Societies and Environments in Southeast Asia
CSDS-IRASEC Academic Seminar 2016-2017
From 4thNovember 2016 to April 2017
Alumni Meeting Room, 12th Floor, Faculty of Political Science,Chulalongkorn University
On Fridays of each month, from 14.30 to 16.30 p.m.
https://nature.hypotheses.org/
On a comparative basis, the seminar will explore the diversity of modes of interaction between humans and non-humans -gods, plants, animals, spirits - in Southeast Asian societies.
In light of Philippe Descola’s inspiring workBeyond Nature and Culture, the seminar would question the ways Southeast Asian societies do reflect upon the specific articulation between “nature” and “culture” developed by the West. What are the vernacular equivalents of the notions? How the Western ways of sorting things and beings out as natural or cultural are re-appropriated and discussed? And finally, how may we understand the forms that connect the social to the cosmic order within an Hindu-Buddhist context?
In this regard, we will examine how the relationships between societies and environments are reformulated and reshaped by development practices, technical knowledge systems and contemporary environmental challenges.
