangtian is Assistant Professor of Religion at Haverford College and the author of Fragile Transcendence: Sound and Saint in Sino-Sufism, to be published in September 2021. He is currently working on a new project that examines the entwinement of sex and slavery in the making of Islam in maritime Asia.

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

Greening the Belt and Road: Risk Mitigation, Dispute Prevention and Resolution
2022-09-14 10:30 - 12:00 | online via Zoom or in person (11/F, Academic Conference Room, Faculty of Law, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, HKU)
BRINFAITH | Green BRI
Greening the Belt and Road: Risk Mitigation, Dispute Prevention and Resolution
Keynote Speech: Green Investment Principles Along the Belt and Road
About the SpeakerDr. Ma Jun is currently the Chairman of the Green Finance Committee, China Society for Finance and Banking, and the former member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the People’s Bank of China. He led the drafting of China’s Green Finance Guidelines (2015-16) and facilitated global consensus on scaling up green finance under the G20 framework (2016-18). As a leader in the field of green and sustainable finance, Dr. Ma Jun also serves as the sustainable finance special adviser of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Director of Beijing Green Finance Association, the Chairman and President of Hong Kong Green Finance Association, and many other public welfare duties.

Discussants SpeechesDeveloping Holistic and Locally Based Frameworks for Greening the BRI
Speaker: Prof. David Palmer, HKIHSS/Dept of Sociology

Belt & Road Initiative and Dispute ResolutionSpeaker: Edward Liu, MH, Partner, Haiwen & Partners LLP

Roundtable: Greening the BRI-risk mitigation, dispute resolution and prevention
Discussants:Dr. Ma JunProf. David PalmerMr. Edward LiuProf. Shahla Ali
Rundown:10:30am – 10:35am Welcome and Introduction by Prof. Ali10:35am – 11:05am Presentation by Dr. Ma11:05am – 11:15am Presentation by Prof. Palmer11:15am – 11:25am Presentation by Mr. Liu11:25am – 11:35am Presentation by Prof. Ali11:35am – 12:00nn Open discussion/Q&A

Iran and BRI: A Cultural Perspective of Strategic Cooperation
2022-09-13 13:00 - 14:00 | via Google Meet (Registration Required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
Iran and BRI: A Cultural Perspective of Strategic Cooperation
ABSTRACTIran and China’s relationship is following a long tradition of exchanges that can be traced back to ancient times. Certainly, when studying the long tradition of Iran and China, we can perceive that the Silk Road was not only linking cities like Xi’an and Isfahan for trade but also facilitated, the exchange of ideas, sciences, education, and intellectual exchanges. One of the most important aspects of Iran and China relations in ancient times is religion. Persian religions including Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism were spread to China by the Iranian elites who have also played an important role in non-Iranian religions in this regard. The relationship between China and Iran has intertwined in history as well as the old and new Silk Road projects and BRI. Indeed, cultural contacts and mutual influence via the Silk Road have been robust throughout the centuries. My speech proposes a new understanding of the old relationship between the two nations in the present cultural and political climate.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERDr. Alireza Khoshrou is currently a senior research associate in China Studies in the Research Department, at the Islamic Cultural and Relation Organization, Iran. He had served as Head of East Asian Religions Studies at the International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (ICRO). Khoshrou is a member of the Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran and he has written extensively on cross- cultural issues in East Asia and China. Khoshrou graduated from Jilin University. He has been invited as a visiting scholar to several universities, including Chinese Hong Kong University, Waseda University, Jilin University, Shandong University, University of Ljubljana, etc. Dr. Khoshrou’s academic works and research focus on Modern Confucianism, Chinese Culture and Religious Studies and Public Diplomacy.
ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

Magic Power Reconfigured: Chinese Popular Religion in Cities
2022-05-25 14:00 - 15:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
Magic Power Reconfigured: Chinese Popular Religion in Cities

