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European perceptions of religion and society in 18th century China & Bengal, and their subverted gaze in local art and encounter

Wim De Winter (UGent)
(2020) RELIGION. 50(2). p.278-298
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Abstract
This essay presents two late 18th century European travelers’ encounters with and perceptions of religion in Chinese and Indian societies. While C.L.J De Guignes made an extensive tour of Chinese pagodas, Balthazar Solvyns was depicting Bengali people in 1794. Both traveler’s works reveal a lineage of ideas involving exoticism and early-modern orientalism. While creating images of religion based on superstition and alterity, they did not take into account how the gaze was reversed unto them. While Solvyns created images of ‘the Hindoos’, Bengali artists were depicting the European colonial presence in scroll paintings and temple sculptures. These depictions may be considered as mimetic practices subverting the relational gaze, incorporating the European presence in order to overcome it. Contrasting early ethnographical European descriptions of Asian religions with their original contexts, a subverted gaze shines back upon the self-image of early modern European scholars seeking to make exotic Asian religions ‘known’.
Keywords
Sociology and Political Science, History, Historical Anthropology, Indology, Solvyns, De Guignes, Bengal, China, Orientalism, 18th century, INDIA

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Citation

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MLA
De Winter, Wim. “European Perceptions of Religion and Society in 18th Century China & Bengal, and Their Subverted Gaze in Local Art and Encounter.” RELIGION, vol. 50, no. 2, 2020, pp. 278–98, doi:10.1080/0048721x.2020.1713518.
APA
De Winter, W. (2020). European perceptions of religion and society in 18th century China & Bengal, and their subverted gaze in local art and encounter. RELIGION, 50(2), 278–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721x.2020.1713518
Chicago author-date
De Winter, Wim. 2020. “European Perceptions of Religion and Society in 18th Century China & Bengal, and Their Subverted Gaze in Local Art and Encounter.” RELIGION 50 (2): 278–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721x.2020.1713518.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
De Winter, Wim. 2020. “European Perceptions of Religion and Society in 18th Century China & Bengal, and Their Subverted Gaze in Local Art and Encounter.” RELIGION 50 (2): 278–298. doi:10.1080/0048721x.2020.1713518.
Vancouver
1.
De Winter W. European perceptions of religion and society in 18th century China & Bengal, and their subverted gaze in local art and encounter. RELIGION. 2020;50(2):278–98.
IEEE
[1]
W. De Winter, “European perceptions of religion and society in 18th century China & Bengal, and their subverted gaze in local art and encounter,” RELIGION, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 278–298, 2020.
@article{8642497,
  abstract     = {{This essay presents two late 18th century European travelers’ encounters with and perceptions of religion in Chinese and Indian societies. While C.L.J De Guignes made an extensive tour of Chinese pagodas, Balthazar Solvyns was depicting Bengali people in 1794. Both traveler’s works reveal a lineage of ideas involving exoticism and early-modern orientalism. While creating images of religion based on superstition and alterity, they did not take into account how the gaze was reversed unto them. While Solvyns created images of ‘the Hindoos’, Bengali artists were depicting the European colonial presence in scroll paintings and temple sculptures. These depictions may be considered as mimetic practices subverting the relational gaze, incorporating the European presence in order to overcome it. Contrasting early ethnographical European descriptions of Asian religions with their original contexts, a subverted gaze shines back upon the self-image of early modern European scholars seeking to make exotic Asian religions ‘known’.}},
  author       = {{De Winter, Wim}},
  issn         = {{0048-721X}},
  journal      = {{RELIGION}},
  keywords     = {{Sociology and Political Science,History,Historical Anthropology,Indology,Solvyns,De Guignes,Bengal,China,Orientalism,18th century,INDIA}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{278--298}},
  title        = {{European perceptions of religion and society in 18th century China & Bengal, and their subverted gaze in local art and encounter}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1080/0048721x.2020.1713518}},
  volume       = {{50}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}
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