Research Clusters

      Team

      Core members

      • David A. Palmer (Professor, HKIHSS & Department of Sociology)
      • Li Ji (Associate Professor, HKIHSS & School of Modern Languages and Cultures)
      • Kim-Kwong Chan (Research Associate, HKIHSS)
      • Joseba Estevez (Senior Research Assistant, HKIHSS)
      • Fu Hongfen (Research Assistant, HKIHSS)
      • Tong Yue (Teaching Assistant, HKIHSS)
      • Sun Jiayue (PhD student, HKIHSS)
      • Martin Tse (PhD Student, HKIHSS)
      Main Theme

      Over the past few decades, religion has played an increasingly vocal and visible role in Asian societies, identities and politics. In China, all forms of religion, whether indigenous or imported, are growing rapidly and increasingly challenging the secular consensus that has dominated intellectual, cultural and political life for over a century of modernizing reforms and revolutions. In India, religious traditions and identities are becoming more assertive in the public sphere. In Muslim nations, intensifying internal religious debates and conflicts are complicating the longstanding tension between Islamic and secularist ideals. In Southeast Asia and among religious minorities everywhere, conflations of religious and communal identity are either reinforced or challenged by the growth of Christianity and Islam. At the same time, modern spiritual movements and religious innovations are articulating new expressions of universal values and cosmopolitanism, blurring the boundaries between different traditions and between the religious and the secular.

      This cluster builds on an emerging scholarly consensus that the complexity of religious realities and issues in Asia requires a rethinking of the concept of religion and its relationship to the rest of society. The study of religion has been, until now, dominated by theories and concepts derived from the Western experience in the post-enlightenment era, in which religion has been understood primarily in terms of doctrinal credo and congregational identity, all defined in opposition to the secular realm. The study of Asian religion has primarily been conducted in conscious or unconscious reference to Western models — either as essentially other and different from Western religion, or as local variants of a universal phenomenon defined along Western lines. The political, economic and cultural hegemony of the West over the past few centuries has, significantly but far from completely, contributed to refashioning the very phenomenon and experience of Asian religious traditions along Western lines. Over the past half-century, with the development of Area studies, the history, anthropology and sociology of religion in India, Southeast Asia, China and Japan have evolved in isolation from each other, with the West as the explicit or implicit focus of comparison for each region. While the knowledge and insights generated by these approaches should not be minimized, the goal of this research cluster is to promote the emergence of a trans-Asian conversation on religion in Asian societies. This includes facilitating conversations between scholars whose research focus is on different parts of Asia; advancing research on inter-Asian religious connections, influences and networks; building a network of Asian-based scholars of religion in Asia; and contributing to local discourses and debates on religion in Asian societies.

      Rethinking Spirituality and Religion in Asia

      This cluster builds on an emerging scholarly consensus that the complexity of religious realities and issues in Asia requires a rethinking of the concept of religion and its relationship to the rest of society. The study of religion has been, until now, dominated by theories and concepts derived from the Western experience in the post-enlightenment era, in which religion has been understood primarily in terms of doctrinal credo and congregational identity, all defined in opposition to the secular realm. The study of Asian religion has primarily been conducted in conscious or unconscious reference to Western models — either as essentially other and different from Western religion, or as local variants of a universal phenomenon defined along Western lines. The political, economic and cultural hegemony of the West over the past few centuries has, significantly but far from completely, contributed to refashioning the very phenomenon and experience of Asian religious traditions along Western lines. Over the past half-century, with the development of Area studies, the history, anthropology and sociology of religion in India, Southeast Asia, China and Japan have evolved in isolation from each other, with the West as the explicit or implicit focus of comparison for each region. While the knowledge and insights generated by these approaches should not be minimized, the goal of this research cluster is to promote the emergence of a trans-Asian conversation on religion in Asian societies. This includes facilitating conversations between scholars whose research focus is on different parts of Asia; advancing research on inter-Asian religious connections, influences and networks; building a network of Asian-based scholars of religion in Asia; and contributing to local discourses and debates on religion in Asian societies.

