Like other regions of the world, South-East Asia has, since the mid-1980s, seen the rise of a new “spirit of capitalism”, linked to the growth of a middle class. Various religious mass-organizations have developed new discourses on wealth and innovative techniques of financing. At their helm, we often find charismatic figures who are responding to the demands of those in search of meaning in an increasingly de-structured modern urban life setting. In doing so, these actors operate on a “spiritual marketplace” characterized by great fluidity and competition. This conference is to look at the different ways through which tensions between religious ethics and economic rationalization are negotiated, both ideologically and institutionally.

Argument

Like other regions of the world, South-East Asia has, since the mid-1980s, seen the rise of a new “spirit of capitalism”, linked to the growth of a middle class. Various religious mass-organizations have developed new discourses on wealth and innovative techniques of financing. At their helm, we often find charismatic figures who are responding to the demands of those in search of meaning in an increasingly de-structured modern urban life setting. In doing so, these actors operate on a “spiritual marketplace” characterized by great fluidity and competition.

This phenomenon however should not be understood simply as a uniform and constant imposition of economic norms on the religious. Rather, it is “a set of highly complex negotiated interaction” (R. Wuthnow), through which “moral economies” are emerging in South-East Asia. With scholars specializing in different areas and religious traditions, the objective of this conference is to look at the different ways through which tensions between religious ethics and economic rationalization are negotiated, both ideologically and institutionally.

Program

Vendredi 13 juin 2014 (09:00 – 16:45)

09:00-09:30 Introduction. Message des organisateurs (R. MADINIER, J. JAMMES, J. KONING et G. NJOTO-FEILLARD)

Part 1: The Organization of Moral Economies through Religion

• 09:30 – 10:15 Justice For All ? The Moral Economy Of Pentecostal-Charismatic Organizations In Indonesia, Juliette KONING, Reader, Oxford Brookes University Business School (UK)
• 10:15 – 11:00 Muhammadiyah & the Market: The Economic Trials & Tribulations of an Islamic Modernist Mass-Organization in Indonesia, Gwenaël NJOTO-FEILLARD, Visiting Research Fellow ISEAS (Singapore); Re- search associate CASE (CNRS-EHESS)

11:00 – 11:15 Pause café

• 11:15 – 12:00 New Life In An Emerging Market Economy: Moral Quandaries Among Cambodias Highland Protestants, Catherine SCHEER, Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, CASE-EHESS, France

12:00 – 14:00 PICNIC (pour les participants)

• 14:00-14:45 The Moral Economy Of Religion In A Context Of Violence: Buddhism And Christianity In Karen State, Eastern Burma, Alexander HORSTMANN, Associate Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, University of Copenhagen
• 14:45-15:30 Of Riches And Faith: The Prosperity Gospels Of Megachurches In Singapore, Terence CHONG, Senior Fellow; Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singa- pore

15:30 – 16:00 Pause café

• 16:00 – 16:45 What Is A Halal Lab? Islamic Techoscience In Malaysia, Johan FISCHER, Associate Professor; Department of Society and Globalisa- tion, Roskilde University, Denmark

Samedi 14 juin 2014 (09:00 – 12:15)

• 09:00 – 09:45 Religion, Prosperity, And Lottery Lore: The Linkage Of New Religious Networks To Gambling Practices In Thailand, Rachelle M. SCOTT, Associate Professor; Department of Religious Studies, University of Tennessee, USA
• 09:45 – 10:30 Religious Worlding: Christianity And The New Production Of Space In The Philippines, Jayeel Serrano CORNELIO, Visiting Fellow at Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany & Director of Development Studies Program, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

10:30 – 10:45 Pause café

• 10:45 – 11:30 Conceptualising, Producing And Consuming Visual Representations Of Hindu Divinity (Singapore), Vineeta SINHA, Associate Professor; Head of South Asian Studies & Depart- ment of Sociology, National University of Singapore
• 11:30 – 12:15 Comments And Future Prospects, Robert W. HEFNER, Professor of anthropology, Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs (CURA), Boston University, USA