Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
8-2022
Abstract
This paper explores the ways in which the religious subject can be a contingent position that is responsive to the broader socio-religious context within which it is expressed. These contingencies are acutely observed amongst short-term missionaries (STM), who seek out encounters with difference in pursuit of a more cosmopolitan subjectivity. Yet, whilst spaces of missionary encounter are inherently relational, the missions literature has tended to downplay the effects of relationality on the realisation of these subject positions. By focussing on the experiences of Singaporean missionaries working amongst Christian communities in Southeast Asia, I contribute a more nuanced and less predetermined understanding of the dynamics that underpin intra-Asian missionary encounters. Drawing on interviews conducted with Singapore’s STM community, I explore how materiality and new media can structure encounters and subject positions within relational missionary space. I also emphasise the limits of relational space by highlighting its untranslatability beyond the missionary terrain.
Keywords
Missionary encounter, religious subject, relational space, STM, Singapore.
Discipline
Asian Studies | Religion
Research Areas
Humanities
Publication
Asia Pacific Viewpoint
Volume
63
Issue
2/3
First Page
224
Last Page
235
ISSN
1360-7456
Identifier
10.1111/apv.12315
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
WOODS, Orlando.(2022). Realising contingent religious subjects through relational spaces of missionary encounter. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 63(2/3), 224-235.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3421
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/apv.12315