Buddhism, business and economic relations - in Asia and beyond

Keynote speakers

Dr. Lionel Obadia, Professor in Anthropology, Université Lyon

Lionel Obadia, Ph.D, is Professor in Anthropology at the University of Lyon, France, where he is part of the Laboratory of Historical Research. He is specialized in religious studies, anthropology and sociology of religion. After a Ph.D on Buddhism in France and in the West, he has studied Buddhism, shamanism and witchcraft in Asia, mainly Nepal. He has recently conducted research on Jewish Messianic movement in Europe, US and Israel, and football (soccer) in a religious perspective in France. He has also examined epistemological and methodological issues in religious studies. He is the author of ten books (Marchandisation de Dieu, 2013, Anthropologie des religions, 2007, translated in Greek and Portuguese, reedited 2012, Religion, 2004, translated in Korean, Sorcellerie, 2004, Le bouddhisme en Occident, 2007, translated in Italian, and others in English like The Economics of Religion with Donald Wood, Emerald, 2011), and more than one hundred chapters and articles in French, English, Spanish, Chinese and German. He is the editor of the special issue: Globalization and the New Geographies of Religion” International Social Science Journal, vol 63, issue 209-210, 2014.

Prof. Dr. Inken Prohl, Institut für Religionswissenschaft, Zentrum für Europäische Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften, Universität Heidelberg 

Dr. Dan Smyer-Yü, Professor and Founding Director Center for Trans-Himalayan Studies, Yunnan Minzu University

Distinguished Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Trans-Himalayan Studies at Yunnan Minzu University, a core member of the Transregional Research Network (CETREN) at University of Göttingen, and a Research Group Leader at Max Planck Institute for Religious and Ethnic Diversity (on leave 2014-15). He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, Davis. He works in the areas of modern Tibetan Buddhism, ecology of sacred sites, emotionality of landscape, transboundary governance of natural heritages, religion and peacebuilding, and comparative studies of Eurasian secularisms. He is the author of The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in China: Charisma, Money, Enlightenment (2011) and Mindscaping the Landscape of Tibet: Place, Memorability, Eco-aesthetics (2015). He is also an award winning documentary filmmaker.