BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//ceres.rub.de//events// CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-TIMEZONE:UTC BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Dunhuang Material Culture\, Its Creation and Use DTSTART:20240131T130000Z DTEND:20240131T150000Z DTSTAMP:20260414T143257Z UID:dunhuang-material-culture-its-creation-and-use-8182@ceres.rub.de CATEGORIES: DESCRIPTION:BuddhistRoad Guest Lecture Series by Neil Schmid (Dunhuang Ac ademy)\n\nThe lecture will be available live at Zoom. Please pre-register until 30 January 2024\, 12 pm. Zoom lecture times: 2 pm (Amsterdam\, Berli n\, Rom\; Vienna).\n\nLecture Series Overview:\n\nChinese scholarship on t he Dunhuang Caves and materials from the so-called Library Cave\, one of t he greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century\, has expanded rapidl y over the past twenty years. An ever-increasing number of academics\, res earch projects\, and publications have provided a wealth of scholarly reso urces for the field. This corpus of research merits more attention from we stern scholars\, not just in Dunhuang Studies but from across a variety of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. This series of six tal ks will explore this breath of Chinese scholarship and provide a guide to major areas within Dunhuang Studies\, its key scholars\, publications\, re search projects\, institutions\, and trends.\n\nThis series of talks also takes an ethnographic approach on two levels. The first is that Dunhuang m aterials\, given their range and diversity\, can be viewed as a coherent d ataset\, the closest we have to an ethnographic collection for medieval Ea stern Central Asia. In this sense then\, they should be valued in their co mplex\, interdisciplinary entirety. Second\, concentrating on Chinese Dunh uang research in the 21st century\, these talks also engage an ethnologica l approach to the academic realm in order to examine how subfields of Dunh uang Studies are delineated in light of institutions and ongoing social fo rces. Availing my position as someone in the field of Dunhuang Studies wor king at a Chinese research institute\, I will provide on-the-ground observ ations through discussions with members of the scholarly community in Chin a (i.e.\, ‘thick description’)\, with an emphasis on the explanation o f behaviour and agency that accepts emic categories of division of Dunhuan g resources and analyses their origins and usages\, as well as how those c ategories may enhance or constrain research together with the production o f knowledge and its dissemination.\n\nEach of these lectures will systemat ically cover the following areas: \n\n\n compilation and editing of prima ry source materials for all fields\n major scholars and publications\, coo perative projects\n research trends (themes and topics)\n reference and re search tools\n\n\nFinally\, given the framework and sponsor of these talks \, the resources explored will be keyed to the seven thematic research clu sters of the BuddhistRoad Project (Center for Religious Studies\, Ruhr-Uni versität Bochum) to further scholarship on topics within the context of E astern Central Asia and their relation to Chinese Dunhuang Studies.\n\n\nT he final talk in the series ties together a variety of themes and topics i n previous lectures through the exploration of Chinese scholarship on mate rial culture. Picking up from the previous lecture\, this presentation rev iews recent and ongoing projects digitising and cataloging Dunhuang caves and their contents. In the context of Chinese Dunhuang Studies\, the categ ory of material culture also extends to objects illustrated within cave mu rals\, ranging from furniture to clothes to musical instruments\, all of w hich have become research topics in their own right. Another rich area of research\, spanning image and realia\, are textiles and fabrics\, as well as votive objects such as banners from the Library Cave. In addition to st udy on the visual programmes of Dunhuang Caves and their contents\, Chines e scholars have increasingly focused on the degree to which material cultu re documents the transmutation of Buddhism in its transmission from India to China via Central Asia. The talk will close with summary of primary tre nds and future directions in Chinese Dunhuang Studies.\n\n\nNeil Schmid is Research Professor at the Dunhuang Academy. His scholarship centres on Du nhuang and explores a range of topics\, including the role of Buddhist lit erature in ritual and art\, medieval economic development\, Esoteric Buddh ism (Chin. mijiao\, 密教)\, and the ritual aesthetics of painting and ar chitectural space of the Mogao Caves. He is currently at work on several m onographs\, including From Byzantium to Japan: Ritual Objects and Religiou s Exchanges Across Eurasia in Late Antiquity\, tracing the flow of exotic goods and ritual paraphernalia along the Silk Road\, and the first-ever cr itical bibliographical survey of Dunhuang materials\, entitled The Compreh ensive Guide to Scholarly Resources for Dunhuang Studies.\n\n\nTo join the lecture\, please register at https://ruhr-uni-bochum.zoom.us/meeting/reg ister/u5Elde2vrDIuH9axFXq-VqlsptHTUIfnIUQd#/registration LOCATION:Online Event URL:https://ceres.rub.de/en/events/dunhuang-material-culture-its-creation- and-use/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR