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The presence and importance of orders, as corporate structures of ritual and interpretive religious specialists, has long been noted in the history of South and Southeast Asia. Most often, however, these discussions have been compartmentalized within fields of study focused on a single religious tradition. This workshop seeks to open new lines of conversation by bringing together scholars working on Buddhist monastic lineages, Sufi tariqas, and Christian orders in Southern Asia, to bring their own specialized research into conversation with recent developments in the broader field of trans-regional history. The workshop seeks to understand better the motivations for extending religious communities geographically in the southern Asian region, as well as conceptions of affiliation that have shaped the movement and localization of religious specialists. The workshop will also explore the ways in which the presence of religious orders shaped processes of recognition and competition within and across the expansionary religious traditions of Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. Paper proposals (250 words max) and a brief personal biography of 150 words using the Paper Proposal Submission Form. Send form to Ms Valerie Yeo at valerie.yeo@nus.edu.sgCompleted draft paper (5,000 - 8,000 words) by 31 January 2013.http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ 