Two rendezvous at Munster: the 32nd German oriental studies conference and the 2nd board meeting of EAAA

The 32nd German Oriental Studies Conference «Deutcher Orientalistentag» that was held from the 23rd to the 27th of September, 2013 in the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität of Münster (Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia) should be especially distinguished as one of the most representative all over the world in this field of knowledge. It has been organized since 1921 by German Society for Oriental Studies (Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft) as a biennale that occurs once every three years. This time, there were 23 sections open for discussion of relevant issues of current importance: African studies, Old Testament studies, Ancient Near Eastern studies and Archaeology, Arabic language and literature, Byzantine studies, Historical anthropology and Material culture, Indo-European linguistics, Indology and South Asian studies, Iranian studies, Islamic studies, Japanese studies, Jewish studies, Coptology – Christian Orient – Egyptology, Korean studies, Art and Archaeology, Ottoman studies, Politics, Economy and Society, Law, Semitic studies, Sinology, Southeast Asian studies, Turkic and Central Asian studies, Interdisciplinary panels (see [DOT, 2013. S. 3–4]). Within this main division, more than 900 individual reports and 80 panels were presented. A small quantity of reporters could not attend it; nevertheless, about 1,300 participants came to Münster from all five continents. Their paper abstracts were published according to the sections and could be seen at the official site of the 32nd DOT 1.

In the Institute of Sinology (Münster University)

During the Opening Ceremony, the following reports were presented by the prominent scholars: «News of the world of the past. Indian Buddhists and their Epigraphic Heritage» (Prof. Oskar von Hinüber), and «High standards: Islam, Secularism and Secular Principle» (Prof. Gudrun Krämer).

The conference program also included visits to University’s museum of archaeology, and Museum of lacquer art with an interesting collection of medieval lacquer-ware from China, Korea, India and Southeast Asia. Congress delegates also visited the Mülenhof, an open-air ethnographical museum with the collection of rural buildings from all over Münster and Lake Areas.

Traditionally for German Oriental studies, great attention was paid to the investigations of the Holly Bible and Early Christianity related problems (see [Ковалева, 2013]). Interestingly, papers on history and culture of Islamic countries are highly competitive with them in number and themes [Riecken, 2013].

The sections of the most interest for our delegations (according to specialization of the Novosibirsk State University in Orientalistic) were Sinology, Japanese, and Korean studies. Panels under the supervision of professors of world’s famous universities operated simultaneously, what, on the one hand, allowed hearing the huge number of reports, but, on the other hand, created slight discomfort for delegates because of topics of individual interest to have overlapped. All the discussions were conducted both in English and German languages.

The conference also offered an opportunity to review, buy or order books related to the study of literature, culture and religion of the Middle and Far East, Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania. They were presented by the leading scientific publishers, such as Harrassowitz Verlag, Monumenta Serica, Brill, Cambridge University Press etc.

At the end of DOT, the 2nd Board meeting of European Association for Asian Art and Archeology (EAAA) created in November 2012 at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) [Войтишек, Комиссаров, 2013] took place at the Institute of Sinology and East-Asian Studies of the Münster University. Those attending the meeting were: Board members Nataša Vampelj Suhadolnik (University of Ljubljana), Annette Kieser (University of Münster), Patricia Frick (Museum for Lacquer Art, Münster), Lucie Olivova (Palacký University, Olomouc), Shing Müller (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich), Elena Voytishek (Novosibirsk State University) and special guests Prof. Sergei Komissarov (Novosibirsk State University), Jarmila Fiuraskova (Palacký University).

During this meeting, current organizational and financial issues, and also problems connected with support of various international funds and organizations (Eskenazi Foundation, CCK Founda- tion, Korea Foundation, Society for East Asian Archaeology etc.) were discussed. Besides, matters of creation and support of the Association’s website and publishing activity were brought up.

According to the information presented at the meeting by Prof. Lucie Olivova and Jarmila Fiuraskova, the first EAAA conference is going to take place in Palacký University (Olomouc, the Czech Republic) on September 25–28, 2014 2. Palacký University will receive funding for six invited guests who are related to Chinese art and archaeology (thanks to European grant for networking in Chinese Studies). As a special guest from the Novosibirsk part, it is likely to see a well-known archaeologist, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Natalia Polosmak from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography (Siberian Branch of RAS). She will present the results of her excavations at Mongolia and, namely, the objects of Chinese art found in the tombs of Xiong-nu. At the moment, the program of the conference has been completely worked out and the collection of theses will be published at the beginning of the conference.