【院生ゼミ】5月4日
【大学院】
In this week's meeting, we reviewed the cultural outlook of eleven Southeast Asian countries (ASEAN10 plus Timor Leste). Please refer to the table.
As for the map, please read an insightful article on Wikipedia, the difficulties of mapping world religion, and a most bizarre map.
Among the eleven countries, the Philippines and Timor Leste share common characteristics with Pacific countries because of their geographical location. Their populations are predominantly Christians, except for the southern region of the Philippines, which is dominated by Islam. The Spanish and the Portuguese who colonized the Philippines and Timor Leste respectively introduced Christianity (mostly Catholicism).
Vietnam is mostly dominated by Chinese Mahayana Buddhism mixed with Confucianism and Taoism, although there are sizable populations of Christians and indigenous Vietnamese religions. Because of its geographical location, Chinese is influence is most strongly felt in Vietnam (especially in the northern half). The French colonization also brought in Christianity to Vietnam.
Apart from those explained above, it can be generally described that Mainland Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar) is dominated by Theravada Buddhism, while Island Southeast (Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei) is dominated by Islam.
Singapore's religious make-up is unique because it was largely created by immigrants (mostly from China) in colonial times.
The island of Bali in Indonesia is dominated by Balinese Hinduism. This is living proof that most part of Southeast Asia was in fact once dominated by Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism from India.
In the next meeting, we will see more about the historical background of this cultural diversity in Southeast Asia.