Workshop on Religious Studies in Asia

16-18 December 2010

Thursday 16 December

12.00 to 1.00 Registration

1.00 to 1.20 Welcome Remarks (Organisers)
Session I
1.20 to 1.55 John Whalen-Bridge Starting from Singapore: Some
Observations on the Evolution of
‘Religious Studies’ in an Asian
Context
1.55 to 2.30 Prasenjit Duara The Problem with the Idea of
Religion in China
2.30 to 2.50 Discussion
2.50 to 3.30 Tea
Session II
3.30 to 4.05 Gabriele Marranci The Study of Religion in Southeast
Asia: Transnational Dimensions
4.05 to 4.40 Farish Noor Thinking the Unthinkable: The
Modernization and Reform of
Islamic Higher Education in
Indonesia
4.40 to 5.00 Discussion

Friday 17 December
Session III
9.00 to 9.35 Mahinda Deegalle The ‘Comparative Religion’
Programmes in Sri Lankan
Universities: The Birth, Challenges
and Prospects
9.35 to 10.10 Andrea Pinkney The Nalanda University Initiative:
Secularism, Buddhism and
Religious Studies in Asia
10.10 to 10.30 Discussion
10.30 to 11.00 Tea
Session IV
11.00 to 11.35 Timothy Fitzgerald Religious Studies and the
Legitimation of Anglo-American
 Capitalism
11.35 to 12.10 Robbie Goh Suspicion, Faith and Omissions:
The Cultural Politics of Teaching
and Writing on Christianity in
Asia
12.10 to 12.30 Discussion
12.30 to 1.30 Lunch
Session V
1.30 to 2.05 Hayashi Makoto Religious Studies in Japan from a
Historical Perspective
2.05 to 2.40 Masakazu Tanaka Anthropology of Religions in Post-
War Japan
2.40 to 3.00 Discussion
3.00 to 3.30 Tea

Saturday 18 December
Session VII
9.00 to 9.35 Thongchai Winichakul Their …Isms, Our
Religion: Comparative
Religion for Buddhist
Superiority in Siam,
1850s-1950s
9.35 to 10.10 Vasudha Narayanan Contested Constructs and
Contentious
Communities: The Study
of Hindu Traditions and
Religion in India
10.10 to 10.30 Discussion
10.30 to 11.00 Tea
11.00 to 12.00 Concluding Discussion and
Publications Plans (all participants)
12.00 to 1.30 Lunch
1.30 to 4.00 Tour of Religious Sites