      By taking an Asian perspective on religion, this cluster will aim to bring significant theoretical and methodological contributions to the humanistic and social scientific study of religion. Almost 60% of the world’s population lives in Asia, over three times more than any other continent. While the Middle East, Europe and the Americas are each dominated by one highly institutionalized religious tradition, be it Islam or Christianity, we find a far greater diversity, not only between but also within most Asian societies, with a lively substratum of local, “animistic” or “folk” religion everywhere; Axial traditions originating in India and China; a strong presence of the Christian and Islamic faiths; and waves of globalizing new religions and reform movements. In the modern era, secularization has never been complete in Asia, even in socialist countries like China or Vietnam, and we witness a wide range of creative forms of re-sacralization. Vastly different models of state-religion relations can be observed, both in pre-modern and modern times. Religion has, for centuries, travelled and cross-fertilized between different Asian societies along trade routes, transnational networks and new media.

      Rooted in strong expertise on religion in Chinese societies, the cluster extends its interest to the broader Asian region, both through the comparison of different Asian contexts and through the study of inter-Asian connections and circulations. Hong Kong, as a Chinese cultural hub, thoroughly integrated to Western academic networks and in close proximity to the rest of Asia, is an ideal location for this research cluster. The interdisciplinary nature of the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences is an essential condition for a holistic consideration of religion in a social context, combining historical depth and contemporary focus.

      The inter-Asian focus of this cluster complements the spacial orientation of the “Hubs, Mobilities and the Asian Urban” cluster, while it engages in a theoretical dialogue with the “Science, Technology and Medicine in Asian Societies” cluster. Among the new theoretical approaches it is exploring, the cluster is examining the application of STS (Science, Technology and Society) theories and methods to examine the transformations of religion in Asian societies. At one level, changes, redefinitions, reinventions and innovations in Asian religious traditions have, since the onset of the modern era, been stimulated by the introduction and development of new forms of knowledge production and technology, as well as newly introduced and contested definitions of legitimate and illegitimate forms of knowledge. At a second level, moving beyond a Euro-centric conception of religion based on doctrinal credo and congregational identity, Asian religious traditions can themselves be seen as systems of technologies of the body, of the self, of healing, of ritual, of community building and political performance. Seen in such a light rather than as bounded sectarian identities, religious traditions can be considered as assemblages of technologies. The cluster will examine the social construction, combinations, dissemination and institutionalization of religious knowledge and technologies; and problematise the shifting boundaries, circulations and interpenetrations between different systems of knowledge.

      Rethinking Spirituality and Religion in Asia

      By taking an Asian perspective on religion, this cluster will aim to bring significant theoretical and methodological contributions to the humanistic and social scientific study of religion. Almost 60% of the world’s population lives in Asia, over three times more than any other continent. While the Middle East, Europe and the Americas are each dominated by one highly institutionalized religious tradition, be it Islam or Christianity, we find a far greater diversity, not only between but also within most Asian societies, with a lively substratum of local, “animistic” or “folk” religion everywhere; Axial traditions originating in India and China; a strong presence of the Christian and Islamic faiths; and waves of globalizing new religions and reform movements. In the modern era, secularization has never been complete in Asia, even in socialist countries like China or Vietnam, and we witness a wide range of creative forms of re-sacralization. Vastly different models of state-religion relations can be observed, both in pre-modern and modern times. Religion has, for centuries, travelled and cross-fertilized between different Asian societies along trade routes, transnational networks and new media.

      Rooted in strong expertise on religion in Chinese societies, the cluster extends its interest to the broader Asian region, both through the comparison of different Asian contexts and through the study of inter-Asian connections and circulations. Hong Kong, as a Chinese cultural hub, thoroughly integrated to Western academic networks and in close proximity to the rest of Asia, is an ideal location for this research cluster. The interdisciplinary nature of the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences is an essential condition for a holistic consideration of religion in a social context, combining historical depth and contemporary focus.

      The inter-Asian focus of this cluster complements the spacial orientation of the “Hubs, Mobilities and the Asian Urban” cluster, while it engages in a theoretical dialogue with the “Science, Technology and Medicine in Asian Societies” cluster. Among the new theoretical approaches it is exploring, the cluster is examining the application of STS (Science, Technology and Society) theories and methods to examine the transformations of religion in Asian societies. At one level, changes, redefinitions, reinventions and innovations in Asian religious traditions have, since the onset of the modern era, been stimulated by the introduction and development of new forms of knowledge production and technology, as well as newly introduced and contested definitions of legitimate and illegitimate forms of knowledge. At a second level, moving beyond a Euro-centric conception of religion based on doctrinal credo and congregational identity, Asian religious traditions can themselves be seen as systems of technologies of the body, of the self, of healing, of ritual, of community building and political performance. Seen in such a light rather than as bounded sectarian identities, religious traditions can be considered as assemblages of technologies. The cluster will examine the social construction, combinations, dissemination and institutionalization of religious knowledge and technologies; and problematise the shifting boundaries, circulations and interpenetrations between different systems of knowledge.

