南アジア研究センター・セミナー：Dr. Jon Keune (Michigan State University), ’Work, Activism, and Religion in Ambedkarite Buddhist Diasporas’

日時：2024年6月10日（月）18:00-19:30

場所：東京大学駒場キャンパス14号館4階407号室

報告：Dr. Jon Keune (Michigan State University), ’Work, Activism, and Religion in Ambedkarite Buddhist Diasporas’

要旨：Since 1956, following the conversion of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and a half million of his followers to protest social inequities and caste-based oppression, a newly formed Indian Buddhist community has sought better lives through higher education, political assertion, and transnational migration for work. Rather than join a preexisting Asian Buddhist tradition (such as the Theravada sangha in Sri Lanka), Ambedkarites have articulated their own distinctly modern vision of Buddhism that advocates for social equality while reckoning with limited resources and the systemic effects of caste prejudice. Consequently, Buddhism for Ambedkarites usually has a very strong social and political dimension that does not conform to the stereotype of Buddhism as a primarily “spiritual” or “contemplative” religion. In the past thirty years, highly educated Ambedkarites have increasingly found professional opportunities in Japan, the Middle East, UK, USA, and elsewhere. As they migrate and resettle, and as their children grow up outside India, they dwell around other forms of Buddhism and other expectations of how religion ought to function in different geopolitical contexts. Drawing on field work in Asia, Europe, and North America, this talk explores how Ambedkarites in their everyday lives are navigating diaspora circumstances, diverse forms of Buddhism, and commitments to social upliftment and home communities, all while pursuing their own professional and economic advancement.

司会：小川道大（東京大学）

使用言語：英語

問い合わせ先：michi_19th_century[at]Hotmail.com

共催：東京外国語大学南アジア研究センター