ABSTRACTThis talk analyzes how divine magic power is reconfigured in the urban setting. The speaker will discuss how a spirit medium, who moved from the countryside in Taiwan to an urban area, refashioned the elements of village religion to cope with the fast life rhythms of adherents who are scattered across the city and no longer share a unified dwelling space. The speaker will examine the spirit medium, the core shrine members, and occasional petitioners, and show how affective and psychological connections have become increasingly important in binding urban adherents to deities. Distinct from Western religious individualism premised on individual preference and freedom of will, the contemporary popular religion in Taiwan is ingrained with kinship intimacy.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERWei-Ping Lin received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Cambridge University. She is a Professor at National Taiwan University. She was affiliated with the Harvard-Yenching Institute in 2005-06 and 2017-18, and with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University in 2012-13. Her interests include religion (including topics related to material culture, spirit mediums, and urban religious transformation), kinship, and imagination. She is the author of Materializing Magic Power: Chinese Popular Religion in Villages and Cities (Harvard University Asia Center, 2015), and Island Fantasia: Imagining Subjects on the Military Frontline between China and Taiwan (Cambridge University Press). She also edited Mediating Religion: Music, Image, Object and New Media (Taiwan University Press, 2018; in Chinese) and Ambience Contaminated: Sensory Experiences and the Boundary of Religion (Taiwan University Press, forthcoming; in Chinese).

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

“The Dharma Assembly”: Exploring a dynamic infrastructure for contemporary Han Chinese participation in Tibetan Buddhist monastic contexts
2022-05-10 13:00 - 14:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
“The Dharma Assembly”: Exploring a dynamic infrastructure for contemporary Han Chinese participation in Tibetan Buddhist monastic contexts
ABSTRACTDuring the first half of the twentieth century, all but a handful of intrepid Han Chinese practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism undertook the long and difficult journey to the Tibetan plateau. In the contemporary era, however, massively improved transport infrastructures mean that Tibetan sacred landscapes, monastery spaces and ritual gatherings are now important settings for contemporary Han Chinese involvement in Tibetan Buddhism. This talk explores a participatory infrastructure that has played an outsize role in facilitating, focusing, and fostering the visits of Han Chinese Buddhists to Tibetan monastic contexts in the past three decades: namely, the “Dharma assembly.” Drawing on fieldwork findings from the 2010s, I will discuss how Dharma assemblies – large scale multi-day ritual events – have been creatively and flexibly deployed to meet and mediate the needs of Tibetan lamas, their monasteries, and Chinese followers in a period of burgeoning cross-cultural religious encounter.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERCatherine Hardie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research lies at the intersection of the Tibetan and Chinese cultural worlds with a particular focus on contemporary Han Chinese involvement in Tibetan Buddhism. She completed her doctoral studies in anthropology at the University of Oxford in 2019 with the thesis titled “Tibetan Buddhist Spiritual Capital in Contemporary China.” She is currently working on her first book project as well as extending her research into Tibetan Buddhism in China with a GRF-funded project looking at the platform-based dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism on WeChat and Weibo. Her publication and translation activity to date has centred on Larung Gar, a preeminent Tibetan Buddhist institution and religious settlement in Eastern Tibet. A forthcoming book chapter titled “Innovations in Lay Buddhist Education in New Era China’s Sinophone Tibetan Buddhist Milieu” examines Larung Gar’s impactful and innovative digitally-mediated Buddhist outreach in the Han Chinese world during the culminating decade of China’s reform era (2006-2015).

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

"Without ritual, there would be no ethnic culture": Religion and changing Chinese diasporic identity in Vietnam
2022-04-11 13:00 - 14:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
“Without ritual, there would be no ethnic culture”: Religion and changing Chinese diasporic identity in Vietnam
ABSTRACTIn this talk, I will present a total of four case studies to analyse the transformations and hidden discourses of ethnic Chinese (người Hoa 華人) rituals dedicated to public gods. Vietnam’s ethnic Hoa communities have proactively taken advantage of their long-lasting folk religions and ritual system to reserve and further the values of maintaining ethnic cultural identity and developing inter-ethnic exchanges.
With their post-war economic status in decline, Vietnam’s ethnic Chinese have been learning to use their cultural traditions to secure their position in the local society. As a result, the Confucian concept of “Without ritual, there would be no morality” 道德禮儀, 非禮不成 has now been re-formulated as “Without ritual, there would be no ethnic culture” 民族文化, 非禮不成 and been applied to adapt to local socio-political backgrounds in contemporary Vietnamese society.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERNguyen Ngoc Tho (阮玉詩) is Associate Professor in Cultural Studies, majoring in East Asian and Vietnamese folklore and social ritual studies. He concentrates on rituals, customs and daily life of the Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese peoples under the East Asian perspective. He obtained his PhD degree in Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City, was a visiting scholar to Zhongshan University (PRC) in 2008, the Harvard-Yenching Institute during the 2017/2018 academic year, Harvard University’s Asia Centre in 2018/2019, Boston University in 2019/2020, and Brandeis University 2020/2021. Nguyen Ngoc Tho is the author of six books and more than 40 journal articles published in Vietnam and overseas. He holds the co-authorship of dozen other books, book chapters and journal articles. He is currently the Dean of Faculty of Cultural Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City. He also serves as a member of the Standing Committee of The National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) of Vietnam (Council of Culture, Arts, and Tourism).

