'If God is with us, who can be against us?' Christianity, cosmopolitics and living with difference in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo
This paper puts two bodies of work– the anthropology of Christianity and literature on ‘indigenous cosmopolitics’ – in dialogue by exploring Christianity as a form of political critique and engagement among Bidayuhs in Malaysian Borneo. Drawing on fieldwork on a dam-construction and resettlement project, I examine the imbrication of both God and Christian morality with a group of affected villagers’ long-running struggle to resist the whole scheme. I suggest that far from turning away from the politics of a domineering, developmentalist government, their efforts entail an attempt to reframe the terms of their engagement with the state. At the same time, I consider the implications of these Bidayuhs’ cosmopolitical project for anthropological approaches to difference and pluralism.
Date: 10 November 2017, 15:30 (Friday, 5th week, Michaelmas 2017)
Venue: 64 Banbury Road, 64 Banbury Road OX2 6PN
Speaker: Liana Chua (Brunel)
Organising department: School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography
Organisers: Dr Chris Morton (University of Oxford), Dr Morgan Clarke (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: kate.atherton@anthro.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Anthropology Departmental Seminar Series: Hilary 2024
Topics:
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Kate Atherton