Entangled Histories: at the Intersection of Religion and Politics in premodern Societies
GB 5/150–152 „Ruhrpott“
The workshop, "Entangled Histories: At the Intersection of Religion and Politics in Premodern Societies", aims to shed light on the dynamics of the interaction between religion and politics in premodern Eastern Central Asia and explore how these interactions shaped the connections between the societies involved.
The workshop builds on the CERES research project INCENTER, which examines rival power centres, such as the Khitan Empire, the Chinese Song dynasty, the Tangut Empire and local Tibetan principalities, to explore how they used religion - especially Buddhism - to establish legitimacy, compete with one another and forge cross-cultural ties between the 10th and 13th centuries.The workshop topic is closely aligned with CERES's overarching research priority of examining the social and political efficacy of religion across historical and cultural contexts.
The workshop will facilitate discussion amongst researchers on these dynamics through comparative work on Chinese, Tibetan and other regional sources - textual, epigraphic and visual - over two days at CERES on 6 and 7 October. Although the case studies focus on Eastern Central Asia in the premodern period, the subject matter addresses issues of contemporary relevance, such as the interweaving of religion and politics, the use of religion to legitimise state authority, and the study of cultural and religious pluralism. These subjects permeate current political and social discourse, encompassing religious nationalism and disputes concerning religious authority throughout Asia and beyond.