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

Old Roads, Religious Mobility, and Paradigms of Long-Distance Transmission: Epigraphic and Petroglyphic Complexes in a Transit Zone between Eurasian Frontiers
2022-02-25 10:00 - 11:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
Old Roads, Religious Mobility, and Paradigms of Long-Distance Transmission: Epigraphic and Petroglyphic Complexes in a Transit Zone between Eurasian Frontiers
ABSTRACTGraffiti inscriptions and rock drawings mark an ancient network of capillary routes that connected Central Asian Silk Routes with major South Asian arteries for religious mobility and trade. The presentation aims to showcase developments of digital imaging and mapping techniques to document and promote the tangible cultural heritage of epigraphic and petroglyphic complexes in the Upper Indus transit zone of northern Pakistan. In order to better explain patterns of religious, cultural and commercial exchanges, paradigms of long-distance transmission provide useful alternatives to gradual diffusion by point-to-point contact expansion based on models of ‘Old Roads’ between Chinese, Central Asian and Indian empires.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERJason Neelis, Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University and author of Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2010), conducts research on cross-cultural exchanges along intertwined networks for migration, trade, and religious and cultural transmission within and beyond the north-western borderlands of South Asia. He currently directs a project on Epigraphic and Petroglyphic Complexes in the Upper Indus region of northern Pakistan.

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

Hidden Treasures of the Silk Road— An Ontological Shift in Thinking of Things
2022-01-26 13:00 - 14:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
Hidden Treasures of the Silk Road—An Ontological Shift in Thinking of Things

ABSTRACTThis talk focuses on an ontological shift in thinking of small-sized Silk Road talismans and amulets. The true value of them has been neglected by previous studies. Among them, the Ordos Bronze Crosses, problematically identified as “Nestorian Crosses,” are central. The argument here is that these objects are better approached from a stance of agential realism that acknowledges them as active actant entangled in the Silk Road network. It is suggested that, as palimpsests, they participated, and continue participating in processes of (de)materialization through means of archaization, nomadic habitual engagement, Christian appropriation, and different material registers, etc. Moreover, in the shamanic worlds of the Silk Road, they were considered “alive” because they possessed nonhuman personhood. In conclusion, these hidden treasures disclose a new paradigm that returns things to their own narratives, from which an ontologically different understanding of the Silk Road emerges.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Andrea Jian Chen (PhD graduate of HKIHSS) is a part-time lecturer and honorary research associate in the Divinity School of Chung Chi College at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research areas include the material cultures of the Silk Road and Steppe Road from pre-historic to Chinese imperial periods. Her interdisciplinary project focuses on small daily objects that reveal intense cross-regional and intercultural communication between Tibet, Inner Mongolia, the Indus Valley, and Central Asia. Her project has yielded peer-reviewed journal articles, contributions to anthologies and conference books, as well as invitations to embark on research trips and deliver public lectures. She teaches courses in the field of religious material culture studies and biblical archaeology.
ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

The New Mindscape Spiritual Training [First Phase~2022 Summer]
2022-01-17 - 2022-05-31 | HKU campus
The New Mindscape Spiritual Training Programme

Congratulations on completing CCHU 9014, Spirituality, Religion and Social Change!

During the course, you had the opportunity to reflect on many spiritual questions; you learned about different ideas and concepts; and you were exposed to different spiritual practices and social issues.

You might have a lot of questions about how all of this might apply to your own life. How do you cultivate your mindscape? How do we design our operating system?

While the course invited to reflect a little at a personal level, it was still primarily focused on providing academic knowledge and intellectual skills.

For those of you who are strongly motivated to further explore how to live a spiritual path, I’m starting a Spiritual Training Programme. This programme will include practical instruction in practices such as meditation, prayer, and skills for a healthy life; and reflection and discussion on applying spiritual principles to better handle academic work, social relationships, career, family, service, and carrying out our ideals to work for the betterment of humanity.

