SEAMEOSPAFA's video: Animism in Art: The Spirit in Puppets

It is only the human intellect that can conceive of a metaphysical existence where life is extended beyond mortal death. This argument hinges upon the presence of an immortal soul, an animating supernatural essence. Since the idea of eternal life is a human vision, the shape or form of the deity would arguably be anthropomorphic: as man is made in the likeness of God, so gods are imagined to be in the likeness of man. The concept of theophany where the deity takes on a form that is meaningful for the human audience began with the Greeks and is particularly well-developed in Christian religious discourse. Notions of theomorphism or anthropomorphism have for thousands of years been central to many Eastern and Middle Eastern religion, but theories regarding these concepts are less well-developed in Western scholarship. This essay fills in the gaps in the world knowledge of Asian theophany with particular reference to Chinese and SE Asian spiritual practices, and proposes that the puppet, as animated anthropomorphic form, is the very emblem of animism in art and religious icon par excellence. *This presentation was delivered by Professor Dr Margaret Chan, a retired Associate Professor of Theatre/Performance Studies at the School of Social Sciences at the Singapore Management University, at SEAMEO SPAFA's programme activity, "Animism in the Arts of Southeast Asia", which took place at Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand from 8-9 August 2019. For more details on this event, visit the SEAMEO SPAFA website at: http://www.seameo-spafa.org/animism-in-the-arts-of-southeast-asia/