Gazing at the Left Eye of God from Both Sides of the Pacific: Caodaism’s Transpacific Transformations 1926-2015
Book talk with Janet Hoskins
Professor of Anthropology and Religion, University of Southern California
Professor of Anthropology and Religion, University of Southern California
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
10383 Bunche Hall
UCLA Campus
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
10383 Bunche Hall
UCLA Campus
Caodaism is a new religion revealed to a group of colonized intellectuals in southern Vietnam in 1926 who fused Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism with French Spiritism, Theosophy and Catholic hierarchies. Its syncretistic mixture has always been dynamic, renewed and revised through spirit séances, and often mixed with nationalist aspirations. After 1975, many Caodai leaders went into exile, establishing congregations in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. The initial vision of “bringing the gods of the East and West together” has been adjusted to new historical contexts and political challenges. Contrasts between the founding generation in French Indochina and descendants and disciples in California are explored by assessing the relationship between syncretism and diaspora, and the construction and dissolution of religious borders.
Janet Hoskins is Professor of Anthropology and Religion at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Her books include The Play of Time: Kodi Perspectives on History, Calendars and Exchange (1996 Benda Prize in Southeast Asian Studies), and Biographical Objects: How Things Tell the Stories of People’s Lives (1998).
