ISAC - The Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics
By ISAC
Series I consists of 18 Episodes.
Series II is about "Family, Catholicism, and Asian Societies", hosted by James Ponniah, University of Madras
ISAC - The Initiative for the Study of Asian CatholicsOct 29, 2021
Series III, Episode 13, Shanthini Pillai and Angline Wong Wei Wei on Tamil and Chinese Catholic Diaspora Communities in the Nineteenth Century Malaya
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC.
This episode features Dr. Shanthini Pillai, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, and Senior Associate Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies, National University of Malaysia, and Dr. Angeline Wong Wei Wei, a lecturer at Malaysia Immersion and Pathways, Monash University, Malaysia. Pillai and Wong discuss their research paper, “Marianism, Motherlands and the Collective Unconscious of Tamil and Chinese Catholics of the Classical Diasporas in the Nineteenth Century Malaya.” The series’ host is Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
In this episode, Pillai and Wong discuss their studies of Tamil and Chinese Catholic diasporic communities in Malaysia, focusing on the period between the 1870s and 1930s. Drawing on the migrants’ experiences of loss, suffering, and hope for salvation, Pillai and Wong argue the figures of Our Lady of Good Health and Our Lady of Sorrows are particularly resonant with these diasporic communities in Malaya.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCANews.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 11, Mary Josefti Nito on Marian Devotion and Narratives of Identity and Place-Making in Philippines
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC. This series is hosted by Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
This episode features Mary Josefti Nito, a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Nito discusses her research paper, “Marian Devotion in Luzon, Philippines: Narratives of Identity and Place, 17th and 18th Centuries.”
In this episode, Nito discusses the narratives of devotion to Mary in Luzon, the Philippines, during the early colonial period. She introduces the stories of Mary on trees and water and considers the importance of landscape in deepening devotion. Nito suggests how Marian devotion played a crucial role in establishing the identity and the place-making of towns and cities in Luzon.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCANews.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 12, Teruyuki Tsuji on Dressing the Madonna in Trinidad
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC.
This episode features Dr. Teruyuki Tsuji, Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University in Japan. Tsuji discusses his research paper, “Dressing the Madonna: Race, Sexuality, and the Spirit of the Virgin Mary and/or ‘Indian Lady’ in Trinidad.” The series’ host is Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
In this episode, Tsuji discusses cultural practices surrounding La Divina Pastora, a dark brown-skinned Madonna statue in the Catholic Church in Siparia on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. Known for her spiritual healing power, the statue is popular among not only Catholic but also Hindu devotees of South Asian diaspora communities. Focusing on her dresses and the female body, Tsuji discusses various implications of dressing the Madonna for her devotees in the context of multiethnic Trinidad.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCANews.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 8, William Peterson on the Peñafrancia Festival in the Philippines
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC. This series is hosted by Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
This episode features Dr. William Peterson, Adjunct Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. Peterson discusses his research paper, “Mary as Mother: Gender, Devotion, and Place at the Peñafrancia Festival.”
In this episode, Peterson introduces the Peñafrancia Festival, which takes place in Naga City in the Philippines. During the festival, the effigy of Our Lady of Peñafrancia travels the city, accompanied by the Divino Rostro or the Holy Face of Jesus. Noting the crowd’s devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia, Peterson discusses how the locals adore Mary as their mother but also identify her as the place, Naga, their hometown, to which they belong.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCANews.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 10, Patrizia Granziera on Mary and Divine Feminine
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC. This series is hosted by Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
This episode features Dr. Patrizia Granziera, Professor of Art History at the University of Morelos, Cuernavaca in Mexico, who was also one of the conference organizers.
In this episode, Granziera tells us how she brought the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University at Twickenham, London, and the ISAC together, making an essential connection for this conference. She also shares how her interests in religious iconography and divine feminine in Latin America later took her to Tamil Nadu in India, where she studied local goddesses and their encounter with Christianity.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCANews.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 9, Brian Reynolds and Marco Lazzarotti on Holy Mary and Inculturation in Taiwan
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC.
