UMAC2012 Singapore Encountering Limits: The University Museum 10-12 October 2012 Download the Flyer here.

Siem Reap Conference on Special Topics in Khmer Studies Religious Studies in Cambodia: Understanding the Old and Tracing the New 9-10 June 2012 Siem Reap

http://www.ucd.ie/archaeology/euraseaa14/

The Chinese University of Hong Kong 4th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum Asian Anthropology: Materiality, Movement, and Change 9 – 10 December 2011

The Department of Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, invites graduate students in Asia and elsewhere to present their current research at the 4th Annual [...]]]> Deadline for the paper proposals in October 1.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong
4th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum
Asian Anthropology: Materiality, Movement, and Change
9 – 10 December 2011

The Department of Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, invites graduate students in Asia and elsewhere to present their current research at the 4th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum. The theme for this year’s conference is, “Asian Anthropology: Materiality, Movement, and Change.”

Hong Kong is a global city, a major node for trade, investment, and the exchange of ideas. The Postgraduate Student Forum seeks to encourage communication among young anthropologists in and of the Asian region, to help improve their research and to make the excellent research being conducted in Asia better known internationally.

Full details here.

We are pleased to announce the 14th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists (EurASEAA) to be held in Dublin in 2012, organised and hosted by University College Dublin School of Archaeology.

The conference brings together archaeologists, art historians and philologists who share a common interest [...]]]> EurASEAA 14
18-21 September 2012
Dublin

We are pleased to announce the 14th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists (EurASEAA) to be held in Dublin in 2012, organised and hosted by University College Dublin School of Archaeology.

The conference brings together archaeologists, art historians and philologists who share a common interest in Southeast Asia’s past from prehistoric to historic periods. Its aim is to facilitate communication between different disciplines, to present current work in the field, and to stimulate future research.

We invite sessions and papers on any topic or theme related to the interests of EurASEAA. As 2012 is also the year that Dublin is European City of Science, the organisers have proposed one special theme on ‘Science, Archaeology and Heritage in Southeast Asia’, for which we also welcome proposals.

The Asian Academy for Heritage Management warmly invites you to Manila, The Philippines [...]]]> Manila and the National Museum of the Philippines is hosting the inaugural Asia-Pacific regional conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage. The deadline for the first call for papers has just passed, but there is a second call whose deadline is on March.

The Asian Academy for Heritage Management warmly invites you to Manila, The Philippines from November 8 – 12 2011 for our inaugural Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage.

This conference aims to:

* exchange and disseminate information about underwater cultural heritage in Asia and the countries of the Indian and Pacific Oceans
* facilitate professional development for underwater archaeologists and underwater cultural heritage managers in the Asia-Pacific region
* provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas about and approaches to underwater cultural heritage and underwater archaeology
* publish the proceedings both online and in print and disseminate to a wide audience

We hope that a wide range of people involved with underwater cultural heritage will attend including those from universities, government agencies, museums, NGOs, IGOs, the private sector and the community.

Full details on the official conference website.

This conference will be held at the time of Poland’s presidency in the European Union and is connected with the [...]]]> The Polish Society of Oriental Art is organising its 14th conference: South-East Asia: Art, Cultural Heritage and Cultural Relations with Europe / Poland which will be held September 29th – October 1st, 2011 in Krakow.

This conference will be held at the time of Poland’s presidency in the European Union and is connected with the activity of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) organisation.

Closing date for submissions is 31 March, 2011. Registration information here.

photo credit: j0hncooke

The Conference offers an ideal opportunity for scholars from the European Union (including Poland), the countries of the South-East Asia as well as other parts of the world to meet and exchange ideas and results of their research on South-East Asia.

Poland has a long-standing tradition of research in Asian studies, including the region of South-East Asia, and of participation in restoration of art monuments there (especially in Cambodia and Vietnam). Some institutions in Poland have been involved in stimulating academic interest in South-East Asian culture and art, such as the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the University of Warsaw, the Institute of Oriental Philology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the Institute of Study and Restoration of Artistic Works of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun as well as the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw.

