Project description
Waste created by Buddhist rituals and economic exchanges
Buddhism is often considered to be a religion defined by its explicit counsel against excessive desire and consumption. However, the use of mass-produced ritual items are changing patterns of Buddhist consumption, excess and waste in the contemporary period. The EU-funded RESIDUE project will trace the social lives of Mongolian Buddhist ritual items in order to demonstrate how the recent shift towards making ritual items from imperishable materials is transforming Buddhist praxis. The project will combine theories from anthropology, Buddhist studies and discard studies to explore how the material properties of ritual items, rather than being incidental to their use and conception, are integral to Mongolian Buddhist beliefs and practices. It will provide new insights into the generation and treatment of discarded items, drawing attention to the contemporary problems that industrial-scale consumption patterns are producing in Asia and around the world.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
Coordinator
1165 Kobenhavn
Denmark
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