- Cornell University, Anthropology, AlumnusInternational Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, South Asia, Post-Doc, and 2 moreadd
- Anthropology, Globalization, Postcolonial Studies, Poststructuralism, Cosmopolitanism, Christianity, and 18 moreMigration (Anthropology), History of Roman Catholicism, Anthropology of ethics and morality, Sri Lanka, South India, South Asia, Historia, Nationalism, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, History of Religions, Anthropology of Christianity, Anthropology of Religion, Anthropology of south Asian Christianity, Mobilities, Social Networks, Transnational Religious Networks, and Religious Material Cultureedit
- I am an anthropologist specialized in the culture and history of Catholic Sri Lanka and more broadly on the Anthropo... moreI am an anthropologist specialized in the culture and history of Catholic Sri Lanka and more broadly on the Anthropology of Christianity in South and Southeast Asia.
My current project supported by a grant from JSPS is titled “Religious Elites & Mobility: Catholic Priestly Formation in Sri Lanka.” The project is an exploration of religious networks focused on the education of Catholic priests in Sri Lanka. It examines the circulation of religious specialists, educators and students who come to these centers of religious learning to train or be trained in the theological, doctrinal, ritual and pastoral aspects of the priesthood.
The book manuscript is tentatively titled “The Vocation Artisans: Catholic Priestly Formation in Sri Lanka.” Based on five years of ethnographic fieldwork conducted at Sri Lankan Catholic seminaries, the book focuses on how daily routines, practices of prayer and habits of religious devotion, enable the flourishing of a religious vocation in seminarians. The book shows the intricate ways in which spiritual meanings are intertwined with material and symbolic incentives to make the priesthood an attractive alternative for young Catholics.
I am also part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC). For more information please visit : https://www.isac-research.org/edit
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After the military defeat of the Tamil insurgency in Sri Lanka, nationalist sectors backed by Sinhala Buddhist ideology turned to religious minorities in search of new enemies of the State. These have included Muslims and Evangelical... more
After the military defeat of the Tamil insurgency in Sri Lanka, nationalist sectors backed by Sinhala Buddhist ideology turned to religious minorities in search of new enemies of the State. These have included Muslims and Evangelical Christians who are described as foreign intruders that contaminate the traditions of the nation. Catholics have been spared of accusations of proselytism and the introduction of foreign cultures partly due to the Church leadership’s explicit stance against Evangelical missionary activities and its support of Sinhala nationalist discourse. Catholic communities of Sri Lanka thus find themselves in an ambiguous position: incorporated into the national citizenry, yet a visible minority anxious not to become marginalized like other religious minorities.
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ABSTRACT Catholic priests and advanced seminarians in Sri Lanka often describe their entrance to the seminary as the response to a strong spiritual calling that they could not ignore. Young seminarians offer more ambiguous narratives,... more
ABSTRACT Catholic priests and advanced seminarians in Sri Lanka often describe their entrance to the seminary as the response to a strong spiritual calling that they could not ignore. Young seminarians offer more ambiguous narratives, where a combination of material anxieties, local cultural traditions and individual aspirations, encourage them to consider joining the clergy. This article examines how seminaries highlight aspects of religious formation where vocational discernment and the authenticity of one's calling are left for later stages of formation. Emphasizing aspects of career mobility, graduate studies overseas and missionary work, seminaries provide an attractive alternative for prospective priests in Sri Lanka. I argue that there is no contradiction between the spiritual dimensions of religious vocation and the material aspirations of seminarians. Although ethical dispositions emerge and replace the mundane impulses that initially attract young men to the seminary, material incentives are never completely eliminated from the vocational map of seminarians.
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The state of Singapore is characterized by a persistent concern over land scarcity and efficient use of space. The Catholic Church shares these anxieties over space and is constantly rethinking strategies to manage its assets. These... more
The state of Singapore is characterized by a persistent concern over land scarcity and efficient use of space. The Catholic Church shares these anxieties over space and is constantly rethinking strategies to manage its assets. These decisions require careful financial planning and the endless mobilization of material and human resources between different buildings in diverse locations. Examining how the authorities of the Church adapt its widely dispersed built infrastructure to the changing regulations for land distribution imposed by the state, this article reflects on how Catholicism has prioritized a policy of adaptation over one of resistance. We argue that the Catholic Church acts in pragmatic ways to retain an extensive network of institutions across the island as an effort to reflect the health and vibrancy of Catholicism in Singapore.
