Dr. Patrice Ladwig, 2016-2021
Curriculum Vitae
Patrice Ladwig studied social anthropology and sociology, and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He worked at the University of Bristol, the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, and was Visiting Professor at the University of Zürich and the University of Hamburg. His work focuses on the anthropology of Buddhism (Laos and Thailand), death and funeral cultures, colonialism, the link of religion to communist movements, and general social theory. At the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, he was First Principal Investigator in a project on Buddhist law funded by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation in Buddhist Studies. Since 2018, he has carried out research on economic modernization, religion, and ethics in the context of the Max Planck-Cambridge Centre for the Study of Ethics, Human Economy, and Social Change.
Research projects
- Towards an anthropology of Buddhism. Ethnography, theory, and comparison (with Nicolas Sihlé, Centre d‘Études Himalayennes, CNRS) (completed)
- Governing the monastic order. A comparative exploration of traditional sangha-laws in pre-modern Laos and their transformations under colonialism (with Gregory Kourilsky, École Française d‘Extrême-Orient, EFEO, Paris) (completed)
- Life cycle rituals and the booming economy. Ordinations, funerals, and ethical change in urban Lao Buddhism (subproject of the Max Planck Cambridge Centre for Ethics, Economy and Social Change)
- Buddhist Socialisms. Asian interactions of Buddhism, socialist ideologies and communist movements in historical perspective (completed)