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“Fly Buddha To Mars”: The Co-Production Between Religiosity And Science & Technology At Longquan Monastery, Beijing, Han Zhang, Junxi Qian, Lily Kong Jan 2024

“Fly Buddha To Mars”: The Co-Production Between Religiosity And Science & Technology At Longquan Monastery, Beijing, Han Zhang, Junxi Qian, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article attempts at a re-theorization towards the symbiosis and co-production of religion, modern science and technology, inspired by theoretical thinking within geographies of religion and science and technology studies (STS). Recent scholarship on the geographies of religion has made substantive advancements in discerning the convergence of religion and secular modernity. However, science and technology (S&T), as an essential condition and driving force of secular modernity, remain peripheral to this ongoing theoretical agenda, yet to be fully incorporated into the analytical framework about the co-constitution of religion and secular modernity, arguably because of the entrench divide between the rationalism of …


Religious Urbanism In Singapore: Competition, Commercialism And Compromise In The Search For Space, Orlando Woods Mar 2019

Religious Urbanism In Singapore: Competition, Commercialism And Compromise In The Search For Space, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper explores the recursive relationship between religious praxisand urban environments. It advances the concept of “religious urbanism” to showhow urban environments play an active role in shaping the praxis of religion,and how religious groups adopt secular logics in response to the pressures ofurban environments. Such logics have given rise to new, more pragmatic forms ofspatial reproduction that lead to the desecularisation of space. Desecularisationinvolves religious groups diminishing the secular properties of space, ratherthan attempting to achieve any lasting notion of sacredness. Drawing on therestrictive religio-spatial context of Singapore, I demonstrate howfast-growing religious groups are forced to compete, commercialise, andcompromise …


Now You Seaweed, Now You Don't: Photographing Rongcheng's Disappearing Seaweed Houses, Yanjing Liu Jan 2019

Now You Seaweed, Now You Don't: Photographing Rongcheng's Disappearing Seaweed Houses, Yanjing Liu

Social Space

This county-level city is known not only for its picturesque beauty, but also for being the site of seaweed houses— traditional homes built from natural seaweed and stones. Inhabited mainly by local fishermen, these structures are a reflection of northern Chinese marine culture and fishery customs.


The Heritage-Making Conundrum In Asian Cities: Real, Transformed And Imagined Legacies, David Ocon Apr 2018

The Heritage-Making Conundrum In Asian Cities: Real, Transformed And Imagined Legacies, David Ocon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The process of heritage-making is farfrom straightforward. Defining the meaning of heritage in young nations and citieswhere land availability is limited is a challenging exercise. It often crossesthe paths of history, religion, memory-shaping, development, andidentity-building. It requires fluent communication channels between civilsociety, local organisations and governments. Willingness to cooperate from allthe parties involved is essential; dialogue a must.In land-scarce or densely populated Asiancities, expansion and growth is colliding with the preservation of legacies, thepast and memory. This paper examines regional case studies from Hong Kong,Manila and Singapore, where preservation of cultural patrimony, development anddaily life follow conflicting paths. It sheds …


Converting Houses Into Churches: The Mobility, Fission, And Sacred Networks Of Evangelical House Churches In Sri Lanka, Orlando Woods Jun 2013

Converting Houses Into Churches: The Mobility, Fission, And Sacred Networks Of Evangelical House Churches In Sri Lanka, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper I examine the processes and politics associated with the formation of evangelical house churches in Sri Lanka. In doing so, I show how the sacred space of the house church is constructed through the development of sacred networks, which emerge when a group of Christians assemble for prayer and worship. Sacred networks grant the house church an important degree of mobility, but they also encourage church fission. Whilst the house church enables evangelical groups to grow in hostile environments like that of Sri Lanka, it is often a superficial form of growth that is unsustainable in the …


Is Public Space Suited To Co-Operative Inquiry?, Sor-Hoon Tan May 2002

Is Public Space Suited To Co-Operative Inquiry?, Sor-Hoon Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article questions the nature of the philosophical commitment to the problem of 'the public' in modernity. To what extent does the natural form of the public determine the use and value of the instruments of pragmatism in the public-private divide. In this interpretation, John Dewey's ideas about 'the public' are presented in terms of how to solve a specific problem through what he sees as 'co-operative inquiry'. The article also examines the role of public space in the process of democratization through the potential of co-operative inquiry. More often than not, it appears that the politics of public space …