Aike Peter Rots

Professor - Japan Studies
Image of Aike Peter Rots
Norwegian version of this page
Phone +47 22858385
Room 331 PAM
Username
Visiting address Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 P. A. Munchs hus 0371 Oslo
Postal address Postboks 1010 Blindern 0315 Oslo

Interviews and meetings upon appointment. Please take contact by e-mail, not phone.

 

Pronouns: he/him

Research interests

I study religion, culture, and nature in modern and contemporary Asia, with a primary focus on Japan and Vietnam. My research interests include the following:

  • Religion and ecology
  • Nature conservation, multispecies relations, and environmental activism
  • Secularisation and sacralisation
  • Spatial and ritual theory in the study of religion
  • Heritage-making and tourism 
  • Corporate religion
  • Modern and contemporary Shinto
  • Vietnamese ritual traditions
  • Okinawan and Ainu ritual traditions
  • Christianity in Asia
  • Buddhism and local deities
  • Goddess worship in East Asia

From 2019 to 2025, I am the leader of a comparative research project on cetacean worship and environmental change in maritime East Asia, titled Whales of Power: Aquatic Mammals, Devotional Practices, and Environmental Change in Maritime East Asia (WhoP). For this project, I was awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). WhoP studies relations between humans and aquatic mammals in maritime regions of East Asia, focusing on popular ritual practices and beliefs. We look at notions of whales, dolphins and other marine mammals as embodiments of divine power, at related festivals and other ritual traditions, and at nature conservation initiatives concerned with protecting these animals. Through a combination of historical and ethnographic research, we hope to gain insight into responses to socio-economic and environmental change in Asian coastal communities.

I am the author of the monograph Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan: Making Sacred Forests (Bloomsbury 2017), and the co-editor of Festivals in Asia: Patronage, Play, and Piety (special issue of Religion, 2023), Sacred Heritage in Japan (Routledge 2020), and Formations of the Secular in Japan (special issue of Japan Review, 2017). In addition, I have written a number of articles and book chapters on whale rituals, religious heritage-making, corporate religion, Okinawan sacred groves, modern and contemporary Shinto, sacred space, secularisation, Japanese Christianity, and religion in Vietnam.

I am currently working on four book projects: my second monograph, Stranded Gods: Whales, Rituals, and Environmental Change in Japan and Vietnam; the edited volume Water Powers: Divine Animals of the Asia-Pacific (with Florence Durney and Lidsey DeWitt Prat); the co-authored book Animating Action (with Yulia Frumer and Jolyon Thomas); and the introductory textbook Shinto: A Student's Introduction (with Ernils Larsson and Mark Teeuwen). In addition, I am developing a new research project on transnational goddess worship, ritual transformations, and human-nature relations in East and Southeast Asia.

Educational background

  • PhD, University of Oslo, 2014
  • MA Japanese Religions, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 2008
  • BA Japanese Language and Culture, Leiden University, 2007
  • BA World Religions, Leiden University, 2007
Tags: Japan, Religion and politics, Shinto, Environmental humanities, Vietnam, Heritage, East Asia, Marine mammals, Religion, Buddhism, Rituals

Publications

Monograph

Edited volumes

Journal articles (selection)

Book chapters (selection)

