Dr. Deborah De Koning

Biography

Deborah de Koning works as a postdoctoral researcher on the NWO Project Apocalypse Climate Change. Her passion lies in Eastern Religions, specifically Hinduism and Buddhism, with a focus on contemporary religious practices. She conducts ethnographic research in the field, investigating how the climate crisis affects the way the world perceives religious traditions. Deborah is interested in how these traditions offer specific worldviews and language to provide interpretations of crises, as well as how they are reappraised by climate activists. Her research also looks at how religious (climate) groups contribute to climate-positive living, employing religious traditions mainly focused on climate rituals. She examines how these rituals are fashioned from existing traditions, such as commemorations or collective prayers, as well as new climate rituals like climate pilgrimages and ecological mourning. From 2015 to 2021, she worked at Tilburg University as a PhD student, conducting NWO-funded research on Ravanisation, exploring the (re)appraisal and revitalization of Ravana, the demon king in Hindu mythology, mainly among Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Additionally, she serves as a guest lecturer in Hinduism and Buddhism at various theological faculties of universities.

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