Lecture: Radical Epicenters in the Caribbean: Remapping the Organization of Communism between World War I and World War II

Today, the Centre for Area Studies at Leipzig University will hold its annual lecture. This year, Margaret Stevens, associate professor of history at Essex County College Newark, USA, will discuss her recently published book Red International and Black Caribbean Communists in New York City, Mexico and the West Indies, 1919–1939 (University of Chicago Press, 2017).

Investigating the trajectories of peasants and workers of colour, as well as of women, and tracing how these diverse actors shaped and acted in a variety of organizations, she investigates the entanglements between them and the international communist movement of the early twentieth century. In her lecture, she will provide fresh insights into how this research may contribute to a multifaceted discussion on the transregionality of radical agendas and global revolutionary struggles.

The lecture will start at 5 p.m. at SFB 1199 (Strohsackpassage, 5^th floor, room 5.55).

Following the lecture there will be  small reception.

Discussion and Lecture on Buddhist Meditation

On 14 November, our Research Fellow Philip Clart will host a roundtable discussion with Ven. Kaiyin (Chairman Santa Monastery, USA) on Buddhist Meditation. Following, Ven. Kaiyin will give a lecture on Loving-kindness, the Path to Happiness.

The discussion will be in Mandarin and English, the lecture will be given in Mandarin with English translation.

Time: 3:15 p.m. discussion, 6:00 p.m. lecture

Venue: Schillerstraße 6, room S 202

Conference on "Daoism and Local Cults: Rethinking the Paradigms"

The National Central Library of Taiwan and the Leipzig University Library invite to their conference on Daoism and Local Cults: Rethinking the Paradigms from 29 November to 1 December.

The field of Daoist studies has long been shaped by a few defining questions, among which the relationship between Daoism and local cults (or “local religion,” or “popular religion”) is one of the most passionately debated. Historians of the early forms of organized Daoism, mostly Tianshidao 天師道, have emphasized their antagonistic relation to local cults and their rejection of sacrifices and spirit possession. Yet, they have also shown that accommodation took place, with such cults being reinvented in a Daoist guise. Many historians have discussed a movement of reconciliation during the early modern period, with many local gods accepted into Daoist pantheons and Daoists invited to manage local temples. Yet tensions and antagonisms continue to the present day.

This conference aims to take stock of the accumulated scholarship on the question and to clarify the various existing positions, so as to take the debates one step further in terms of reflexivity and analytical depth. It hopes to disentangle the emic and etic categories that mix in the scholarly discourse and to result in a shared vocabulary and a clear set of parameters for discussing the question, whatever position one takes.

The conference will be accompanied by an exhibition of recent Taiwanese research publications on Daoism and local cults, as well as facsimile editions of historic Daoist texts. The exhibition is curated by the National Central Library.

The conference is open to the public and can be attended without formal registration. However, registration is required for anyone who wishes to participate actively in the panel discussions. For registration please contact Philip Clart.

Conference and exhibition will take place at Bibliotheca Albertina, Beethovenstr. 6, 04107 Leipzig.

Monograph on „Modernity in Islamic Tradition“

What does it mean to be modern? In his study, our Research Fellow Florian Zemmin regards the concept of ‘society’ as foundational to modern self-understanding. Identifying Arabic conceptualizations of society in the journal al-Manar, the mouthpiece of Islamic reformism, the study shows how modernity was articulated from within an Islamic discursive tradition. The fact that the classical term umma was a principal term used to conceptualize modern society suggests the convergence of discursive traditions in modernity, rather than a mere diffusion of European concepts.

Zemmin, Florian. Modernity in Islamic Tradition. The Concept of ‘Society’ in the Journal al-Manar (Cairo, 1898–1940). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2018.