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Events Archive 2011

Seminar Programme, Semester 1

In semester 1, 2011, the Religion seminar again took the form of a reading group. The book under discussion was Thomas A. Tweed's Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006). The first discussion was preceded by a short introduction to Tweed's earlier work, by Will Sweetman.

11 Mar	Chapter 1 pp. 1-28	1. Itineraries: Locating Theory and Theorists
25 Mar	Chapter 2 pp. 29-53	2. Boundaries: Constituting Terms, Orienting Tropes, and Exegetical Fussiness
8 Apr	Chapter 3 pp. 54-79	3. Confluences: Toward a Theory of Religion
6 May	Chapter 4 pp. 80-122	4. Dwelling: The Kinetics of Homemaking
20 May	Chapter 5 pp. 123-183	5. Crossing: The Kinetics of Itinerancy and Conclusion: An Itinerary

There was also one additional seminar.

18 Mar	Morny Joy	The Travails of Postcolonialism, Postmodernism and Ethics

Seminar Programme, Semester 2

22 July	Roberta Jenkins	Speculative Faith and Institution Building: Transnational Religious Community in South Korea
5 Aug	Phra Kiattisak and Elizabeth Guthrie	An Shigao's Biography Ubiquitous iconography: Buddhist painting in twentieth century Thailand and Cambodia
19 Aug	Will Sweetman	Empire and mission in an early nineteenth century ‘pamphlet war’
16 Sept	Erica Baffelli	Aum after Aum: Hikari no Wa and post-1995 Japanese ‘New Religions’
30 Sept	Tenzin Mullin	Ritual at Mount Emei: preliminary research
11 Nov	Heejae Lee	Confucian Rituals

Lectures

Professor Joy Hendry (de Carle Distinguished Lecturer, 2011)

Professor Emerita Joy Hendry (Oxford Brookes University) was awarded a de Carle Distinguished Lectureship in the Department from July-November 2011. She delivered a series of lectures on "From Cultural Display to Indigenous Science" in September 2011.

Joy Hendry is Professor Emerita of Oxford Brookes University, founder of the Japan Anthropology Workshop and the Europe Japan Research Centre, and a Senior Member of St. Antony's College, Oxford. She has carried out long-term fieldwork in Japan, Canada and Mexico, but has recently visited all five continents to examine global movements in tourism, alternatives to museums, and other forms of cultural display. Her publications include Wrapping Culture: Politeness, Presentation and Power in Japan and Other Societies, Oxford University Press, 1993; The Orient Strikes Back: A Global View of Cultural Display Oxford: Berg, 2000; and Reclaiming Culture: Indigenous People and Self-Representation, New York: Palgrave, 2005.

Professor Morny Joy

Professor Morny Joy, University Professor, Nature of Religion, in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary delivered an Open Lecture entitled 'Paul Ricoeur and Hannah Arendt in Dialogue on the Problem of Evil', on Tuesday the 22nd of March, 2011 at 5.15pm.

Ven Geshe Jampa Tenzin

Ven Geshe Jampa Tenzin, the Resident Lama at Dhargyey Buddhist Centre Dunedin, spoke on the Reincarnation of Tibetan Buddhist Lamas on Tuesday May 10. His talk is available to view online.

Ven Geshe Jampa Tenzin was born in Tibet in 1965. He took monks' robes in 1973 at Za Sandrup monastery in eastern Tibet in 1973. In 1986 he entered Sera Monastery in South India, and studied up to the final and highest qualification of Geshe Lharampa, first division in 2004. He arrived in New Zealand in 2007 and resides and teaches at the Dhargyey Buddhist Center in Dunedin.

Conferences, Workshops, Symposia

Joint meeting of the NZASR and the AABS

7-9 December 2011, Queenstown

In December 2011, the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Otago hosted a joint meeting of the New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions (NZASR) and the Australasian Association of Buddhist Studies (AABS). The NZASR is the main professional body in New Zealand for academics and others engaged in the critical, analytical and cross-cultural study of religion, past and present. The AABS aims to promote the academic study of Buddhism in the Australasian region. The two associations met together for the first time in 2011. There were two parallel streams of panels; plenary lectures and meals were held together.

Beyond Oceans: Re-thinking Japan's Place in Pacific Anthropology

10-11 July 2011, University of Otago, Dunedin

The Japan Anthropology Workshop held a Regional Workshop at the University of Otago in July 2011. The workshop theme was 'Beyond Oceans: Re-thinking Japan's Place in Pacific Anthropology'. The keynote speaker for the conference was be Professor Joy Hendry, Oxford Brookes University.

Otago Reception at the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting

The Department hosted a reception on Sunday, 20 November from 7pm, at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in San Francisco.