This episode features Brian Reynolds, Professor of Italian at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei, and Marco Lazzarotti, Researcher and Lecturer at the Institute of Ethnology of the University of Heidelberg.Reynolds and Lazzarotti discuss their research paper, “Universal Belief and Local Apparition: Holy Mary and Inculturation in Taiwan.” The series’ host is Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
In this episode, Reynolds and Lazzarotti situate Mary in the context of Taiwan, in which female figures of Guanyin and Mazu are prominent spiritual icons enshrined in local temples. Two researchers suggest that preexisting devotional practices and beliefs in these goddess figures aided the locals in embracing and developing close relationships with Mary. Using the story of local Marian apparition to non-Catholics in Taiwan, Reynolds and Lazzarotti point to how Mary remains universal while serving the needs and hopes of the locals.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCANews.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 7, Argene A. Clasara on Regulating the Marian Devotion in Macau
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC. This series is hosted by Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
This episode features Mr. Argene A. Clasara, who is a graduate student in History and Heritage Studies at the University of St. Joseph, Macau. Clasara discusses his research paper, “Regulating Marialis Cultus in Macau: A Re-reading of Msgr. Manuel Teixeira’s O Culto de Maria em Macau.”
In this episode, Clasara uses a historical text, O Culto de Maria em Macau, written by a Portuguese missionary and church historian of Macau, Fr. Manuel Teixeira, and uncovers the prominent place Mary occupied in the minds of those who developed the city. By tracing the church hierarchy’s attempts to regulate and reinforce boundaries on the devotion to Our Lady, Clasara teases out how Mary had been conceived of as the defender of the city by its residents.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCANews.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 6, Janet A. Hoskins on Three Faces of Mary in the Vietnamese Diaspora
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC. This series is hosted by Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
This episode features Dr. Janet A. Hoskins, Professor of Anthropology and Religion at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Hoskins discusses her research paper, “Three Faces of Mary in the Vietnamese Diaspora: Our Lady of Refugees, Of Cold War Pilgrims, and of Transnational Ethnic Solidarity.”
In this episode, Hoskins discusses new forms of pilgrimage Vietnamese diaspora community members make. She talks about three manifestations of Mary—Our Lady of Refugees, Our Lady of Fatima, and Our Lady of Lavang—and observes that they take on significant meanings for the pilgrims who once were displaced but now willingly engage in these voluntary journeys.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCANews.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 5, Qi Wang on the Rosary Meditation during Ming and Qing China
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC. This series is hosted by Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
This episode features Qi Wang, a PhD candidate in the Department of Philosophy at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. Wang discusses his research paper, “Familiar Stranger: The Rosary Meditation Living in Ming and Qing.”
In this episode, Wang discusses the introduction of the rosary and associated meditative practices taught by missionaries during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Juxtaposing the rosary meditation practices to spiritual techniques already present in Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism at the time, Wang introduces his listeners to how the rosary meditation was something familiar and also foreign.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCANews.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 4, Jamil Akhtar on Muslim and Catholic Pilgrimage in Mariamabad, Pakistan
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC. This series is hosted by Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
This episode features Jamil Akhtar, Assistant Professor at the University of the Punjab, Pakistan. Akhtar discusses his research paper, “Muslim and Catholic Pilgrimage Practices: A Case Study of the Mariamabad Annual Gathering.”
In this episode, Akhtar discusses a popular pilgrimage to a Catholic church in Mariamabad (City of Mary) in Pakistan. In September, a Marian shrine attracts Catholics and Muslim pilgrims. Akhtar details several ways Muslims are motivated to come and pay respect to Mary (known as Maryam) and points to the potential of such a site in Pakistan as promoting interfaith harmony.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCAN.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 1: Introduction, Conference Organizers’ Introduction to the Series
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC.
This episode features Dr. Sarah Jane Boss and Catherine O’Brien, one of the founders and the Director, respectively, of the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and Dr. Michel Chambon, Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute and one of the coordinators of ISAC. The series’ host is Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
In this episode, the three organizers share the stories about how the idea of having this conference was born, how the paper selection processes went, and what the conference revealed about Mary in Asia and her presence beyond the confines of the Catholic Church.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCAN.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 3, Michel Chambon on a Chinese Religious Movement, “The Origin of the Self” and Mary
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and ISAC. This series is hosted by Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
This episode features Michel Chambon from the National University of Singapore, who discusses his research paper, “Mary and the Origin of the Self: A new Chinese Religious Movement and Christianity.”