  • 'The Village Church as Intangible Cultural Heritage: European Ritual Innovation Seen from a Japanese Perspective', in Todd Weir and Lieke Wijnia (eds.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Heritage in Contemporary Europe. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023, pp. 295-307.
  • 'Environmentalism', in Erica Baffelli, Andrea Castiglioni, and Fabio Rambelli (eds), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Japanese Religions. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021, pp. 65-72.
  • 'Whose Sacred Site? Contesting World Heritage at Sēfa Utaki', in Aike P. Rots and Mark Teeuwen, eds., Sacred Heritage in Japan, Abingdon: Routledge, 2020, pp. 87-112.
  • (With Mark Teeuwen:) 'Heritage-Making and the Transformation of Religion in Modern Japan', in Aike P. Rots and Mark Teeuwen, eds., Sacred Heritage in Japan, Abingdon: Routledge, 2020, pp. 1-17. 
  • 'Re-enchantment Restricted: Popular Buddhism and Politics in Vietnam Today', in Hanna Havnevik, Ute Hüsken, Mark Teeuwen, Vladimir Tikhonov and Koen Wellens, eds., Buddhist Modernities: Re-Inventing Tradition in the Globalizing Modern World, Abingdon: Routledge, 2017, pp. 183-203.
  • 'The Sacralization of Space', in Sîan Melvill Hawthone, ed., Gender: GodMacmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks, Farmington Hills: Macmillan Reference USA, 2017, pp. 315-332.
  • 'Shinto's Modern Transformations: From Imperial Cult to Nature Worship', in Bryan S. Turner and Oscar Salemink, eds., Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015, pp. 125-143.
  • 'Nature's Blessing, Nature's Wrath: Shinto Responses to the Disasters of 2011', in Roy Starrs, ed., When the Tsunami Came to Shore: Culture and Disaster in Japan. Leiden: Brill, 2014, pp. 23-49.
  • 'Ambigious Identities: Negotiating Christianity and "Japaneseness" ', in John K. Nelson and Inken Prohl, eds., Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions, Leiden: Brill, 2012, pp. 309-343.
  • Rots, Aike Peter & Lu, Nhung (2023). When Gods Drown in Plastic: Vietnamese Whale Worship, Environmental Crises, and the Problem of Animism. Environmental Humanities. ISSN 2201-1919. 15(3), p. 8–29. doi: 10.1215/22011919-10745957. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2023). The Village Church as Intangible Cultural Heritage: European Ritual Innovation Seen from a Japanese Perspective. In Weir, Todd & Wijnia, Lieke (Ed.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Heritage in Contemporary Europe. Bloomsbury Academic. ISSN 978-1-3502-5138-0. p. 295–307. doi: 10.5040/9781350251410.ch-032. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2023). Beyond Methodological Nationalism: Three Directions for Japanese Studies. The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies (the CJAS). ISSN 1395-4199. 41(1), p. 9–35. doi: 10.22439/cjas.v41i1.6883. Full text in Research Archive
  • Teeuwen, Marcus Jacobus; Sen, Moumita & Rots, Aike Peter (2023). Festivals in Asia: patronage, play, and piety. Religion. ISSN 0048-721X. 53(3), p. 387–405. doi: 10.1080/0048721X.2023.2211395.
  • Rots, Aike Peter & Haugan, Ellen (2023). Whaling on stage: a comparison of contemporary Japanese whale festivals. Religion. ISSN 0048-721X. doi: 10.1080/0048721X.2023.2211393. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2021). Environmentalism. In Baffelli, Erica; Castiglioni, Andrea & Rambelli, Fabio (Ed.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Japanese Religions. Bloomsbury Academic. ISSN 978-1-3500-4373-2. p. 65–72. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter; McLaughlin, Levi; Thomas, Jolyon Baraka & Watanabe, Chika (2020). Why Scholars of Religion Must Investigate the Corporate Form. Journal of the American Academy of Religion. ISSN 0002-7189. 88(3), p. 693–725. doi: 10.1093/jaarel/lfaa041. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2020). Whose Sacred Site? Contesting World Heritage at Sēfa Utaki. In Teeuwen, Marcus Jacobus & Rots, Aike Peter (Ed.), Sacred Heritage in Japan. Routledge. ISSN 9780367217709. p. 87–112.
  • Teeuwen, Marcus Jacobus & Rots, Aike Peter (2020). Heritage-Making and the Transformation of Religion in Modern Japan. In Teeuwen, Marcus Jacobus & Rots, Aike Peter (Ed.), Sacred Heritage in Japan. Routledge. ISSN 9780367217709. p. 1–17.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2019). World Heritage, Secularisation, and the New “Public Sacred” in East Asia. Journal of Religion in Japan. ISSN 2211-8330. 8(1-3), p. 151–178. doi: 10.1163/22118349-00801011. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2019). Trees of tension: re-making nature in post-disaster Tohoku. Japan forum. ISSN 0955-5803. p. 1–24. doi: 10.1080/09555803.2019.1628087. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2019). Reclaiming Public Space: Shinto and Politics in Japan Today. In Dessein, Bart & Sturtewagen, Christian (Ed.), Traditional Wisdom and Political Expression. Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences. ISSN 978-90-75652-61-1. p. 23–45. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2019). "This Is Not a Powerspot": Heritage Tourism, Sacred Space, and Conflicts of Authority at Sēfa Utaki. Asian Ethnology. ISSN 1882-6865. 78(1), p. 155–180. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2019). Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki. Religions. ISSN 2077-1444. 10(5). doi: 10.3390/rel10050298. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2017). The Sacralization of Space. In Hawthorne, Sîan Melvill (Eds.), Gender: God. Macmillan Publishers Ltd.. ISSN 9780028663258. p. 315–332.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2017). Re-Enchantment Restricted: Popular Buddhism and Politics in Vietnam Today. In Havnevik, Hanna; Hüsken, Ute; Teeuwen, Marcus Jacobus; Tikhonov, Vladimir & Wellens, Koen (Ed.), Buddhist Modernities: Re-inventing Tradition in the Globalizing Modern World. Routledge. ISSN 9781138687844. p. 183–203.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2017). Public Shrine Forests? Shinto, Immanence, and Discursive Secularization. Japan Review. ISSN 0915-0986. p. 179–205. Full text in Research Archive
  • Teeuwen, Marcus Jacobus & Rots, Aike Peter (2017). Introduction: Formations of the secular in Japan. Japan Review. ISSN 0915-0986. 30, p. 3–20.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2015). Worldwide Kami, Global Shinto: The Invention and Spread of a 'Nature Religion'. Czech and Slovak Journal of Humanities. ISSN 1805-3742. p. 31–48.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2015). Review of: Sébastien Penmellen Boret, 'Japanese Tree Burial: Ecology, Kinship and the Culture of Death'. Japanese journal of religious studies. ISSN 0304-1042. 42(2), p. 392–395. doi: 10.18874/jjrs.42.2.2015.392-395.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2015). Sacred Forests, Sacred Nation: The Shinto Environmentalist Paradigm and the Rediscovery of Chinju no Mori. Japanese journal of religious studies. ISSN 0304-1042. 42(2), p. 205–233. doi: 10.18874/jjrs.42.2.2015.205-233.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2015). Shinto's Modern Transformations: From Imperial Cult to Nature Worship. In Turner, Bryan S. & Salemink, Oscar (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia. Routledge. ISSN 978-0-415-63503-5. p. 125–143.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2014). Nature's Blessing, Nature's Wrath: Shinto Responses to the Disasters of 2011. In Starrs, Roy (Eds.), When the Tsunami Came to Shore: Culture and Disaster in Japan. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN 978-90-04-26829-6. p. 23–49. doi: 10.1163/9789004268319_003.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2012). Ambiguous Identities: Negotiating Christianity and 'Japaneseness'. In Nelson, John & Prohl, Inken (Ed.), Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN 978 90 04 23435 2. p. 309–344. doi: 10.1163/9789004234369_014.

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  • Teeuwen, Marcus Jacobus & Rots, Aike Peter (2020). Sacred Heritage in Japan. Routledge. ISBN 9780367217709. 210 p.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2017). Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan: Making Sacred Forests. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-4742-8993-1. 260 p.

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  • Jacobsen, Ragnhild Irene; Rots, Aike Peter & Fløgstad, Guro Nore (2023). Hva sier forskningen om kjærlighet og romantikk? Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847.
  • Fløgstad, Guro Nore; Suliman, Salwa; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy; Rots, Aike Peter; Danbolt, Bjørn Kristian & Korsvoll, Nils Hallvard [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Studieavgift er korttenkt kunnskapspolitikk. Khrono.no. ISSN 1894-8995.
  • Lison, Pierre; Rots, Aike Peter & De Korne, Haley (2022). Hvilket fremmedspråk bør man lære seg i Google-oversettelsenes tidsalder? Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847.
  • Rots, Aike Peter; De Korne, Haley; Solheim, Marte Cecilie Wilhelmsen & Korsvoll, Nils Hallvard (2022). Research-Norway needs international students. UiS nettsider.
  • Rots, Aike Peter; De Korne, Haley; Solheim, Marte Cecilie Wilhelmsen & Korsvoll, Nils Hallvard (2022). Skolepengene må stoppes. Dagsavisen. ISSN 1503-2892. p. 6–6.
  • Olsen, Torjer Andreas; Dale, Ragnhild Freng & Rots, Aike Peter (2022). Panelsamtale: Hvorfor og hvordan drive forskning på og med urfolk og minoriteter?
  • Elken, Mari; Rots, Aike Peter & Tjønndal, Anne (2022). Hvor internasjonal er egentlig norsk forskning? . Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847.
  • Rots, Aike Peter; Endresen, Cecilie; Gubrium, Erika; Tolgensbakk, Ida; Bell, Justyna & Tanyi, Attila [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2021). Et «fremmed» virus? – Covid-19, nasjonalisme og stengte grenser. Utrop.no.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2019). Review of "The Sea and the Sacred in Japan: Aspects of Maritime Religion", by Fabio Rambelli (ed.). Journal of Religion in Japan. ISSN 2211-8330. 8(1-3), p. 207–213. doi: 10.1163/22118349-00703007.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2016). Review of: "Sacred Space in the Modern City: The Fractured Pasts of Meiji Shrine, 1912-1958", by Yoshiko Imaizumi. Monumenta Nipponica. ISSN 0027-0741. 71(2), p. 438–442.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2014). Shizen : la nature. In Bonnin, Philippe; Nishida, Masatsugu & Inaga, Shigemi (Ed.), Vocabulaire de la spatialité japonaise. CNRS Editions. ISSN 978-2-271-08059-2. p. 444–447.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2014). Chinju no mori : la forêt sacrée. In Bonnin, Philippe; Nishida, Masatsugu & Inaga, Shigemi (Ed.), Vocabulaire de la spatialité japonaise. CNRS Editions. ISSN 978-2-271-08059-2. p. 80–82.
  • Rots, Aike Peter (2012). Review of 'Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook', edited by James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis and John C. Maraldo. Japan Review. ISSN 0915-0986. p. 213–215.

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Published Sep. 17, 2010 10:45 AM - Last modified Dec. 8, 2023 10:46 AM

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