Part of the programme will involve individual guidance and practice based on your personal interests and situation, and part of it will involve group discussion and study.

The time commitment will be flexible and adjusted to each participant’s commitments and schedule. What is required is strong motivation for your spiritual growth and learning, and commitment to practice and reflection on your practice. You will need at least 20 minutes per day for individual spiritual practice (on your own) and time for occasional gatherings and workshops. The first phase of the programme will last until summer 2022.

The programme is open to those of any religious background or none. No beliefs are required but you need to be open to experimenting with an open mind. If you are religious with a regular worship or practice, we will arrange for the programme to be complementary to your current commitments.

A limited number of participants will be selected based on their motivations and goals. Zoom interviews may be held as part of the selection process. Please answer the questions below as part of your application. I look forward to hearing from you!

David A. Palmer

Application Method (DDL: Dec 10, 2021)
Please answer the following questions in PDF and email the document to asiar “at” hku.hk by Dec 10, 2021:
The email title should be “Your Name + The New Mindscape Spiritual Training Programme”

Basic Information
Your Name:
UID:
Your current study program at HKU:
Year of Study:
Your religious/faith background (if any):

Your reflections and motivations

What is your main takeaway from the course CCHU9014?

What is the biggest question you still have on your mind?

What is your goal for your personal life or spiritual growth in the coming half year?

Online Lecture | Spiritual Capital in Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism: A Sociological Perspective on Capacity Building
2022-01-11 22:00 - 23:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
Click to Register

Reimagining Capital | International learning Series
Spiritual Capital in Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism: A Sociological Perspective on Capacity Building
The sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu is one of the main sources for conceptualising spiritual capital. In this framework, spiritual capital would need to be understood through its expression in embodied habits or dispositions (habitus), which are shaped by the social structure (field).
In this talk, Prof. David A. Palmer (HKIHSS) will explore how this framework could apply to understand spiritual capital in the context of Chinese Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. This will require a critical inversion of some key aspects of Bourdieu’s conceptualisation, while being attentive to unique understandings and expressions of spiritual capital in different traditions.

Time: January 11, 2022, 10:00 pm (HK Time)
Language: English
Venue: Via ZOOM (Link to be provided after successful registration)

Click to Register

A Half-day Retreat @ HKU + Lung Fu Mountain: Demystifying Mindfulness from the perspectives of Psychology and Buddhism
2021-12-17 13:30 - 18:00 | HKU campus + Lung Fu Mountain, Hong Kong
Activity Highlights Recap: The Present is a present for you

A Half-day Retreat @ HKU + Lung Fu Mountain: Demystifying Mindfulness from the perspectives of Psychology and Buddhism

We spend most of our time learning about the outside world and try to change small parts of it, but most of us know very little about our own inner mindscape, and even less about how to change it for the better.

Mindfulness is one of the most simple yet also profound ways of knowing while transforming our own consciousness into one with more clarity, peace and happiness. It is a widespread practice across different religious traditions and nowadays being even widely applied in fields like psychology, medicine and education.
We now invite you to explore these questions together with us by joining this half-day retreat @HKU + Lung Fu Shan:

1. How can mindfulness connect us to a deeper understanding of self and meaning of life?
2. What insights can we gain if we could learn from both religious and non-religious approaches of mindfulness?
3. What will happen to our daily life and surrounding if we can practice mindfulness from the here and the now?

Date: Dec 17 (Friday) , 2021【Rescheduled】
Time: 13:30 pm-18:00 pm
Venue: HKU campus + Lung Fu Mountain*
Format: Talks + experiential practices in mindful breathing, sitting, stretching and hiking

(Limited quotas are available, first come first serve) *Further details will be sent to you upon successful registration

Activity Highlights Recap: The Present is a present for you

About our guest facilitators

Professor Shui-fong LAMB.A. (CUHK), PGDE (CUHK), M.Ed. (U. of Texas), Ph.D. (U. of Minnesota) Shui-fong LAM is a Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). She was a recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Award from the HKU, the Outstanding International Scholar Award from the International School Psychology Association, and the Knowledge Exchange Award from the Social Sciences Faculty at HKU. She is now the Director of the Jockey Club “Peace and Awareness” Mindfulness Culture in Schools Initiative. It is her aspiration to promote mental health of students, teachers, and parents in Hong Kong through the training and research in mindfulness.

Plum Village Hong Kong Founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Plum Village began in 1982 as a small, rustic farmstead, and has today grown into Europe’s largest Buddhist monastery. “At Plum Village we weave mindfulness into all our daily activities, training ourselves to be mindful throughout the day: while eating, walking, working, or enjoying a cup of tea together. Plum Village is a home away from home, and a beautiful, nourishing, simple environment in which to cultivate the mind of awakening.” Its center in HK was founded in November 2008 as a non-profit making, charitable, religious and educational organization to promote the teachings and practice of Buddhism in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village, France.

About Event Co-curators

The New Mindscape
The New Mindscape provides a spiritual and intellectual space on re-imaging and re-building the self and society, with multimedia content (readings, videos and community events) developed from CCHU9014 Spirituality, Religion and Social Change, an HKU common core course taught by Prof. David A. Palmer who’s an anthropologist in exploring different realities.

The Art of Happiness
The Art of Happiness HKU is a community of inner discovery, mindfulness, and self-care. We rediscover happiness in psychology, philosophy, arts, and spirituality, and turn ideas into weekly practice.

New Visions for the New Globality: China’s BRI vs. Russia’s Greater Eurasian Space
2021-12-15 13:00 - 14:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
New Visions for the New Globality: China’s BRI vs. Russia’s Greater Eurasian Space
ABSTRACTThe Belt and Road Initiative has caused a lot of controversy in Russia’s expert discussion. Formally, Moscow is very enthusiastic about the BRI project and considers it a positive factor in international relations. Russian-Chinese relations have reached their peak politically and militarily, though at the same time, Russia has proposed its own, very complex integration project, which is formalized as the Eurasian Economic Union, which has been supported not only by a number of post-Soviet states but also by Singapore and Vietnam. Besides, Russia has also put forward its global initiative, the Great Eurasian Space, which is supposed to unite dozens of states based on common values, science and education systems, and common approaches to problem-solving. Although the BRI and the EAEU have signed a cooperation agreement, at first glance, the idea of the BRI and the Greater Eurasian Space may contradict each other. Thus, both China and Russia have global ideas that are equally close and distant from each other. We cannot exclude that Russia, supporting the BRI, is developing its own independent “third way,” which could manifest itself in a decade.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERAlexey Maslov, Ph.D., Professor, is one of the leading Russian scholars and internationally renowned experts in Chinese studies and Russian-Chinese relations. At the present moment, he holds the position of Head of the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Moscow State University, the leading education center and think-tank on Asian Studies in Russia. His previous positions include Acting Director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Head of the School of Asian Studies at the HSE University (Moscow). Professor Maslov is a state-level expert in negotiations between Russia and China on the most important issues, and an expert for the Russian Council of International Relations. Professor Maslov graduated from Moscow State University and has been invited as a visiting professor to several leading universities, including New York State University, Heidelberg University, Cambridge University, Shanxi Normal University, etc. He has published 11 books on Chinese studies.

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

E-Workshop: GLOBAL CHINESE CATHOLICISM
2021-12-08 - 2021-12-10 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
In Collaboration with Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics
E-WORKSHOP: GLOBAL CHINESE CATHOLICISM
ONLINE – 8, 9, 10 December 2021 ​
This workshop explores the lived realities of Chinese Catholic communities established around the world as well as interactions among them and with Chinese Catholics in China.
​While most of the literature on Chinese Catholicism focuses either on its history in mainland China or on its complicated relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, this workshop turns the spotlight on the many Chinese Catholic communities who have long been living in Sao Paulo, Milano, Melbourne, Mexico, Kuala Lumpur, etc. Often, those communities are presented as a result of past migrations or as a mere attempt to preserve a particular ethno-religious identity. Thus, little attention is given to their on-going transformation and development – nor to their relations to other Chinese catholic communities present either around the globe or in mainland China. Furthermore, while social scientists have been paying a renewed interest in the Chinese diaspora and its religious dimensions, little attention has been oriented toward global Chinese Catholicism. Therefore, this e-workshop intends to not only investigate the diversity of global Chinese Catholic communities but also their current evolutions and networking.

To explore the on-going transformation of Global Chinese Catholicism, applicants are invited to consider the following questions:
What are the main features of Chinese Catholic communities present around the world? Which kind of ‘Chineseness’ are they producing and displaying? How are regional Chinese languages (Cantonese, Hokkien, etc.) and distinctive rituals (Lunar New Year, etc.) shaping their collective identities – as well as their relationship to specific regions of the People’s Republic of China (Provinces in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao)?How is the Catholic religion passed on within families? What are the consequences of a settlement outside the country of origin on the transfer of the faith to the following generations? Does the secularization of certain countries have an influence on the passing on of the Catholic religion?How do ethnically Chinese laypeople, extended families, and clergy members interact and shape those Chinese Catholic communities and their transnational interactions? How are they mobilizing new technologies and digital platforms to form and reform their communities and networks? How are Chinese Catholics living in Manila, Paris, Mexico, etc. negotiating their ethno-religious specificities with local governmental and ecclesial authorities? How do they respond to local socio-political and theological ideologies defining plurality as well as social and religious coexistence?What are the transnational networks and circulations that global Chinese Catholicism generates (migrations for work, study, marriage, etc.)? How is the new global importance of China impacting those networks? (For instance, Chinese Catholics from mainland China going for pilgrimages to Rome, Paris, Saigon, Manilla; the influx of Chinese priests and nuns from mainland China serving those Global Chinese communities). How is the growing international presence of China transforming those Chinese Catholic communities? Which kind of new economic, political, religious opportunities and challenges does it bring? How are global Chinese Catholic communities responding to renewed anti-Chinese sentiments that the growing presence of China and the Covid-19 pandemic can generate?​
This e-workshop is the first step of a collaborative project sponsored by ISAC and BRINFAITH to foster research on Global Chinese Catholicism. This e-workshop will occur online through zoom. It will be on December 8, 9, and 10, from 8 pm to 10 pm (Singapore Time), to accommodate researchers around the globe.
​

REGISTRATION
If you are interested in auditing or joining this e-workshop, please register by clicking on the link below or by sending an email to: globalchinesecatholicism@gmail.com.

WORKSHOP COORDINATORS
Eva Salerno and Angeline Wong

Registration

Dec 8Dec 9Dec 10

Wednesday, 8 December 2021
8.00 p.m. (Singapore Time) : Opening Remarks: Eva Salerno and Angeline Wong
PANEL 1 – Moderator: Jonathan Tan

8.05 p.m.: 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines:
China and the Chinese Connections
Teresita Ang See (Past President of Philippine Association for Chinese Studies; Executive Trustee, Kaisa Heritage Center, Philippines)

8.25 p.m.: Chinese-Filipino Catholicism: Fusion or Confusion?
Fr. Aristotle C. Dy (School President, Xavier School, Philippines)
​
8.45 p.m.: Q&A Session

Thursday, 9 December 2021

PANEL 2 – Moderator: Michel Chambon
8.00 p.m. (Singapore Time): The Pastoral Work of the Catholic Clergy with regard to the Chinese Diaspora in Lyon (France)
LIVE Yu-Sion (Sociologist, Université de La Reunion, France)

8.20 p.m.: Making Nuns in Manila
George Bayuga (Instructor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, United States)
​
8.40 p.m.: Q&A Session

Friday, 10 December 2021

PANEL 3 – Moderator: Bernardo Brown
​
8.00 p.m. (Singapore Time): Hakka migrants and Chinese Catholics in Jamaica
Zichan Qiu (Research Assistant, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong) and Ji Li (Assistant Professor of History at the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

8.20 p.m.: Dialogue in a Multireligious and Political Ecosystem: Understanding Catholic Relations with Other Religions in Mainland China
Stephanie M. Wong (Assistant Professor of Theology, Valparaiso University, Indiana, US)
​
8.40 p.m.: Q&A Session
​
9:45 p.m.: Concluding Remarks, David Palmer BRINFAITH

Film Screening: The Exemplar + Centenary Commemoration
2021-11-27 19:30 - 21:00 | Run Run Shaw Tower, CPD-3.04, The University of Hong Kong
Film Screening: The Exemplar + Centenary Commemoration

“A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love”

The film “The Exemplar” is about the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Abbás (1844-1921), a Persian philosopher, spiritual leader and central figure of the Bahá’í Faith who promoted teachings of peace, unity, gender equality and religious harmony to audiences throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America. “A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love”, he taught.
The film recounts how his example has inspired people from all over the world to overcome their prejudices, to heal disunity in their communities, and to strive for peace and harmony in service to humanity. At a time when many communities and countries around the world are deeply divided and many are in despair about their future, this film, produced to commemorate the centenary of the passing of ‘Abdul-Bahá, aims to kindle the spirit of love, unity and service to humanity in the hearts of its audiences.
Prof. David A. Palmer (Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences; Department of Sociology, The University of Hong Kong) will moderate the introductory and Q&A sessions of the event.

