| Project/Area Number |
19K12955
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 01030:Religious studies-related
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
Siani Edoardo 京都大学, 東南アジア地域研究研究所, 特定研究員 (50822003)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Project Status |
Discontinued (Fiscal Year 2019)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,990,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥690,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
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| Keywords | Buddhism / Religion / Thailand / Spirit mediums / Spirit mediumship / Bangkok / Purity and pollution |
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| Outline of Research at the Start |
This research project explores the hypothesis that in certain ritual contexts, the divine may be disentangled from purity, and associated to pollution. It does so through a qualitative ethnographic study of Thai Buddhist spirit mediums in Bangkok. My guiding research question is: What is the relationship between the divine and pollution in contemporary Thai Buddhism from the perspective of urban spirit mediums?
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The JSPS funds enabled me to conduct multiple research trips to Thailand, where I successfully carried out short periods of fieldwork research with spirit mediums. During these periods, I collected data that both confirms and problematizes my proposed thesis, opening avenues for further research that I will carry out in the future when I am able to obtain new funds. The JSPS funds additionally enabled me to carry out trips to Europe, where I presented my tentative research fundings to international audiences. In Europe, Thailand as well as in Japan, I was also able to speak privately with specialists on Buddhism and spirit cults, who gave me usual comments about my ideas and research data. In London, I additionally carried out research using the resources kept at the British Library. Unfortunately, I had to return the funds for the second year of this project as I am leaving Kyoto University's CSEA because my contract has expired. As anticipated above, I nevertheless intend to continue carrying out this project and to publish my research results on international journals acknowledging the generous sponsorship received from JSPS. I also intend to publish this data in a book project on which I have already started working.
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