Interview with Yves Menheere about his research
Last year, LUCSoR welcomed a new colleague: Yves Menheere. At the start of his position at LIAS, he applied for and received a starter grant. Read in this interview what he plans to do with the grant and learn more about his research on Taoist priests. Yves has also shared some photos from his fieldwork.
What does this grant mean for you and your career?
'For me, it means that I have to teach less and that I have the freedom to pursue my research interests. That’s quite a luxury. This coming semester, I will nevertheless teach the course Taoïsme: de levende religie again. Last year, I spent a month in Taiwan. I can now also plan to return to Taiwan next year to continue my research. However, I can also use the grant for other purposes, like inviting other researchers to Leiden. I haven’t done that yet, but there is a program of lectures planned for next year. I also want to use the money to stimulate research on Taoism within LIAS. Of course, there isn’t much competition in this field, but there are still people who could qualify for it.'
You mentioned you spent a month in Taiwan for your research. What were you studying there?
'I’ve already conducted quite a bit of research in Taiwan for my dissertation. This trip was about reconnecting with the people I’d worked with before. One of the things I aimed to do was document a particular collection of ritual texts that I knew were at the home of a now-deceased acquaintance. He was a Taoist priest, as were his grandfather and generations before him. So, he had a substantial amount of material at home. I found out by chance that these texts ended up with his master after his death—another priest I also knew. I mainly took photos of the covers because there’s just so much material. It’s one single iron chest full of texts, some of which are very old. I think the oldest are about 130 years old.'
Is that the ultimate goal of your research: to analyse these texts?
'I think that’s one of the goals. Ultimately, my research isn’t so much about the texts themselves but about how priests collaborate and interact with each other. They are religious service providers who perform rituals as their profession, a bit like freelancers. They sometimes work together because certain rituals require multiple priests, but they also compete with one another. This creates all sorts of interesting dynamics among people.
Language also plays an important role here. One of the Taoist traditions currently prevalent across Taiwan is often described as a Hakka tradition. However, the priests in northern Taiwan no longer speak Hakka but Taiwanese and now Mandarin. The family whose texts I’ll be studying was a Hakka family. So, that’s another interesting aspect to research: Is there a relationship between ethnicity and the form of Taoism you practice?'
Interview by: Merel Vlak
