Antropologicheskij forum, 2018, no. 36

ON DEITIES AND DEMONS OF THE ORIENT: NOTES AND REFLECTIONS FROM THE CONFERENCE IN TARTU

Svetlana Ryzhakova
Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences
32-A Leninsky Av., Moscow, Russia
sryzhakova()gmail.com

Abstract: This paper is an analysis of the international conference “Deities, Spirits and Demons in Vernacular Beliefs and Rituals in Asia”, organized by the Tartu University Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, and Institute of Cultural Research on November 8–10, 2017. The key concept of the conference was the idea of “vernacular”, the main methodological tool “multiconceptualism”, and the main object was religious culture of South, South-East, East and Central Asia.

The author analyses three plenary lectures and 35 papers dedicated to the general subject. Vernacular appears to be a form of “living practices”, a “neighbour” of dominant power institutes. It was possible to unfold the “vernacular” fully only with the help of a large body of ethnographic material of a particular religious community, an ethnic group, a ritual or cult.

Keywords: deities, spirits, demonology, sacred, vernacular beliefs, rites and rituals, religious practices, South Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia, Tibet.

To cite: Ryzhakova S., ‘Tartuskie besedy o bogakh i demonakh Vostoka: zametki i razmyshleniya s konferentsii’ [On Deities and Demons of the Orient: Notes and Reflections from the Conference in Tartu], Antropologicheskij forum, 2018, no. 36, pp. 221–232.

doi: 10.31250/1815-8870-2018-14-36-221-232

URL: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/036/ryzhakova.pdf