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Seminar

"The transmission process among religious specialists", organised by Aurélie Névot

2011-2012: Shamans and mediums

Knowledge passed down from one generation to the next is the foundation stone of any social structure since it guarantees social continuity and ensures the relationships within it. Though it has inspired many religious, philosophical, literary, sociological and other accounts, it would be pointless to try to formalize them in any all-encompassing manner given that they are diversified and inscribed in diverse processes. The anthropological study of the way in which knowledge is passed down therefore requires sorting through a mass of dispersed, interconnected data. In order to contribute to this broad debate, this seminar aims at examining how knowledge is passed down among religious specialists.

We shall question the relationship between the person teaching and the person learning in such a situation, the relationship established between them as well as the nature and the means of the transmission process in this particular context. What is the relationship between an aspiring religious specialist and the one (whether spirit or human) who initiates the former into his or her duties? What processes of transforming or developing oneself (or another self) does a person have to undergo? How is this relationship between the initiated and the initiator experienced? How is such a relationship conceived? How is this in keeping with the (written or oral) discourse, with mythology, with body language, etc.? What does observation provide? What about the personality of the teacher and the person being taught? When does one become a religious specialist? What about the autonomy of one in relation to the other, what about creativity? How does the "original" link (the chain of knowledge) last and in what form? Should it be broken instead to allow the line to continue to exist (reflections on handing down knowledge as a form of future adventure)?

Over the coming period, 2011-2012, mediums and shamans will be at the centre of our discussions. A comparison between different social forms of handing down mediumism and shamanism throws new light on how the given societies make similar yet different logical choices. We therefore plan to examine religious "categories" which are often inaccurate and "blanket categories", in order to propose new definitions based on the different processes of handing down knowledge that are yet to emerge.

Venue: "Salle de conférences", ground floor, "Bâtiment D", 7, rue Guy Môquet, 94800 Villejuif

Map

Detailed seminar programme

Recent publications

PFAFF-CZARNECKA Joanna & TOFFIN Gérard (ed.), 2011, The Politics of Belonging in the Himalayas Local Attachments and Boundary Dynamics, Delhi, Sage

BERTI Daniela & N. Jaoul, Pralay Kanungo (dir.), 2011,The Cultural Entrenchment of Hindutva. Local Mediations and Forms of Resistance. Delhi, Routledge.

TOFFIN Gérard, 2010, La fête-spectacle. Théâtre et rite au Népal. Paris, Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme.

LECOMTE-TILOUINE Marie, 2010, (ed.) : Nature, Culture, and Religion at the crossroads of Asia, New Delhi: Social Science Press.

BERTI Daniela et Gilles Tarabout, 2009, Territory, Soil and Society in South Asia, Delhi, Manoha, 379p.

LECOMTE-TILOUINE Marie, 2009, Hindu Kingship, Ethnic Revival And Maoist Rebellion in Nepal, New  Delhi, Oxford University Press, "Collected Essays", 2009, 294 p.

LECOMTE-TILOUINE, Marie (ed.), 2009, Bards and Mediums: History, Culture and Politics in the Central Himalayan Kingdoms, Almora: Almora Book Depot, 395 p., DVD Rom inclus

NEVOT Aurélie, 2008, Comme le sel, je suis le cours de l'eau. Le chamanisme à écriture des Yi du Yunnan (Chine), Nanterre, Société d'ethnologie, 317 p.

SMADJA Joëlle (dir), 2009, Reading Himalayan Landscapes over Time. Environmental Perception, Knowledge and Practice in Nepal and Ladakh, Pondicherry: Institut Français de Pondichéry, Collections Sciences Sociales No.14, 671 p.

TOFFIN Gérard, 2007, Newar Society: City, Village and Periphery, Lalitpur: Himal Books [2nd edition, revised and enlarged with an Afterword,  2008].

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