Interest in the culture of this region has been growing among art historians, art restorers, museologists, orientalists, ethnologists, theater, dance, music and film scholars.

SUBJECT
The proposed main thematic domains of the conference are:
- South-East Asian art in multi-religious and multi-ethnic contexts;
- the cultural role played by court and royal patronage of art in South-East Asia;
- local cultures of South-East Asia and their artistic traditions;
- modern and contemporary art of South-East Asia;
- artistic relations between Europe and South-East Asia;
- protection of the region’s cultural heritage.

The area concerned covers Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, including Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and European cultural presence in the region.

Official Site

Mountains in the Religions of South and Southeast Asia: Place, Culture, and Power 4th SSEASR Conference, Thimphu, Kingdom of Bhutan 30 June – 03 July, 2011

Mountains are [...]]]> Readers might be interested in this upcoming conference in the Kingdom of Bhutan (hey, I think the conference venue alone makes it worth the trip!)

Mountains in the Religions of South and Southeast Asia: Place, Culture, and Power
4th SSEASR Conference, Thimphu, Kingdom of Bhutan
30 June – 03 July, 2011

Mountains are associated with the central values, practices, beliefs, and identities of religious cultures and traditions throughout the world. The physical and symbolic geography of mountains has inspired people for millennia with feelings of awe and wonder, as well as of fear and trepidation. In South and Southeast Asia, these experiences have sparked creativity in the realms of both religious discourse and practice. Mountains are perceived and revered in sacred texts, rituals, and practices as markers of both the transcendence and immanence of spiritual power: they are identified as gods or the abodes of gods; they serve as temples or places of worship; they house the ancestors and the dead; and they are sources of inspiration, cultural pride, and local and national identity. As links between nature and culture, mountains occupy a prominent place in the history of the region.

The sacredness of mountains is believed to manifest in two principal ways: mountains embody religious power and are sites for its manifestation. In the first instance, specific peaks are singled out by particular cultures and traditions as embodiments of special sanctity: these sacred mountains have well‐established networks of myths, beliefs, values and practices such as pilgrimage, meditation, and sacrifice (e.g. the Himalayas). Mt. Everest is considered the residence of Miolangsangma, the goddess of good fortune; as a result, indigenous peoples have banned the killing of animals (snow leopard, yak, etc) that reside in the higher elevations of the Himalayan zone. In the second instance, mountains that are not revered as embodiments of religious power may nevertheless be the locations of specific religious sites. These sites are subject to reinterpretation and they can become locations of cultural negotiation and conflict. In East Timor, for example, sacred caves, which were once central to local religions, are now linked to the Catholic Church and reinterpreted through a new religious lens. The Cordillera region in the Philippines, which encompasses most of the mountain range of Luzon, provides another instance of partial and selective sacrality. The entire mountain is not a symbol of reverence but its high terrain terraces are believed to be places that sustain life, the environment, and agriculture through ritual and religious practice.

Beliefs about the sacrality of specific mountains often reflect the coexistence of different religious traditions. Some Southeast Asian cultures believe that the ancestral spirits of mountains descended from the mountains in the spring in order to transform into gods of the rice fields; they would then return to the mountains from fall to winter and were once again worshipped as mountain gods. Another example is the peak of Mount Kailasa (in the Tibetan plateau), which is the pagoda palace of Demchog in Tibetan Buddhism and the abode of Siva in Hinduism. In Indonesia, many Balinese believe that there is an inseparable association between the Hindu temple and the mountain, but at the same time, they may continue to practice a form of pre‐Hindu worship.

Bhutan is a country of mountains, not only because mountains occupy almost 80% of the country, but also because throughout history, the life, culture and religion of the Bhutanese people have been inseparably related to mountains. Hence, the Royal University of Bhutan and the Institute of Language and Culture Studies, Thimphu are our natural hosts.

More details here.