The Lanten Yao 藍靛瑤 of what is now northern Laos historically lived at the margins of three socio-political systems: the Chinese empire, Tai polities (müang), and the forest. As they migrated into the region, they engaged in cosmological warfare with the forest to conquer their land, a conquest that engaged a pantheon of militarized deities. Lanten ritual experts mirror the Chinese Emperor’s ceremonies for pacifying borderlands, yet they also invert this metaphor, placing themselves at the center of the socio-cosmos. This presentation will explore this ongoing cosmological warfare as it plays out in three ritual spaces: the human body, the village, and the temporary altars known as the Celestial Yamen. We will conclude by considering how this tradition offers insights for understanding inter-ethnic and international relations in a multi-polar world.
Joseba Estevez is a social anthropologist and Research Assistant Professor at the “Asian Religious Connections (ASIAR)” cluster of the HKIHSS, HKU. Building on more than a decade of immersive fieldwork among the Lanten Yao (Mun) communities in northern Laos’s Luang Namtha Province, Estevez’s research explores how Daoist cosmology and ritual shapes the social life of local communities. His recent research also investigates the local impacts of major infrastructure projects such as the Laos–China Railway, the development of Smart Cities, Special Economic Zones, and the broader dynamics of international cooperation agencies in mainland Southeast Asia, especially Laos and Thailand.
David A Palmer (PhD, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris) is a Professor of anthropology jointly appointed by the HKIHSS and the Department of Sociology of HKU. He is the President of the East Asian Society for the Social Scientific Study of Religion and convenor of the HKIHSS “Asian Religious Connections” research cluster. He currently coordinates collaborative research projects on Daoism among the Yao ethnic minority in the China-Vietnam-Laos borderland, and on religious and socio-cultural entanglements between China and countries of the Belt and Road Initiative.
This series aims to introduce a wide range of cutting-edge research in various disciplines and areas. If you have any questions about this webinar, would be interested in giving a talk, or would like to be removed from this mailing list, please contact Professor Ghassan Moazzin (gmoazzin@hku.hk).
Light refreshments will be served for registered participants attending the seminar in person.
