BUDDHISMAFRICA · East-Asian Buddhism in Post-Apartheid South Africa

East-Asian Buddhism in Post-Apartheid South Africa

The research project BUDDHISMAFRICA was aimed to analyze the shape and scope of East Asian Buddhism in South Africa with a focus on the post-apartheid period. The theoretical framework for this research was developed against a background of expanding interest in globalization and culture at the international level, with an increasing amount of scholarship insisting on the dramatic changes in the communications media and transnational mobility and their effect on global exchanges of ideas and culture. The project was timely not only for this reason, but also because the study of Buddhism in the South African context was, and still is after about three years, a minor field, with publications on this topic mostly focusing on general views of Buddhism and its history in the country. Against this background, the research project envisioned three main research objectives: 1) The analysis of the trajectory of East Asian Buddhism in South Africa with a focus on the post-apartheid period (that is, since 1994), in order to determine the forms and extent of its hybridization at the organizational and individual level; 2) the investigation of the degree in which East Asian Buddhism has been able, or willing, to reach out to black people, and to provide them with maps to navigate, as well as deconstruct/subvert, race and cultural identity; and 3) the clarification of the impact of informal spiritualities related to East Asian Buddhism on the South African religious context, with attention on the extent to which Buddhist spirituality has been acknowledged as a religious “brand.” By focusing on these research objectives, the project was aimed to shed light on issues that are very relevant for a better understanding of Buddhism overseas and minority religions in the South African context. In particular, it aimed to explore adaptations that might have been sought for by East Asian Buddhism to meet the needs of the South African socioeconomic fabric, with a specific focus on institutional practices and policies, rituals, and everyday practices of the members of the religious groups; if and in which ways Buddhist doctrinal interpretations of issues of social justice and human rights elaborated in East Asia and elsewhere (e.g., within the context of Engaged Buddhism) have been applied to the new context, and what kind of local adaptations they have undergone; the attitude of these Buddhist groups toward social inequalities that are still prominent in the country especially among previously segregated groups; the social welfare activities promoted by East Asian Buddhist groups and their impact upon the lives of South African disadvantaged groups; the legacy of past forms of social activism in present-day East Asian Buddhist groups; and the role of women in the doctrines, religious and social practices of these East Asian Buddhist religious groups, their attitudes toward LGBT communities, and the interplay of East Asian and local religious views of gender.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз