This talk focuses on an ontological shift in thinking of small-sized Silk Road talismans and amulets. The true value of them has been neglected by previous studies. Among them, the Ordos Bronze Crosses, problematically identified as “Nestorian Crosses,” are central. The argument here is that these objects are better approached from a stance of agential realism that acknowledges them as active actant entangled in the Silk Road network. It is suggested that, as palimpsests, they participated, and continue participating in processes of (de)materialization through means of archaization, nomadic habitual engagement, Christian appropriation, and different material registers, etc. Moreover, in the shamanic worlds of the Silk Road, they were considered “alive” because they possessed nonhuman personhood. In conclusion, these hidden treasures disclose a new paradigm that returns things to their own narratives, from which an ontologically different understanding of the Silk Road emerges.

Date: January 26, 2022, 1:00 – 2:00 pm (HK Time)

Language: English 

Venue: Via ZOOM (Registration is required to receive the link.)

The sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu is one of the main sources for conceptualising spiritual capital. In this framework, spiritual capital would need to be understood through its expression in embodied habits or dispositions (habitus), which are shaped by the social structure (field).

In this talk, Prof. David A. Palmer (HKIHSS) will explore how this framework could apply to understand spiritual capital in the context of Chinese Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. This will require a critical inversion of some key aspects of Bourdieu’s conceptualisation, while being attentive to unique understandings and expressions of spiritual capital in different traditions.
 

Date: [TODAY] January 11, 2022, 10:00 pm (HK Time)

Language: English 

Venue: Via ZOOM (Registration is required to receive the link.)