ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ

From the Kindertransport saving children’s lives from the Jewish Holocaust to the modern asylum sanctuary movement for families from El Salvador- religion has played an important role as unconditional, and mostly illicit sanctuary for refugees. Taking the history of sanctuary as a starting point, I will present my extensive research about Buddhist and Christian networks among displaced Karen and Shan in Myanmar and will talk about the role of religion as a mode of home- and place-making, innovation in the political community of the Diaspora. Religion here is not only looked at a compass and itinerary of moving subjects, but as a means of mobilization and – possibly – control.

Alexander Horstmann is Associate Professor in Southeast Asian Studies at Tallinn University. He is the editor (with Jin-heon Jung) of: Building Noah’s Ark: Migrants, Refugees and Religious Communities, Palgrave 2015 and most recently 2018: Routledge Handbook of Asian Borderlands. He held positions at the University of Copenhagen, and the Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology. He also held visiting professorships in Tokyo, Paris and Kunming.

Follow the event in .