Encounters at the Wat Dhammakittiwong

• Thesis title in Czech: Setkání ve Wat Dhammakittiwongu
• Thesis title in English: Encounters at the Wat Dhammakittiwong
• Key words: antropologie|théraváda|materialismus|thajský buddhismus|kritická teorie|rituál|vtělení|chrám|postkoloniální filosofie
• English key words: Anthropology|Theravāda|Materialism|Thai Buddhism|Critical Theory|ritual|embodiment|temple|post-colonial philosophy
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2015/2016
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies (21-UFAR)
• Supervisor: Mgr. Martin Pehal, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 09.02.2016
• Date of assignment: 09.02.2016
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 12.02.2016
• Date and time of defence: 20.06.2017 14:00
• Date of electronic submission: 21.05.2017
• Date of proceeded defence: 20.06.2017
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: Mgr. Marek Zemánek, M.A., Ph.D.

Guidelines

This study will be written using self-reflexive, post-modern forms of ethnographic writing. It is centered around a Thai Buddhist temple in Prague, where a small community of mostly Thai women meet. As such it offers an optimal entry into questions of transglobal identity formation, as well as issues regarding religious minorities in a relatively homogenous society. These aspects will be articulated with the help of scholars such as Anna Löwenhaupt Tsing, Rosalind C. Morris and Aihwa Ong. A further concern that will structure the work is an inquiry into Theravadin ritual practice, the construction of a Theravadin subject and how these form the space of intercultural encounter for local/Western visitors to the temple. This line of inquiry will draw on the work of anthropologists Ronald Grimes, Michael Taussig and Miho Ishii, as well as those who explicitly write about Thai culture such as Alan Klima, Pattana Kitiarsa or Tanabe Shigeharu. It is with the help of the latter that the issues encountered and discussed will be articulated with respect to more traditional anthropologico-historical formulations of Thai culture. This ethnographic inquiry will thus open up questions of identity, borders, heterotopia, as well as the role of the internet in the formation of identity and its use in Theravadin ritual, and offer possible constructions drawn from the knowledge of the actors constituting the temple and the resulting study.

References

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