In this episode, Chambon talks about his ethnographic study of a Singaporean religious movement called “the Origin of the Self” and Mary’s position within this tradition. He introduces the readers to this Chinese, primarily Taoist group, which established itself in several countries and cyberspace. He makes an intriguing observation that this group takes Mary’s spiritual achievement, not her gender, seriously in its focus on the liberation of the body, mind, and soul.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the UCAN.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series III, Episode 2, Tuan Hoang on Our Lady of Fatima in South Vietnam and Its Diaspora
In this third series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) – a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, we hear from researchers who presented their papers in May 2023 at the conference “More Universal than Catholicism? Mary among Asian Religions.” The conference was co-organized by the Centre for Marian Studies at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the ISAC.
This episode features Tuan Hoang, Blanche E. Seaver Professor of Humanities and Teacher Education, and Associate Professor of Great Books at Pepperdine University in the U.S. Hoang discusses his research paper, “Our Lady of Fatima in South Vietnam and the Postwar Diaspora.” The series’ host is Hisako Omori from Akita International University, Japan.
In this episode, Hoang discusses the ways in which the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima took root in Vietnam in the 1940s and flourished in the following decades when the country had to undergo a turbulent period. Hoang situates the spread of this devotion in the context of the national division, the rise of communism, and the experience of warfare among Vietnamese Catholics. He also talks about the popularity of this devotion among diaspora communities in the postwar period.
To learn more about his work, Dr. Hoang invites listeners to visit his website & blog “tuannyriver” available at https://tuannyriver.com
This podcast series is generously sponsored by UCANEWS.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II, Episode 13: Aldrin B. Rodriguez on “Marian Devotion and its Influences on the Filipino Family and Society”
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Aldrin B. Rodriguez his research paper on “Marian Devotion and its Influences on the Filipino Family and Society.”
In this episode, Aldrin discusses how the Catholic Bico-lanos actively used religious rituals and imagery associated with 'Our Lady of Peñafrancia' to redefine their identity. He also talks about the influence of Marian rituals and traditions on the Filipino families, particularly on how vernacular Catholicism can be related to familial obedience, especially to the mother.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC.
Series II, Episode 12: Suman Rawat on Women, Childbirth and Catholics: A Study on Rituals, Illnesses and Treatments in Eastern UP, India
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Suman Rawat her research paper on “Women, Childbirth and Catholics: A Study on Rituals, Illnesses and Treatments in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.”
In this episode, Suman talks about the ethnographic study done in Pratapgarh district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, India and discusses how rituals related to childbirth and illness are practised among women in Catholic families especially after conversion to Christianity.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II, Episode 11: Bryan Benjamin Yu-Xian Goh on “The Church in their House: A Glocalization of Priestly Celibacy in Singapore’s Chinese-Catholic Families.”
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Bryan Benjamin Yu-Xian Goh his research paper on “The Church in their House: A Glocalization of Priestly Celibacy in Singapore’s Chinese-Catholic Families.”
In this episode, Bryan explores the cultural dilemma Chinese-Catholic families in Singapore face when a son experiences a religious calling to join the catholic priesthood because continuing the family line becomes to traditional Chinese families as important as priestly celibacy is to the Catholic Church. This research works furthers discusses how the dialogical process negotiating this cultural dilemma of Chinese-Catholic Priest embodies a dynamism that is hallmark of the glocalization of Christianity in Southeast Asia.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II, Episode 10: Brendan A. Galipeau on “We Are All Children of God: Conversion as a Re-semantization of the Chinese Family Structure.”
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Brendan A. Galipeau on his research work on “We Are All Children of God: Conversion as a Re-semantization of the Chinese Family Structure.”
In this episode, Dr. Lazzarotti shares with the audience his ethnographic fieldwork that the Catholic communities in a small village located in the Taiwanese countryside and dwells upon the Taiwanese concepts of person, family and kinship and the impact of conversion to Christianity on the family’s identity. He notes that Catholic use of ancestral tablets in Taiwan not only changed the old idea of continued relationship with the ancestors but also produced a new kinship worldview with the introduction of Jesus as the new and the only ancestor.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II, Episode 9: Agustina Zaros on diverse phenomenon of mixed marriages between foreigners and Chinese from the standpoint of Catholic beliefs
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Agustina Adela Zaros her research paper on “Family and Religion in China: A Qualitative Research on Mixed Marriages in Shanghai .”
