Buddhist-Muslim interactions/relations in Zanskar Valley under the impact of the Indian state, a globalising market and world-religious orthodoxies (CO-EXISTENCE)

Basic data for this project

Description

In this project the fellow aims at studying the social dynamics of Buddhist-Muslim communities in the Federal State of Jammu and Kashmir (India), in which the absolutist exclusiveness of world-religious orthodoxies and the aspirations at political hegemony grounded in them are rejected in favour of communal identities, which transcend the different religious identities of their members. She endeavours to identify the culturally specific processes of social resistance against Muslim orthodoxy emanating from Kashmir, Pakistan and Saudi-Arabia and Buddhist orthodoxy propagated by exile Tibetan communities. The data collected in empirical research in the region will be analysed by means of models of comparable processes elsewhere in South and Southeast Asia, developed by social anthropologists and political scientists at the University of Muenster, Germany. By taking part in the advanced research programmes at the Institute of Ethnology and the Institute of Political Sciences the fellow will profit from, and contribute to a comprehensive exchange of theoretical insights and empirical data in the social science research of Asia between Muenster University and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales Paris. The fellow will use the knowledge obtained as the theoretical and empirical basis for a habilitation project on "The dynamics of community construction in multi-religious contexts". Enhancing her theoretical and methodological expertise in social anthropology, and her skills in planning, executing and reporting on research will qualify the fellow for higher level scholarly research and teaching positions.