By Dick Douwes
A small number of participants offered a paper which had a marked comparative purport,
but most contributions (totalling over twenty) constituted case studies which provided
material for comparison in the discussions. This meant that the position of the discussants
was vital. They -- Peter van der Veer, Hartmut Lehman, Talal Asad, Benedict Anderson,
and Alf Lüdtke -- ably succeeded in distilling those elements from the papers which
will help to construct the methodology needed in the daring attempt to compare
developments in highly diverse regions in Europe and Asia, and even beyond (United
States). Inevitably, the discussions showed that the methods applied in political sciences
have failed to grasp all the details of such highly diverse narratives, as yet. However, the
conference was of a high quality and most stimulating.
Although it may seem contrary to the whole purpose of the conference to make specific
mention of contributions which dealt with Asia here, as these are of most interest to the
readership of this newsletter. They included: Susan Bayly (Christ' College Cambridge),
Race in Britain and India; Partha Chatterjee (Centre for Studies in Social
Sciences, Calcutta), Religion and Nationalism: the second partition of Bengal;
Jeffrey Cox (University of Iowa), The Salvation Army and the Imperial Power in early-
Twentieth Century Punjab; Bernhard Dahm (Universität Passau), Religious Revival as a
Bridge to Nationalism in Southeast Asia; Harry Harootunian (New York University),
"Answering the Heroic Spirits of the Dead": Yasukuni Shrine and the reunion of
state and religion in Japan; Barbara Metcalf (University of California), The Creation of
Muslim Identity before the Statehood of Pakistan; Gyanendra Pandey (University of
Delhi), Violence 'out there': memories of partition; Michael Roberts
(University of Adelaide/IIAS), For Humanity. For the Sinhalese. Dharmapala as
Crusading Bosat; Rita Smith Kipp (Kenyon College), Missionary Effects:
rethinking divide and rule in Indonesia; Peter van der Veer (University of
Amsterdam), The Moral State: religion, nation and empire in Victorian Britain and
India; Erik J. Zürcher, Muslim Nationalism - the missing link in the
genesis of modern Turkey.
For information please contact:
Research Centre Religion and Society
University of Amsterdam
Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185
1012 DK Amsterdam
The Netherlands
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