In this episode, Agustina Zaros discusses the increasingly diverse phenomenon of mixed marriages between foreigners and Chinese individuals, especially from the standpoint of Catholic beliefs and practices in foreigner-Chinese mixed marriages of Shanghai and the resultant reality of religious conversion in the life of one of the spouses.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC.
Series II, Episode 8: Dr. Sin Wen Lau shares her joint ethnographic work with Dr. Shu-Ling Yeh of how the Amis rework their indigenous socialites through Catholic faith
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Sin Wen Lau about her joint research work with Shu-Ling Yeh on “Our Hearts Continue to Come Closer to One Another like Family: Catholicism and the Amis Symbolic Family in Taiwan .”
In this episode, Dr. Sin Wen Lau shares with the audience her joint ethnographic work with Dr. Shu-Ling Yeh which examines various ways of how the Amis rework their indigenous socialites through Catholic faith. She discusses how, by strategically deploying their Catholic faith, the Amis have Catholicised their symbolic family, a move that facilitated the preservation of their traditional kinship structure in the face of external pressures.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II, Episode 7: Anu K Antony about her research work on “The Imagination of a Catholic Family and the Syro-Malabar Women’s Congregations.”
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras has a conversation with Anu K Antony about her research work on “‘Being the Obedient Daughters’: The Imagination of a Catholic Family and the Syro-Malabar Women’s Congregations.”
In this episode, Anu Antony talks about how the Syrian Catholic women’s congregations of Kerala understand their community as a larger Catholic family where the founder is imagined as the father, Mother Superior as the mother and the nuns as obedient, dedicated daughters. Based on the data collected through the study of the chronicles of Kerala’s first indigenous convent at the Koonammavu matam and the ethnographic research conducted among the nuns, Anu explains how the model of a Catholic family structures the community life and ‘spiritual labour’ of nuns belonging to these Syro-Malabar congregations.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II, Episode 6: V.J. Varghese on “Fear of Becoming Minor among the Minorities”
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with V.J. Varghese his research paper on “Fear of Becoming Minor among the Minorities: Re-assertion of Boundaries and Re-advocacy of Large Families by the Syrian Catholics of South India.”
In this episode, Varghese examines the growing anxiety among the Syrian Christian/Catholic community of Kerala, South India, about their declining proportion in the population of the region and the strategies adopted and the narratives produced by the Christian community and its leadership to combat this issue. The conversation also focuses on the catholic community’s forbidding resentment to the Muslim community and their allegedly growing numerical strength in the region, incited largely by the majoritarian political manoeuvring of pitting minorities amongst each other.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC.
Series II - Episode 5 - Allen J. Kim his work on “Food in a time of Pandemic: Belonging, identity and Remaking Home Among Jesuit Scholastics in Japan”
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Allen J. Kim his work on “Food in a time of Pandemic: Belonging, identity and Remaking Home Among Jesuit Scholastics in Japan”
In this conversation, Allen explores how the Japanese Jesuit novitiate’s decision to protect the aging nuns (who are largely responsible for food preparation in the novitiate) during the pandemic COVID-19 transformed the food operations within the formation house by requiring all men to shop and prepare their own food. It points to men’s newfound entrepreneurial spirit as most inmates from different parts of the world, to improve their cooking skills, needed to connect with their families back home to learn their own food heritage much better and shared their diverse culinary practices with one another. The study reveals how intensive interactions in the kitchen during the pandemic produced affective bonds across the boundaries of age and culture among the inmates and promoted new kinship relations in their lives.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II - Episode 4 - Ashok Kumar Mocherla his research paper on “Caste and Denominational Endogamy in Opposition to ‘the Catholic’: An Anthropological Study of Marriage and Family Structures.."
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Ashok Kumar Mocherla his research paper on “Caste and Denominational Endogamy in Opposition to ‘the Catholic’: An Anthropological Study of Marriage and Family Structures in South Indian Catholic Communities.”