Registration is REQUIRED: https://bit.ly/TheExemplar (DDL: Nov 25, 2021)

Reflecting on Maritime Transportation as the Sinew of Commerce and Conflict
2021-11-22 18:30 - 19:30 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
Reflecting on Maritime Transportation as the Sinew of Commerce and Conflict
ABSTRACTIn this talk, drawing from her recent book, Sinews of War and Trade, Professor Laleh Khalili will discuss the centrality of maritime transport infrastructures to the making of capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula. She will highlight histories of colonialism, labour struggles, and war-making as central to the forging of these infrastructures.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERLaleh Khalili is a Professor of International Politics at Queen Mary University of London and the author of Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine: The Politics of National Commemoration (Cambridge 2007), Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies (Stanford 2013), and Sinews of War and Trade (Verso 2020).

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

Interfaith Workshop: Introduction to the teaching of Bahá’i Faith
2021-11-13 10:30 - 12:30 | HKU campus
Interfaith Workshop:
Introduction to the teaching of Bahá’i Faith

“The Earth is but one country and Mankind its citizens.”— Baháʼu’lláh

Animated by the principle of the oneness of humanity, the Bahá’í community of Hong Kong is exploring with people of all backgrounds on how Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings can be translated into action to contribute to the emergence of a peaceful and materially and spiritually prosperous civilization. Through this workshop, you will have a better understandings of Bahá’i faith and how it is practiced in actions.

Date: November 13 (Saturday)Time: 10:30 am-12:30 noonVenue: HKU campus*
(Limited quotas are available, first come first serve)
*Further details will be sent to you upon successful registration

Interfaith Workshop: Introduction to the life of Muslim in Hong Kong
2021-11-12 19:00 - 20:30 | HKU campus
Interfaith Workshop:Introduction to the life of Muslim in Hong Kong

“Do not lose hope, nor be sad.”
— Quran 3:139

A group of Hong Kong-based Muslim students are invited to be our guest speakers. Previously, they have organized a series of interesting events, including tea party and lunch buffet, to strengthen the relationship between Muslim and non-Muslim students. In this workshop, you will be introduced to some basic knowledge of Islam, Muslim’s life in Hong Kong, and prayer’s demonstration.

Date: November 12 (Friday)Time: 7:00-8:30 pmVenue: HKU campus*
(Limited quotas are available, first come first serve)
*Further details will be sent to you upon successful registration

Infrastructure and Connectivity across the Karakoram-Pamir Watershed, since 1918
2021-10-04 13:00 - 14:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
Infrastructure and Connectivity across the Karakoram-Pamir Watershed, since 1918
ABSTRACTLocated at the crossroads of Central, East, and South Asia, the watershed that divides the Karakoram and Pamir mountains today also serves a geopolitical function in marking the territorial boundary between the People’s Republic of China and Pakistan. This high mountain region is home to the Kirghiz and the Wakhi, people who previously had moved within the Karakoram and Pamir mountains pursuing small trade, in search of fresh pasture, and occasionally for political reasons. Situating himself on the “Karakoram side”, in this talk, Dr. Hasan H. Karrar will describe how, beginning in the twentieth century, this region was transformed into a frontier by distant political centers projecting sovereignty; furthermore, this frontier would continue to iterate for the next century. Pivoting from the origins of postal service across the Karakoram-Pamir — which arrived in Misgar, the northernmost settlement in British India, in 1918 — to mid-century aviation, road construction, and finally economic corridor development under the Belt and Road Initiative, Dr. Karrar will illustrate how these particular infrastructural forms, which on the one hand enhanced connectivity, have also kept the region subservient to national and transnational interests, from the early twentieth century to the present.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERHasan H. Karrar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan. He has published research on China, Central Asia, and the Karakoram region in north Pakistan. His current research is variously focused on bazaars and small traders, informality and financialization, and everyday securitization and development.

