Most of my research until now has been concerned with Buddhist practice among the Tai Lue of Sipsong Panna, an ethnic minority in Yunnan province of China. I first encountered this region while traveling across China and Southeast Asia as a tourist more than 20 years ago. After learning that Buddhism in Sipsong Panna is very similar to the Theravada tradition of Southeast Asia, I decided to spend time there and learn more about the place when I was still a Chinese-language student in Beijing. That’s how it all began.

I believe researching a minority group like the Tai Lue is important for two reasons. First, like many minority groups in China, the Tai Lue are usually left out of accounts on China’s culture and society. Studying minority cultures should therefore help qualify and enrich such accounts. A second reason, connected to the first, is that, due to the peculiar contemporary history of China, until very recently, Sipsong Panna remained very isolated from the reformist and modernist movements that transformed Buddhist practices in countries like Thailand, Myanmar, or Cambodia. Tai Lue Buddhism has thus managed to maintain a sort of “pre-modern” idiosyncrasy that can provide researchers with insights, especially when compared to mainstream traditions in the countries just mentioned.

The main influence on my work, and probably on my life in general, has been that of Sipsong Panna as a place and of the Tai Lue people in particular. I have no doubt about this. From my very first visit, the Tai Lue were very welcoming and warm toward me, and they have helped with my research every time I needed their help. As Sipsong Panna is continually transforming, it never ceases to provide topics for research. But the main reason why I keep going back there is the hospitality of my Tai Lue friends. As they say, the debt I have with them cannot be repaid in one life!

Selecting what is and what is not relevant for your research from your fieldwork notes and then, based on that relevant data, putting together a convincing narrative that is accessible not only to academic colleagues, but to anyone interested in your work, is an incredibly challenging task–and that is what makes it so enjoyable too! Maybe because I am one of those anthropologists who believes that our discipline is closer to art than to science, I basically see “writing culture” as a creative process. I have mentioned how much I enjoy movies, books, and music, and I like to think that everything that I absorb from those “contemplative” activities is then condensed in the process of writing academic texts. 

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I will try to answer both questions by answering only the second one. I would say that first of all, before starting a PhD, you have to make sure that you are totally invested in your research topic. If you choose a subject in which you are not really interested, you may regret it mid-way into your project.

Apart from this, I believe it is very important for anthropologists in particular to maintain a commitment to the place and the people among whom they do research once fieldwork has been completed–even if this may be difficult due to academic obligations. In my experience, people in “your” fieldwork site appreciate that commitment enormously, and this in turn facilitates and enriches your research over and over.

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At this point my main ambition is simply to be able to continue doing fieldwork among the Tai Lue, perhaps occasionally expanding my research to more general and abstract topics such as ethnicity in China, or Buddhism and its perception in and outside Asia. Although I do not rule out the possibility of obtaining a teaching or researching position in an academic institution, my priority is to have time and the possibility to do fieldwork and to reflect on ongoing cultural and social transformations in Sipsong Panna, and beyond.

As I could see for myself in previous visits to CSEAS, because of its well-equipped facilities, rich library, and collegial staff, the Center is a first-class site for specialists working on Southeast Asia all over the world. In my case, staying at CSEAS allows for the possibility of keeping in touch with Japanese researchers working specifically on the Upper Mekong region not only in academic institutions in Kyoto, but also in several other places across Japan, many of whom I have collaborated with in the past. Apart from getting in touch with old and new colleagues and participating in the activities organized by the Center, during my stay in Kyoto, I also expect to take advantage of the perfect environment offered for academic writing by CSEAS and by the city itself to make significant progress on the manuscript of what will hopefully be my second monograph.

 (November 2024)

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