Secret visions of the fifth Dalai Lama: text and performance in a literary work of the seventeenth century

• Grant number: 12/09849-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: September 01, 2012
• End date: August 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: John Cowart Dawsey
• Grantee: Ana Cristina Oliveira Lopes
• Supervisor: Diana Taylor
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: New York University, United States

Abstract

Among the many writings of the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682), his secret autobiography, a detailed report of his mystical visions, is one of the most significant. The unfolding of this text in State rituals and in material objects reveals its performative dimension. I intend to investigate the performative characteristics of this text through the development of a new theoretical approach to the relationship between text and performance. (AU)