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

History Written in Advance: The Temporal Politics of Learning Mandarin for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Zambia
2021-09-23 13:00 - 14:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
History Written in Advance: The Temporal Politics of Learning Mandarin for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Zambia

ABSTRACTOver the last decade, there have been a proliferating number of Mandarin-language Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations in Zambia. These congregations are almost exclusively composed of local Zambians who have learned Mandarin as a second language, and count few to no ethnic Chinese congregants among their number. Nevertheless, these congregations conduct their meetings exclusively in Mandarin, and their Zambian congregants have attained a very high degree of fluency in Mandarin. Though ostensibly formed for the purpose of evangelizing to Zambia’s rapidly growing Chinese migrant community, members of the congregation emphasize that the apparent lack of Chinese converts is no failure at all. Regardless of the outcome of their efforts, what is important is that their intense evangelizing is part of an ongoing fulfillment of their obligations to Jehovah God. Thus, the relations between these Witnesses and the Chinese they proselytize to are not dialogic but triangular. Their evangelizing efforts represent a challenge to secular time: while secular portrayals of Chinese expatriates “buying up” Zambia rest upon teleological assumptions of economic and political development, these congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses act upon a temporal horizon in which biblical truths must be quickly spread before the rapidly approaching dissolution of the current system of things.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERJustin Haruyama is a Ph.D. candidate in cultural anthropology at University of California, Davis. His research examines the controversial presence of Chinese migrants in Africa today, with a focus on social interactions between Chinese expatriate and local Zambian communities as they come to interact in contexts of work and religion in southern Zambia.

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

Making the Muslim World in the Age of Britain’s Steam and Print Initiative
2021-06-30 09:30 - 10:30 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
Making the Muslim World in the Age of Britain’s Steam and Print Initiative
ABSTRACTEuropean Imperialism during the long 19th century was characterized by increasing connectivity and mobility across Asia due to infrastructure grid of steamships and trains, telegraph lines and printing press. Symbolized by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, this era of connectivity linking the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean also coincided with the growth of Muslim modernism and Pan-Islamic visions of solidarity. This paper revisits the period from the 1860s to the 1920s, retrospectively characterized as the high age of racialized empires, to explore how the era of steam and print contributed to the emergence of new geopolitical, religious and civilizational discourses on the Muslim World. The presentations will also discuss the legacies of this experience for the 20th century story of decolonization, internationalism, nationalism, and religious revival.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERCemil Aydin is professor of international/global history at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Department of History. He studied at Boğaziçi University, İstanbul University, and the University of Tokyo before receiving his Ph.D. degree at Harvard University in 2002. Cemil Aydin’s publications include his book on the Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia (Columbia University Press, 2007); The Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History (Harvard University Press, Spring 2017); “Regions and Empires in Political History of the World, 1750 – 1924” in An Emerging Modern World, 1750 – 1870 (A History of the World, Book 4) Ed. by Jurgen Osterhammel and Sebastian Conrad (Harvard University Press, May 2018), pp: 33-277.

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.

Circulations and Convergences: Mecca in the Conceptions and Mobilities of Chinese Muslim Diasporas in Saudi Arabia
2021-05-17 13:00 - 14:00 | Via Zoom (Registration required)
BRINFAITH RELIGION AND EMPIRE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
Circulations and Convergences: Mecca in the Conceptions and Mobilities of Chinese Muslim Diasporas in Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACTMecca is often viewed through the angles of the pilgrimage, empires, Saudi foreign policy, and a source of religious movements elsewhere. While building on such transnational angles, this talk proposes to view Mecca as a convergence point and an intermediary site that has hosted and re-directed mobilities of diaspora populations from across Asia. Specifically, I will focus on an eclectic community of first to third-generation Chinese Muslim settlers in the Hejaz (western coasts of the Arabian Peninsula) who themselves or whose predecessors arrived in the region at different points in time between the 1930s and 2010s — as pilgrims, exiles, and students. The talk shows that the variegated routes between Mecca and China, coupled with imaginaries on the city as a distant home place of origin, served as a rare constant orienting force that sustained two-directional mobilities of Chinese Muslim diasporas through the wars and revolutions of the modern times.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERJanice Hyeju Jeong is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Göttingen, Department of East Asian Studies. She is a part of the research team “Conceptions of World Order and their Social Carriers” under the project “Worldmaking: A Dialogue with China,” which is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Her broad research interests include Inter-Asian connections, History and Anthropology, and Sino-Islamic networks. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Seoul, Jeong completed B.A. and Ph.D degrees at Duke University, and has had affiliations with the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Peking University, and New York University Shanghai during fieldwork.

ORGANIZERThe event is organized by the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G), which is hosted by the ASIAR – Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster in HKIHSS.
