Panel: RELIGION AND SOCIO-CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION: PERSPECTIVES FROM VIENNA-BASED RESEARCHERS



742.8 - NAVIGATING RELIGION AND ORIENTALISM: THE PROBLEM OF 'RELIGION' WITHIN THE CHINESE MIGRANT COMMUNITY IN VIENNA

AUTHORS:
Chadwin J. (University of Vienna ~ Vienna ~ Austria)
Text:
This paper intends to examine how alarmingly easy it is for scholars to Orientalise the Chinese religion in Europe. More specifically, this paper intends to provide insight into the lived context of Chinese religiosity in Europe through the lens of the Han community in Vienna. I intend to make the case that scholars, often unwittingly, utilise definitions of religion that simply cannot be applied to the Chinese context, and by doing so, perpetuate something of a cycle of Orientalism. I will ultimately conclude that Chinese religiosity in Vienna should only be examined by sufficiently utilising methodologies that wholly appreciate the Chinese context.