Matthias Hayek a le plaisir de vous annoncer la tenue d’un cycle de conférences par Mark Teeuwen, professeur à l’Université d’Oslo et spécialiste du shintô. Mark Teeuwen est directeur d’études invité à l’EPHE-PSL pour tout le mois de mai 2026.
Il interviendra à quatre reprises, à la Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme, 54 boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris, à partir du lundi 4 mai.

Toutes les personnes intéressées sont les bienvenues. Un lien de connexion pour assister en ligne pourra être fourni sur demande. 
Le programme est le suivant : Approches to the study of Japanese traditional festivals

Lundi 4 mai, salle 9, 15h-17h

  1. Approaches to traditional festivals

This lecture traces the history of festival studies, from pre-war ethnograpgers like Orikuchi Shinobu to current studies of heritage professionals. After pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, I propose a particular methodology that looks for the interplay between aspects of prayer, play, and patronage.

Jeudi 7 mai, salle 21, 16h-18h

  1. Prayer, play, and patronage in Kyoto’s Gion festival

Here I flesh out the methodology proposed in the first lecture by analysing the Gion festival in Kyoto, one of the oldest,. Largest, and most influential traditional festivals in the country. I trace the festival’s development and seek to show how its development can be explained an analysis of these three aspects.

 Jeudi 21 mai, salle 21, 16h-18h

  1. Festivals and meaning – through the lens of the Hanamatsuri in Oku Mikawa

Festivals are often explained as public expressions of symbolic meanings and values. This lectures zooms in on four discourses that have attributed specific meanings to the rural Hanamatsuri festivals between the seventeenth century and today. How can we understand these frequent shifts in signification, and to what degree do they explain changes in the festival performance?

 Jeudi 28 mai, salle 21, 16h-18h

  1. Festivals as heritage

Since 1975, traditional festivals have been designated as Intangible Folk Cultural Properties and served as emblems of Japanese culture. At the same time, the social structures that have supported festivals have eroded, both in urban and in rural areas. Rural depopulation, in particular, has forced communities to rethink and redesign, or even abandon their local festivals. This lecture addresses the effects of heritage-making and reflects on its impact.