In this episode, Ashok Kumar outlines his research works on Dalit Christians in India, discusses two types of endogamies, ‘caste endogamy’ and ‘denominational endogamy’ practised by Indian Christians and applies new categories such as categorical inequalities and fictive kinship to understand the interplay between caste and Christian/catholic marriages and family relations in India.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II - Episode 3 - Marco Lazzarotti on his research paper on “We Are All Children of God: Conversion as a Re-semantization of the Chinese Family Structure.”
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Marco Lazzarotti on his research paper on “We Are All Children of God: Conversion as a Re-semantization of the Chinese Family Structure.”
In this episode, Dr. Lazzarotti shares with the audience his ethnographic fieldwork that the Catholic communities in a small village located in the Taiwanese countryside and dwells upon the Taiwanese concepts of person, family and kinship and the impact of conversion to Christianity on the family’s identity. He notes that Catholic use of ancestral tablets in Taiwan not only changed the old idea of continued relationship with the ancestors but also produced a new kinship worldview with the introduction of Jesus as the new and the only ancestor.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louisand produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II - Episode 2 - Fransiska Widyawati on her work on “From Enemy to Family: Marriage, Religious Conversion and Identity among Catholic and Non-Catholic Families in Flores, Eastern Indonesia”
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras discusses with Fransiska Widyawati her work on “From Enemy to Family: Marriage, Religious Conversion and Identity among Catholic and Non-Catholic Families in Flores, Eastern Indonesia”
In this interview, Fransiska discusses how marriage law in Indonesia, which does not support interfaith marriages, brings about conflicts and ruptures in the catholic families of Flores, Eastern Indonesia. Since the federal state neither permits nor recognizes inter-faith marriages, person who falls in love with or wants to marry to a person from another religious tradition is forced into religious conversion often to Islam as the State does allow Muslims to convert. Fransiska elaborates what all these restrictions mean to Catholics, especially to Catholic women and families in Flores, resulting ßin the estrangement of people from the catholic traditions of the island.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Series II - Episode 1 - Shanthini Pillai on her paper “Saints and the Shifting Sands of Sacred Landscapes in Malaysian Tamil Catholic Faith Practices.”
In this Second series of ISAC podcasts on Family and Asian Catholics - part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, James Ponniah, Assistant Professor, Department of Christian Studies, School of Philosophy and Religious Thought, University of Madras interviews Shanthini Pillai on her paper “Saints and the Shifting Sands of Sacred Landscapes in Malaysian Tamil Catholic Faith Practices.”
In this conversation, Dr. Shanthini Pillai draws our attention to the centrality of veneration of Saint Anthony by the Malaysian Catholic Tamil families. Drawing upon ethnographic data gathered from some Tamil Catholic families across Peninsular Malaysia, it discusses the issue of intergenerational engagements with Tamil Catholic faith practices, the sustainability of the role of Saints and the inadvertent shifting sands of sacred landscapes between generations with changing kinship ideologies.
This podcast series is generously sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This podcast is part of the Initiative for the study of Asian Catholics, ISAC, an initiative that seeks to promote social scientific research on Asian Catholics.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 18 – Gëzim Alpion on his two books, Mother Teresa: Saint: Saint or Celebrity; and Mother Teresa: The Saint and Her Nation.
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Gëzim Alpion on his two books, Mother Teresa: Saint: Saint or Celebrity; and Mother Teresa: The Saint and Her Nation.
Applying a sociological approach to the life and international status of Mother Teresa, he shows that her family and Albanian background have played an important role in her religious journey and in her way to respond to suffering and poverty in India. Furthermore, exploring her interactions with various kinds of people and powers, he unveils how a whole range of actors and factors have played a significant role in elaborating the celebrity status of Mother Teresa.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 17 - Pia Jolliffe discussing her book “Learning, Migration and Intergenerational Relations. The Karen and the Gift of Education”
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Pia Jolliffe on her book “Learning, Migration and Intergenerational Relations. The Karen and the Gift of Education.” This study presents how the Karen, an ethnic group spread across the Myanmar-Thai border, culturally perceive and concretely engage with modern education in Myanmar, Thailand and the UK. Investigating the role of various educational institutions, including Catholic ones, Jolliffe argues that for the Karen education is understood as a collective gift –not an individual right– despite the social dissonances it reveals and eventually exacerbates.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 16 - Hisako Omori on her book “From situated selves to the self: conversion and personhood among Roman Catholics in Tokyo”
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Hisako Omori on her book “From situated selves to the self: conversion and personhood among Roman Catholics in Tokyo.” Elaborating on her ethnographic work among three catholic communities of Tokyo, H. Omori explores how new Japanese converts rediscover themselves by reshaping their relational self. While many prefer to keep their faith secret, she shows how the relation to the central and unique figure of the Christian god still allows new Catholics to take distance with Japanese conventional values and social norms.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 15 – Jonathan Tan on his book The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences - Bearing Witness to the Gospel and the Reign of God in Asia
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC)- a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Jonathan Tan on his book “The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences - Bearing Witness to the Gospel and the Reign of God in Asia.”
