A Buddhist Cosmology in Food
- Submitting institution
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University of Bristol
- Unit of assessment
- 31 - Theology and Religious Studies
- Output identifier
- 93702544
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- University of Bristol
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2015
- URL
-
https://vimeo.com/128173959
- Supplementary information
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-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This non-text output is the result of textual and ethnographic research (four separate fieldtrips to Sri Lanka) in 2014. It documents the relationship between humans and non humans as it is played out every day in the households, shrines and temples in Sri Lanka by way of food offerings. The documentary comprises of six distinct yet related instances of food offerings and explores the reasoning and rationale behind them through interviews, which were conducted in Sinhalese (with English subtitles in the video). Three of the six offerings (the generosity stalls at Buddhist festivals, offerings to crows to appease the planetary deity Saturn and the popular practice of inviting so-called “milk mothers” who are associated with the goddess Pattini) have never been documented before this documentary.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- Yes
- English abstract
- Buddhists in Sri Lanka relate to the visible and invisible beings around them by way of food offerings. The recipients include buddhas, gods, animals, hungry ghosts and human beings. In Sri Lanka cooking is still largely the domain of women but the voices of those who prepare the food are rarely heard, their expertise as religious specialists seldom acknowledged. This series of six short documentaries reveals a cosmology that emerges from the kitchens and backyards of Sri Lanka. The project was in part funded by the Leverhulme Trust (Subtitles in English).