Lotus, Towers and Fragrant spices: Focus On Southeast Asia

The 2nd SSEASR Conference of SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF CULTURE AND RELIGION (SSEASR) will be held from 24 – 27th May, 2007 in the Thai capital Bangkok.

Organized by the Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development at Mahidol University in Thailand in collaboration with Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, and co-sponsored by International Association for the History of Religions, the conference aims to explore SYNCRETISM IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA under the working title ADOPTION AND ADAPTATION.

The conference is held on the occasion of the 225th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Chakri Dynasty and Ratanakosin Bangkok City and the Diamond Jubilee of the Accession to the Throne of His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand.

The following themes will be covered: Ethnic Mosaic of South and Southeast Asia, Syncretic Systems in South and Southeast Asia, Language and Literature: Binding Force, Women and Religion, Symbolism (Art and Architecture), communication and Religion, Education and Religious Studies, Faith and Survival: Diasporas from South and Southeast Asia, Polity, Trade and Religion, Religion: Peace, Violence and Dialogue, Tradition vis-à-vis Globalization, Religion, Health and Healing, Religion and Ecology

A symposium on Kingship and Religion will be held during the conference, an Exhibition of the Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage, and a workshop in Science and Spirituality.

Prof. Anthony Reid, the Director of Asian Research Institute at the National University of Singapore will hold the chair of the conference.

Mainland and island, coast and inland, lowland and highland – the vast expanse of Southeast Asia presents a diversity of environments and resources that has lead to evaluation of a complex range of cultures. The area’s fertile tropical valleys and accessible coasts have nurtured some of the world’s most remarkable civilizations.

On the mainland, mountain ridges running roughly north and south divide valleys through which flow huge river systems, the Irrawaddy, the Salween, the Chao Phraya, the Mekong, and the Red Rivers. These valleys have provided pathways linking Southeast Asia with China. Among the islands Java was particularly amendable to cultivation, other islands turned to the sea.

Indian literature mentions a "Land of Gold" which has been interpreted as Burma, Malaya, Java, or Sumatra. Exchanges with India would profoundly affected the shape of Southeast Asian civilizations – with trade came influences.

The seventh century A.D. hundreds of years of contact with India and China had helped shape their religion’s political, economic, and religious life. By the 16th century the balance of political and religious power in Southeast Asia had shifted. The Thai had become a major power in the western part of the region. On the east coast the Viet, whose culture was influenced by China, rose to prominence.

Arab geographers had known Moluccas, the Spice Islands as "Bilad Manbit al-Atar" – as "the country where the spices grow". Islam arrived in Southeast Asia via India and Malaysia, along the trade routes. The Malay speaking peoples of Malay and the Indonesian archipelago would soon become the intermediaries between Islam and China.

On one stele inscribed in Arabic, found near Phan Rang and dating from the 10th or 11th century, is the earliest record of the Muslim presence in Champa. Since the 13th century, a small community of Muslims of Malay origin existed in Kampuchea. By 1590, Muslim Arab and Malay traders had settled in Lovek, the former Kampuchean capital, engaging in business and trade down the Mekong. In 1650, Ibrahim's Khmer enemies overthrew him and Kampuchea's only Muslim king was captured and killed. By 1970, there were 132 mosques in Kampuchea, and 25 Cham scholars had graduated from various Islamic educational institutions outside Indochina.

The region of South and Southeast Asia is known for a multiplicity of cultures and religions, containing as it does Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Lamaism, Sikhism, as well as a large number of folk and tribal cultures and religions. The history of these religions in terms of their origin, growth, and expansion is complex.

The cultures, which developed around these religions, for example, the Indo-Islamic culture, Hindu-Buddhist culture, were not always monolithic. There have been conflicts between religious groups, at times very violent, but the co-existence of the people of different religions in time and space also led to the phenomenon called ‘consensus’, living in one space.

The Bangkok conference aims to highlight this phenomenon of conflict and consensus unique to this region. Further, the co-existence in terms of mutual understanding - which rapidly is becoming the order of the day. It will also highlight cultural and religious dynamics in which conflict and consensus both figure prominently. The contemporary history of this region becomes extremely volatile in the years from 2000 onwards.

But what hold the future: Will it be conflict, and dialogue over acrimony?

Speakers are asked to consider current situations and papers are expected to deal with the heritage of the regions in terms of art and architecture, iconography, performing arts, social formations, state and society, religion and civilizations, ideals and practices, etc. It is hoped to lead to a better understanding of the prevailing socio-cultural and religio-political scenario in the region.

The SSEASR (The South and Southeast Asian Association for the Study of Culture and Religion), promotes the academic study through the intra regional and international collaboration of scholars. It cover subjects such as history, linguistics, political science, geography, anthropology, sociology, economics, literature, cultural studies, law, folklore and cross-cultural studies. It aim is also to create a network of scholars in the region.

Delicious smells from the cookhouse on the far end of the veranda. Food served on the floor, dishes of fish, one smothered in ginger, garlic and green onions, another with peppers. Rice and a salad of cucumber and green tomatoes. The men dined separately… Homeland of lotus – towers and fragrant spices, Southeast Asia has produced a colorful series of civilization. From the early trading center of Funan to the later maritime empire of Shrivijaya and the Kingdom of Khmer, the Cham, the Burmans and the Thai, Southeast Asia’s peoples forged their foreign and native inheritance into a cultural legacy of their own.

Picturing eternal Laos