Re-enchantment in Modernizing Processes?: Anthropological Consideration of Religious Practices in Flores, Eastern Indonesia
In this talk, Dr Eriko Aoki describes the local religious practices in the early 1980s, those in the 2000s, and an emergent séance of ancestor spirits in 2008 in Flores, Eastern Indonesia.
More than a hundred years, anthropology has analyzed religious practices from perspectives focusing on other than religion itself, such as rationality, social facts, signification and meanings, and the history and geopolitical relations.
In these several decades, anthropological studies have reported emergence of dramatic, tense and often violent religious phenomena, such as new types of sorceries, the Pentecostal transformations of Christianity and fundamental movements of Muslims and Christians. In the mountainous area in central Flores in eastern Indonesia, where I have done fieldwork since 1980, the revitalization of local religion, so called the re-enchantment in modernization processes, also has emerged but in tranquil, subtle and sporadic ways.
In this talk, after sketching the historical and political background, Dr Eriko Aoki describes the local religious practices in the early 1980s, those in the 2000s, and an emergent séance of ancestor spirits in 2008. By focusing on the people’s relations to the natural environment and to their poetic knowledge, she clarifies how the religious practices have changed. In doing this, Dr Aoki explores a theoretical framework to approach religion itself.
Every third Wednesday of the month one of the IIAS researchers will present his/her work-in-progress in an informal setting to their colleagues and other interested attendees, followed by a lunch provided by IIAS. These lunch lectures are organized to give the research community the opportunity to freely discuss ongoing research and to exchange thoughts.
Lunch is provided. Please register at a.e.l.van.der.horst@iias.nl