Organizer: Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University
Type/Location: In Person / Ithaca, NY
Description:
Join the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University for a talk by Dr. Aditya Bhattacharjee, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian Studies. Drawing on longstanding ethnographic fieldwork that moves fluidly between temples, social media platforms, and unplanned interactions on city streets, Dr. Bhattacharjee’s talk will explore how Thai Buddhists in varied settings engage Indian-ness as an aesthetic vocabulary that can be refracted and reinterpreted through a Buddhist grammar of their own.
Abstract:
The cultural affinities that have long connected South and Southeast Asia are particularly visible in Thailand, one of the first countries to recognize India after independence and a nation that occupies a prominent place both in India’s cultural diplomacy efforts and in the itineraries of internationally bound Indian tourists. My talk turns from these well-known forms of state-level and civilizational interaction to the popular and everyday textures of lived, religious worldmaking in which ordinary Thais encounter and make sense of Indian-ness. Drawing on longstanding ethnographic fieldwork that moves fluidly between temples, social media platforms, and unplanned interactions on city streets, I consider how Thai Buddhists in varied settings engage Indian-ness less as a living South Asian tradition than as an aesthetic vocabulary that can be refracted and reinterpreted through a Buddhist grammar of their own.
In practice, this refractive process produces visual and ritual fields in which Indian themes appear in unexpected combinations and take on meanings shaped by local contexts. In these settings, Indian motifs are woven into wider Asian assemblages that combine Buddhist imagery, Chinese prosperity figures, and local protective spirits. Taken together, the talk’s case studies illuminate a distinct Thai Hindu modality whose allure and ambivalence, as perceived by both participants and observers, invite a reconsideration of how Indian-ness travels, settles, and is remade across Asia. In doing so, the talk reframes notions of a global Hinduism through an intra-Asian lens that decenters India as the singular vehicle of religious innovation within its study.
About the Speaker:
Aditya Bhattacharjee is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow jointly appointed in the Department of Asian Studies and the Society for the Humanities (SHUM) at Cornell University. As an ethnographer specializing in South and Southeast Asian religions, his research explores religious practices across both homeland and diasporic contexts, spanning from the pre-modern era to the present. More specifically, his work focuses on the dynamic tensions that animate Hindu identities as they intersect with a diverse range of ethnic, economic, and religious settings, both within and beyond Asia.
Registration:
To attend the event in person, please register here.