Whale Gods and Sea Goddesses: Notes on Intra-Asian Comparison

Abstract:

In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, Asian studies was characterised by increasing regional and subdisciplinary specialisation, the fragmentation of knowledge, and a general scepticism vis-à-vis research of a holistic or comparative nature. Today, the pendulum is swinging back. As the humanities and social sciences are under threat globally, there is a growing awareness that transnational, cross-disciplinary, and collaborative scholarship is essential for institutional survival. Accordingly, in recent years, some leading scholars of Asia have argued for the importance of more cross-border comparative research within the region, and put this into practice in their own work (Van der Veer 2016; Kendall 2021). In the ERC-funded project Whales of Power: Aquatic Mammals, Devotional Practices, and Environmental Change in Maritime East Asia, we follow their lead, studying ritual transformation and environmental action in different parts of Asia (and beyond) in a comparative manner. This presentation introduces the main themes and objectives of this project, with particular focus on the question of intra-Asian comparison. What does non-essentialist, transnational comparative research look like? Why does it matter? How can it challenge and complement existing knowledge? In the presentation, I will give several examples from my own research on popular religion in coastal regions of Vietnam and Japan—including whale rituals, goddess worship, heritage-making, and environmental anxiety—showing that a comparative approach can give rise to new questions and shed new light on local practices.

Bio:

Aike P. Rots is an associate professor at the University of Oslo. He holds a PhD from the University of Oslo, an MA degree from SOAS, and BA degrees from Leiden University. He is the author of the monograph Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan: Making Sacred Forests (Bloomsbury, 2017), and the co-editor of Sacred Heritage in Japan (Routledge, 2020) and Formations of the Secular in Japan (special issue of Japan Review, 2017), both with Mark Teeuwen. In addition, he has written articles and book chapters on a range of topics, including corporate religion, Okinawan sacred groves, Asian heritage politics, modern Shinto, religious environmentalism, religion in contemporary Vietnam, and Japanese Christianity. He is leader of the ERC-funded project Whales of Power: Aquatic Mammals, Devotional Practices, and Environmental Change in Maritime East Asia (Starting Grant, 2019–2024), a comparative study of changing human-nature relations and ritual practices in the Asia-Pacific region.