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This article examines the emergence of the Catholic Church in Malaysia and Singapore in the modern period through an exploration of the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Siam (1841–1888). The establishment of this Catholic institution—a... more
This article examines the emergence of the Catholic Church in Malaysia and Singapore in the modern period through an exploration of the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Siam (1841–1888). The establishment of this Catholic institution—a temporary territorial jurisdiction in missionary regions that precedes the creation of new dioceses—was key to advancing the transition of the Church from its older colonial model towards a modern national Church. Focusing on the work conducted by French missionaries of the Missions Étrangères de Paris (mep) over these five decades, we analyze the process of developing a local clergy and setting up the socio-cultural scaffolding of the contemporary Catholic Church in the Malay Peninsula. We pay special attention to how mep missionaries skilfully navigated their missionary activities through encounters with Malay rulers and British colonial officers to secure the creation of a Catholic elite independent of the Portuguese Padroado. Our argument suggests t...
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The state of Singapore is characterized by a persistent concern over land scarcity and efficient use of space. The Catholic Church shares these anxieties over space and is constantly rethinking strategies to manage its assets. These... more
The state of Singapore is characterized by a persistent concern over land scarcity and efficient use of space. The Catholic Church shares these anxieties over space and is constantly rethinking strategies to manage its assets. These decisions require careful financial planning and the endless mobilization of material and human resources between different buildings in diverse locations. Examining how the authorities of the Church adapt its widely dispersed built infrastructure to the changing regulations for land distribution imposed by the state, this article reflects on how Catholicism has prioritized a policy of adaptation over one of resistance. We argue that the Catholic Church acts in pragmatic ways to retain an extensive network of institutions across the island as an effort to reflect the health and vibrancy of Catholicism in Singapore.
Research Interests:
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Recent work on cosmopolitanism has emphasized how globalization generates multifarious connections that situate migrants from underprivileged origins at the center of global cultural flows, making them emblematic of an emerging... more
Recent work on cosmopolitanism has emphasized how globalization generates multifarious connections that situate migrants from underprivileged origins at the center of global cultural flows, making them emblematic of an emerging working-class cosmopolitanism. While this article supports the aim of reclaiming the concept from its habitual elitist location, it shows that the unglamorous cosmopolitanism of transnational labor is often viewed by non-migrants with resentment, suspicion, and misapprehension. This unflattering facet of cosmopolitanism counterintuitively shifts openness to the world towards a post-migratory uneasiness and estrangement at home. Reflecting on the experience of Sri Lankan Catholic return migrant workers from Italy, I suggest that these unlikely cosmopolitans—far from being celebrated for their tolerance and worldliness—are often regarded by the non-migrant community as ungrateful and indulgent sojourners. Cosmopolitanism amongst Sri Lankan Catholic migrant workers is marked by a detachment from certain national and local idiosyncrasies, but while this may be a praiseworthy stance in the intellectual realm, its consequences often weigh heavily on the shoulders of those who leave the homeland. Following Martha Nussbaum (2002), I propose that cosmopolitanism can often be " a lonely business. " [
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This article examines the emergence of the Catholic Church in Malaysia and Singapore in the modern period through an exploration of the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Siam (1841–1888). The establishment of this Catholic institution—a... more
This article examines the emergence of the Catholic Church in Malaysia and Singapore in the modern period through an exploration of the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Siam (1841–1888). The establishment of this Catholic institution—a temporary territorial jurisdiction in missionary regions that precedes the creation of new dioceses—was key to advancing the transition of the Church from its older colonial model towards a modern national Church. Focusing on the work conducted by French missionaries of the Missions Étrangères de Paris (mep) over these five decades, we analyze the process of developing a local clergy and setting up the socio-cultural scaffolding of the contemporary Catholic Church in the Malay Peninsula. We pay special attention to how mep missionaries skilfully navigated their missionary activities through encounters with Malay rulers and British colonial officers to secure the creation of a Catholic elite independent of the Portuguese Padroado. Our argument suggests that the apostolic vi-cariate and the dynamism of the French mep missionaries in colonial Malaya opened up the pathway for the rise of the ethnic Catholic elites in modern-day Malaysia and Singapore.
