In global comparison, Southeast Asia stands out as a region marked by a particularly diverse religious landscape. Various “ethnic religions” interact with so-called “world religions”, with all of the latter being represented in the region. While religion has often been viewed as an antithesis to modernity, religions in contemporary Southeast Asian societies are not declining; on the contrary, they are intensifying and play a prime role in shaping modernization processes. At the same time, religions in Southeast Asia are as vital and diverse as they are contested.

The network of competence „Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia” (DORISEA) is a research network funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). Over twenty researchers from various dis-ciplinary backgrounds based at the Universities of Göttingen, Hamburg, Münster, Heidelberg and Berlin (Humboldt-University) are involved in empirical research across the region, from Laos to Indonesia, and from Malaysia to Vietnam to explore the complex relationship between religion and modernity in Southeast Asia.

With this photo competition, the DORISEA network wishes to visually explore the dynamics of religion in the region in its multiple manifestations, be it religious ritual, every day religious practice or the spatial and material aspects of religion.

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