Published on Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Abstract
The dead inhabit the world in their own particular ways. In Asia, where life presupposes that physical substance, spirits and the flow of vital energy are united and held together, the moment of death is one of disjunction, even of dispersion. Faced with this phenomenon, numerous techniques as well as objects of various kinds allow the living to cultivate a relationship with the dead. Both anthropologists and historians have described and emphasised how vividly the dead are present among the living. This topic has seen new developments since the beginning of the century. Faced with the profusion of objects and techniques that allow the dead to evolve in the world of the living, this issue of “Lives of the Dead in Asia” intends to reflect on the ways the different vehicles of existence of the dead are produced and used.
Announcement
Call for papers for the new issue of the journal Extrême-Orient, Extrême Occident entitled “Lives of the Dead in Asia”.
Argument
The dead inhabit the world in their own particular ways. In Asia, where life presupposes that physical substance, spirits and the flow of vital energy are united and held together, the moment of death is one of disjunction, even of dispersion. Faced with this phenomenon, numerous techniques (soul-calling during shamanic rituals, writing of genealogies or forensic investigations) as well as objects of various kinds (funerary tablets, portraits or virtual-reality software) allow the living to cultivate a relationship with the dead.
Both anthropologists and historians have described and emphasised how vividly the dead are present among the living. This topic has seen new developments since the beginning of the century, for example with Kwon Heonik’s Ghosts of War in Vietnam in 2008, Vinciane Despret’s Au bonheur des morts in 2015, or the “Ghosts” issue of the journal Terrain directed by Grégory Delaplace in 2018. This issue of Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident wishes to extend these approaches by bringing them into dialogue with recent works that focus on the place of materiality and techniques in relations to the invisible, notably the issue “Materializing desires. Votive techniques” of Techniques et culture, edited by Pierre-Olivier Dittmar et al. in 2018, or the book Mediums and Magical Things : Statues, Paintings, and Masks in Asian Places by Laurel Kendall in 2021.
Faced with the profusion of objects and techniques that allow the dead to evolve in the world of the living, this issue of “Lives of the Dead in Asia” intends to reflect on the ways the different vehicles of existence of the dead are produced and used. The concept of “vehicle of existence” allows a joint analysis of phenomena that are usually studied separately, from ancestral tablets to virtual reality. It also allows to go across historical contexts and beyond an exclusively religious or ritual perspective.
Topic Proposals
The contributions expected for this issue, in the fields of anthropology, history, art history, sociology or literature, may focus on one or more East Asian societies at different periods and hopefully incorporate one of the following themes :
- The place of materiality in the vehicles of existence of the dead. Which processes allow humans to develop the capacity of these vehicles to intensify the presence of the dead ? What is the role played by the technological evolution in the techniques in use ? And what about the role of sensoriality ? To what extent is materiality used to interact with the dead ?
- The use and purpose of objects and techniques. What kind of relationship can be established and cultivated with the dead through these objects and techniques ? By what means are the dead connected to these vehicles ? And for how long is this connection maintained ?
- The rearrangements and crises concerning these vehicles of existence. What are the implications of the potential disappearance of existing vehicles for the dead (if they are lost, destroyed or out of reach) ? Additionally, what is the impact of their possible dispersion or multiplication ?
How to apply
Proposals for papers, in English or in French, should be addressed to the two editors of the journal : matthias.hayek@ephe.psl.eu and pierre-emmanuel.roux@u-paris.fr, as well as to Florence Galmiche : florence.galmiche@u-paris.fr, guest editor for this issue.
If you are interested in contributing to this issue, the editors kindly ask you to submit a tentative title and an abstract
by July 15, 2022.
Full manuscripts should be submitted no later than October 31, 2022 and follow the submission guidelines outlined here.
Received contributions will be sent to two independent reviewers. The editorial board will make a decision based on these reviews.
Coordination
- Florence Galmiche
Chief Editors
- Matthias Hayek (Université Paris Diderot, Paris 7),
- Pierre-Emmanuel Roux (Université Paris Diderot, Paris 7).
Editorial Board
- Caroline Bodolec (CNRS-École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales),
- Pierre Marsone (École Pratique des Hautes Études),
- Romain Graziani (École normale supérieure de Lyon et Institut universitaire de France),
- Annick Horiuchi (Université Paris Diderot, Paris 7).
Subjects
Date(s)
- Friday, July 15, 2022
Keywords
- présence, materialité, technique, mort, invisible
Contact(s)
- Florence Galmiche
courriel : florence [dot] galmiche [at] u-paris [dot] fr
Information source
- Florence Galmiche
courriel : florence [dot] galmiche [at] u-paris [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Lives of the Dead in Asia », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, https://doi.org/10.58079/193j
