• Search Research Projects
  • Search Researchers
  • How to Use
  1. Back to previous page

Can the Divine Pollute? An Ethnographic Enquiry into Contemporary Buddhist Spirit Mediumship in Bangkok

Research Project

Project/Area Number 19K12955
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section Basic Section 01030:Religious studies-related
Research InstitutionKyoto University

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)

Project Period (FY) 2019-04-01 – 2020-03-31
Project Status Discontinued (Fiscal Year 2019)
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)
KeywordsBuddhism / Religion / Thailand / Spirit mediums / Spirit mediumship / Bangkok / Purity and pollution
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?

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.

Report

(1 results)
  • 2019 Annual Research Report

URL: 

Published: 2019-04-18   Modified: 2021-01-27  

Information User Guide FAQ News Terms of Use Attribution of KAKENHI

Powered by NII kakenhi