The declining number of religious vocations joining Catholic seminaries in Italy has encouraged some dioceses to hire migrant religious workers to compensate for the lack of clergy available for parish work. Although initially approached... more
The declining number of religious vocations joining Catholic seminaries in Italy has encouraged some dioceses to hire migrant religious workers to compensate for the lack of clergy available for parish work. Although initially approached as a temporary solution, an unforeseen consequence of this policy has been the emergence of congenial relationships between migrant priests and Italian parishioners, who often describe their bond as deeply spiritual. This article examines the experiences of Sri Lankan priests who work in Italy, highlighting the distinct emphasis that they place on reaching out to the communities that they work with. Through fieldwork conducted in Sri Lanka and Italy, I analyse how South Asian priests use concepts such as devotion and sincerity to explain how their approach to the priesthood makes a 'solemn' difference that is celebrated by local parishioners. With an explicit focus on pastoral work, this form of Asian Catholicism emphasises the importance of bodily comport-ment, ceremonial poise and ritual dignity, capturing the yearnings of Catholic laities avid for devotional celebrations capable of reconnecting them to the spiritually meaningful aspects of their faith. My work draws lines of connection between the historical, theological and peda-gogical underpinnings of Sri Lankan Catholicism and the affective responses that South Asian priests elicit in Europe.
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In order to better understand diverse configurations of Catholicism in relation to the contemporary anthropology of Christianity, we need to develop more dynamic models to interpret the interaction between the material of particular... more
In order to better understand diverse configurations of Catholicism in relation to the contemporary anthropology of Christianity, we need to develop more dynamic models to interpret the interaction between the material of particular ethnographic accounts and the continual recali-bration of broader cultural and theological paradigms involved in their framing and analysis. Building upon the growing body of work that has been produced in both the ethnography of Catholic communities and the critical reflection on theoretical dimensions of the new project of the anthropology of Christianity, we hope to nudge conversations toward more integrated explorations between these two lines of enquiry. The research presented in the articles included in this special issue collectively suggests that turning the ethnographic lens toward Asian Catholicism can serve to substantially enrich conversations with new empirical material on modern forms of religiosity. Well beyond that, moreover, critical engagement with such dynamic, theologically sophisticated, aesthetically complex, and socially engaged traditions can inform constructive critiques of the mainstream account of Anthropology's approach to the study of Christianity.
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Sri Lankan Catholic migrant workers who return home from Italy with money re-migrate after a short time. They do not find Sri Lanka a welcoming country for investment or work. The dearth of opportunities for returnees is frustrating and... more
Sri Lankan Catholic migrant workers who return home from Italy with money re-migrate after a short time. They do not find Sri Lanka a welcoming country for investment or work. The dearth of opportunities for returnees is frustrating and leads them to act with indifference towards the place they cherish. Instead of using their savings to invest locally, people spend their money building large houses and buying expensive consumer goods; and when their money runs out, they return to Italy. Unable to be upwardly mobile, their only alternative is to become indifferent to the opinions of those who mock them for " becoming Italian. " However, their indifference can be interpreted as their understanding of the country and of the rigidity of cultural norms that do not afford them recognition for their efforts. (Circular migration, indifference, transnationals, Sri Lankan Catholics)
In order to better understand diverse configurations of Catholicism in relation to the contemporary anthropology of Christianity, we need to develop more dynamic models to interpret the interaction between the material of particular... more
In order to better understand diverse configurations of Catholicism in relation to the contemporary anthropology of Christianity, we need to develop more dynamic models to interpret the interaction between the material of particular ethnographic accounts and the continual recalibration of broader cultural and theological paradigms involved in their framing and analysis. Building upon the growing body of work that has been produced in both the ethnography of Catholic communities and the critical reflection on theoretical dimensions of the new project of the anthropology of Christianity, we hope to nudge conversations toward more integrated explorations between these two lines of enquiry. The research presented in the articles included in this special issue collectively suggests that turning the ethnographic lens toward Asian Catholicism can serve to substantially enrich conversations with new empirical material on modern forms of religiosity. Well beyond that, moreover, critical engagement with such dynamic, theologically sophisticated, aesthetically complex, and socially engaged traditions can inform constructive critiques of the mainstream account of Anthropology’s approach to the study of Christianity.