Austronesian research seminar

13 April 2022, by AAI Webmaster

A map of insular Southeast Asia with pins in different destinations

Photo: unsplash

The permanent seminar of the Austronesian studies department at University Hamburg is intended to be a space of exchange for graduate students, junior, and confirmed researchers working on the Austronesian speaking world – namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Pacific islands (Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia), and Madagascar – and adopting a broad regional and/or temporal perspective when considering socio-cultural phenomena.

This semester, the seminar will look at the writings by the first anthropologists and linguists who specialized in the Philippines and who produced knowledge, and sometimes seminal work, on the people living in the archipelago and the vast Austronesian speaking world. A particular interest will be placed on the classification which happened during the 19th c. and on the enduring influence it has on the way post-independance states, but also scientists, conceptualize and ethno-linguistic identity, religion and more broadly culture (local vs foreign influence.)

The seminar will meet twice a month, either to host a lecture followed by a discussion, or to exchange on selected readings.