Special Centre for the Study of North East India
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Speaker
Dr. Swargajyoti Gohain
Assistant Professor & HOD
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Ashoka University, Haryana
Time and Venue
3 to 5 PM, Friday, 16th July, 2021
Through Google meet at the following link: https://meet.google.com/thb-hmdh-msh
Title of the Lecture: Eco-friendly Buddhism: Anomaly or Adaptation?
Abstract : Buddhist monks have become increasingly visible in environmental movements in the last few decades. In some Buddhist countries, monks even ordained trees as a conservation measure. My fieldwork in Arunachal Pradesh showed how monks have played a leading role in environmental protests. On the surface of it, monks and environmental conservation do not seem to fit. For monks are supposed to be engaged in spiritual, other-worldly activities, while environmental conservation is a practical activity concerned with this world. How can we explain this connection? In this talk, I will ask the following questions: What is the connection between Buddhism and environment? What is the role of monks in environmental protection? What do Buddhist texts say about environmental preservation? Can we really talk about a Buddhist approach to environment that arises from the heart of the Buddhist tradition or are we looking at a constructed set of beliefs by contemporary Buddhists? That is, is the representation of Buddhism as ecological (“Eco-Buddhism” “Ecological Monks”) a re-interpretation of Buddhist traditional philosophy by modern environmentally conscious people to fit contemporary secular concerns? I conclude the talk by arguing that anthropologists cannot answer the larger question of whether religion can save the environment or not with a simple yes or no. While religion-based environmentalism can help mobilise lay activism, it is important to see the reverse picture too, and to pay attention to how monks can and have incorporated local worldviews about the environment in their environmental activism.
About the Speaker: Dr Swargajyoti Gohain is an Assistant Professor and current Head of the Department in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University. Swargajyoti Gohain has a Masters and M. Phil from Delhi School of Economics, and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Emory University, USA. Since 2008, she has worked on issues of culture, politics, borders and infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh and her first book Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands was published in 2020. She has published several articles on state-making, language and politics, roads and development, and indigenous identity in Northeast India and the Himalaya. Her current interests include exploring the connections between religion/culture, environment, education, state, and tourism.
All are Cordially Invited
