Dominik Schröder (4 September 1910 – 25 December 1974) was an
ethnologist whose researches were focused mainly in the Moungor (Tu) people of Northwest China. He was born in Eiweiler, in the
Nohfelden
Nohfelden is a municipality in the district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approximately north of Sankt Wendel, and southwest of Idar-Oberstein. It was formed during administrative reform in January 1974 from the merger o ...
municipality of the
Saarland. He worked as a
missionary in China from 1938 to 1949. He obtained an MA from
Fujen University
Fu Jen Catholic University (FJU, FJCU or Fu Jen; or ) is a private Catholic university in Xinzhuang, New Taipei City, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1925 in Beijing at the request of Pope Pius XI and re-established in Taiwan in 1961 at ...
in
Beijing in 1945.
He was active in the Anthropos-Institut in
Fribourg, and undertook research on the
Kham
Kham (; )
is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham ...
people, and the oral poetry of the
Monguor people (). He translated the chapter on
Folklore from the ''Xīkāng Tújīng'' (:1934), a work by the Chinese scholar Rèn Nǎiqiáng () who pioneered studies on the
Gesar epic. From 1946 to 1949 he resided among the
Huzhu Monguor people. He returned to Europe in 1949 to pursue his studies in anthropology at both
Fribourg and
Frankfurt, and obtained a doctorate in 1951. His inaugural dissertation, "Zur Religion der Tujen des Sininggebietes (Kukunor)," published in 1953 was an important addition to a little-known field of ethnology.
He was appointed professor of
ethnology at
Nanzan University in
Nagoya in 1960, a position he held until 1969. While in Japan, he made several trips to
Taiwan to conduct fieldwork among the shamanizing ‘poringao’ women of the aboriginal
Puyuma people. His research notes were edited and published posthumously by Anton Quack.
His particular area of research interest was the phenomenon of
shamanism
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...
among the peoples of East Asia. He collected invaluable materials on the
Gesar epic as conserved among the Monguor.
[Lǐ Kèyù (ed.trans.), ''Tǔzú Gésàiěr Shīláodé Jìlù,'' Qinghai renmin chubanshe 1994 =土族格賽爾施勞德記錄;李克郁翻譯.]
Publications
* 'Zur Religion der
Tuen des
Sininggebietes (
KuKunor)', in ''Anthropos:'' Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde, Sonderdruck, Band 47, 1952; Paulusdruckerei, Freiburg in der Schweiz.
* 'Zur Struktur des Schamanismus,' in ''Anthropos,'' Vol. 50, 1955, pp. 849–881.
* ''Aus der Volksdichtung der Monguor. I. Teil: Das weiße Glücksschaf (Mythen, Märchen, Lieder),'' Asiatische Forschungen, Band 6, Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz 1959.
* ''Aus der Volksdichtung der Monguor. 2. Teil: In den Tagen der Urzeit. (Ein Mythus vom Licht und vom Leben),'' Aufgenommen und übersetzt von Dominik Schröder. Hrsg. Walther Heissig, Asiatische Forschungen, Band 31. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1970.
*With Anton Quack, 'Kopfjagdriten der Puyuma von Katipol (Taiwan) : eine Textdokumentation,' in Collectanea Instituti Anthropos; Bd. 11, St. Augustin : Anthropos-Institut : Haus Volker und Kulturen, 1979
*Anton Quack, ''Priesterinnen, Heilerinnen, Schamainnen? Die Poringao der Puyuma von Katipol (Taiwan= dargestellt und analysiert nach Aufzeichnungen aus dem Nachless von D. Schröder,'' Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1985 (Collectanea Instituti Anthropos 32)
Secondary Literature
* Walther Heissig: ''Geser Redzia-wu. Dominik Schröders nachgelassene Monguor(Tujen)-Version des Geser-Epos aus Amdo''. (Asiatische Forschungen, Band 70) Wiesbaden 1980,
* Dominik. Schröder by A. Burgmann, 'P. Dominik Schröder SVD (1910–1974)', Anthropos 70 (1975), pp. 1–4
*
Notes
External links
P. Dominik Schröder SVDSUB GÖDie Fandse. Ein Beitrag zur Volkskunde von Kham von Jen Nai-Ch'iang (Hsi-kang t'u-ching, Min-su-p'ien)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schroder, Dominik
1910 births
1974 deaths
Divine Word Missionaries Order
German ethnologists
Mongolists
Roman Catholic missionaries in Tibet
Christianity in Qinghai