Reflecting on the texts produced by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) over the past 50 years, Jonathan Tan offers a theological reflection analyzing their engagement with post-colonial Asia. In addition to highlighting a spectrum on specificities proper to the Church in Asia, Tan suggests that Asian Bishops apply an intersectional approach to respond to challenges that the Church encounters across the continent.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 14 – Giuseppe Bolotta on his book Belittled Citizens, The Cultural Politics of Childhood on Bangkok’s Margins
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Giuseppe Bolotta on his book “Belittled Citizens, The Cultural Politics of Childhood on Bangkok’s Margins”. Elaborating on more than ten years of engagement and observation in Thailand, Bolotta discusses cultural politics and transnational governance of childhood in Bangkok. His ethnography explores the work performed by several NGOs established within various slums of Bangkok and unfolds the politics of children's rights in Thailand.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 13 – Julius Bautista on his book Figuring Catholicism: An Ethnohistory of the Santo Niño de Cebu Quezon City
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Julius Bautista on his book Figuring Catholicism: An Ethnohistory of the Santo Niño de Cebu Quezon City. While the Philippines are celebrating 500 years of evangelization and developing a renewed interest in its particular history and religiosity, this book published in 2010 provides an in-depth analysis of the long-term material, social, and political history of Santo Niño. It questions the processes by which this image of the child Jesus as king has become prominent and who Filipinos say the Santo Niño is.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode – 12 - Dr. David Radford on his book Religious Identity and Social Change : Explaining Christian Conversion in a Muslim World
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Bagus Laksana on his book “ Religious Identity and Social Change : Explaining Christian Conversion in a Muslim World (2015).” Based on fieldwork conducted between 2004 and 2008, this sociological study explores the implication of conversion to Protestant Christianity in Kyrgyzstan – a Muslim-majority country of central Asia.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode – 11 - Bagus Laksana on his book Muslim and Catholic pilgrimage practices: explorations through Java
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Bagus Laksana on his book “Muslim and Catholic pilgrimage practices: explorations through Java.” This theological work does not only present Muslim and Catholic pilgrimages that are present on the island of Java, but provides a rich ethnography underlying how the Javanese culture is shaping them. Thus, the book argues that one should not look at Christian-Muslim relations as an abstract dialogue, or even as a binary reality, but in relation to the socio-cultural context which shapes their encounter and interactions.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 10 - Michael Rose on his book Indigenous spirits and global aspirations in a Southeast Asian borderland: Timor-Leste’s Oecussi enclave
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Michael Rose on his book “Indigenous spirits and global aspirations in a Southeast Asian borderland: Timor-Leste’s Oecussi enclave.” Presenting with a lot of vivacity the lived realities of a small territory of Timor-Leste – Oecussi, Roses unveils how traditional cultural categories intersect with efforts to modernize and develop this enclave. If the brutal occupation of the enclave by Indonesian troupes brought major politico-economic changes to local Catholics, they have been creative in elaborating their own socio-cultural response.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 9 - William Peterson on his book Places for Happiness, Community, Self, and Performance in the Philippines
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews, William Peterson on his book “Places for Happiness, Community, Self, and Performance in the Philippines.” Bringing together more than a decade of research on community-based performance in the Philippines, he focuses on theatre, dance, and ritual activities. Indeed, most of these performances are created and presented outside the context of theatre venues, usually in the streets and during religious festivals of the Holy Week. Highlighting that the time and efforts involved in the preparation and in the performance of these festivals are crucial to build an experience of participation, William Peterson shows how they affects human bodies and lives and how they are central for the Filipino Catholic mode of existence.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 8 - Bernardo Brown on book he co-edited with Brenda Yeo: Asian migrants and religious experience: from missionary journeys to labor mobility
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews, Bernardo Brown book he co-edited with Brenda Yeo “Asian migrants and religious experience: from missionary journeys to labor mobility.” This edited volume includes various contributions exploring how contemporary migrations and missionary efforts intersect and reshape each other. While those two aspects are usually studied separately by different groups of experts, this edited volume highlights how religion and migration are not two different spheres but deeply a deeply intertwined reality.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 7 - Judith Bovensiepen on her book - The Land of Gold: Post-Conflict Recovery and Cultural Revival in Independent Timor-Leste
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews, Judith Bovensiepen on her book “The Land of Gold: Post-Conflict Recovery and Cultural Revival in Independent Timor-Leste.” Focusing on a small village at the border with Indonesia, her ethnography explores how Catholics of the highland region of Timor-Leste rebuilt their villages and lives after more than two decades of violence and forced dislocation. In particular, she highlights how the worship of ancestors plays a key role in addressing the specific kind of tensions that this region has faced.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 6 - Marco Lazzarotti on his book - Place, Alterity and Narration in a Taiwanese Catholic Village
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews, Marco Lazzarotti on his book “Place, Alterity and Narration in a Taiwanese Catholic Village.” This ethnography focuses on a small Catholic village of Western Taiwan and analyzes stories shared by its inhabitants. Lazzarotti argues that the village is “a spatial, social, and ontological entity that emerges through the practice of storytelling”. Through those shared stories, local Christian and non-Christians create “a plausible image of a credible world” in which various humans and deities can co-exist.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 5 - Liana Chua: The Christianity of Culture: Conversion, Ethnic Citizenship, and the Matter of Religion in Malaysian Borneo
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Liana Chua about her book “The Christianity of Culture: Conversion, Ethnic Citizenship, and the Matter of Religion in Malaysian Borneo’. Her study focuses on a small Christian village of Western Borneo, Malaysia, and unveils how the turn to Christianity intersects with ethnic politics and questions of development. Chua shows that while modernity has introduced the notion of ‘culture’, Christian churches have also promoted this new concept to better explain what religious changes could entail.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 4 - Anthony Clark on his book China’s Catholics in an Era of Transformation: Observations of an Outsider
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews, Anthony Clark on his book “China’s Catholics in an Era of Transformation: Observations of an “Outsider””. Not a typical book in history, this volume features a collection of short essays on China’s modern Catholic Church combined with reports on Clark’s encounters with contemporary Chinese Catholics. These essays were mostly written in mainland China while Anthony Clark was traveling by train, or staying in villages or large cities near catholic communities.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 3 - Brandon Vaidyanathan on his book Mercenaries and Missionaries -Capitalism and Catholicism in the Global South
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Brandon Vaidyanathan on his book “Mercenaries and Missionaries -Capitalism and Catholicism in the Global South”. This study investigates the relationship between neoliberal forms of capitalism and Catholicism in Dubai and Bangalore. Using more than two hundred interviews conducted among corporate professionals, the book explores how and why they articulate their professional and religious moral ideals. It shows that the "apprehensive individualism" generated in global corporate workplaces is supported by a "therapeutic individualism" cultivated in evangelical-charismatic Catholicism.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 2 -Jayeel Cornelio on his book “Being Catholic in the Contemporary Philippines – Young people reinterpreting religion
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Jayeel Cornelio on his book “Being Catholic in the Contemporary Philippines – Young people reinterpreting religion ”: a sociological inquiry studying how Filipino young adults transform Catholicism.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC
Episode - 1 - Thien-Huong Ninh on her book Race, Gender, and Religion in the Vietnamese Diaspora
In this series of ISAC podcasts, part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) - a collaborative project hosted by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Michel Chambon interviews Thien-Huong Ninh to discuss her book “Race, Gender, and Religion in the Vietnamese Diaspora: The New Chosen People”, a sociological study exploring how ethnically Vietnamese people living in Cambodia and the USA relate to female religious figures, such as the Our Lady of Lavang and the Caodai Mother Goddess, to produce their ethnic identity and transnational networks.
Background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ISAC