      Newsletters

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 1 (2020 Nov. 26)
      Introducing BRINFAITH – A Warm Welcome from Prof. David A. Palmer

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 2 (2020 Dec. 9)
      The New Age Fever in China // Asian Religion as Method

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 3 (2020 Dec. 22)
      Recorded Lectures on “Islamic Belonging to Chinese Society” and “China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Nepal”

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 4 (2021 Jan. 21)
      BRINFAITH Lecture – Religion as Infrastructure: Congolese Migration, Diaspora, and Religious Networks

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 5 (2021 Feb. 24)
      BRINFAITH Lecture – Are there any parallels between transnational jihads and universalism?

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 6 (2021 Mar. 10)
      BRINFAITH Lecture – What are the analytical benefits of thinking infrastructurally about religion? | The Politics of Muslim Infrastructure in Tanzania

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 7 (2021 Apr. 24)
      BRINFAITH Lecture – The New Faith Roads in Southeast Asia: Dynamics of a Circulatory Missionary Process

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 8 (2021 May. 10)
      BRINFAITH Lecture – Mecca in the Conceptions and Mobilities of Chinese Muslim Diasporas in Saudi Arabia

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 9 (2021 Jun. 23)
      BRINFAITH Lecture - Making the Muslim World in the Age of Britain’s Steam and Print Initiative

      ASIAR Newsletter Issue 10 (2021 Jul. 27)
      Religious Implications of the BRI – Time to Review (with feature articles and 10 lecture recordings)

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      Grants

      The cluster has hosted several major research grants, including the following grants funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council:

      Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road: Collaborative Research Fund (CRF). PC: David A. Palmer, Co-PIs: Li Ji, Georgios Halkias, Junxi Qian, James Frankel, Ho Wai Yip, 2019 – 22.

      Daoist Ritual, Local Society and the State: Ethnography, Text and Theory: Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS). PI: David A. Palmer, 2018 – 19.

      Daoism, Ethnic Identity and State Socialism: the Lanten Yao on the China-Vietnam-Laos Borderland: General Research Fund (GRF). PI: David A. Palmer, 2018 – 21.

      Making Religion, Making Local Society: The Social History of a Catholic Village in Northeast China: General Research Fund (GRF). PI: Li Ji, 2015 – 17.

      Negotiating Spirituality and Urban Space in Jiangbeicheng: Local History, Religion and the Making of Modern China: Early Career Scheme (ECS). PI: Li Ji, 2017 – 20.

      Other major grants:

      Digital Library of the Lanten Textual Heritage. Pl: Josephus Platenkamp, Universitat Munster; Co-Is: David A. Palmer and Joseba Estevez, British Library Endangered Archives Programme, 2015 – 22.

      Deepening Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts: Religion in National and International Affairs in China and IndiaCo-director: David A. Palmer, (USD 125,960), ASIANetwork Faculty Enhancement Program (ANFEP), 2018.

      New Approaches to Religious Pluralism in Asia: China – India – IndonesiaPI: David A. Palmer, United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, in collaboration with the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies and the Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies (Chennai, India), 2015 – 2019.

      Popular Religion in Contemporary Chinese Literature, Neo-Union Educational Foundation, 2016 – 2018.

      Religion in Minority Ethnic Regions of China, Co-I: David A. Palmer, PI: Liang Yongjia, China Agricultural University, China National Social Science Foundation, 2014 – 2017.

      Web Resources

      The cluster hosts the website on Religious Life in the Chinese World, a companion resource to the book Chinese Religious Life edited by David A. Palmer, Glenn Shive and Philip Wickeri.

      Editorial Work

      David A. Palmer, Cluster Convenor, is Co-Editor of the book series Religion in Chinese Societies and Associate Editor of the journal Review of Religion and Chinese Societyboth at Brill Academic Publishers.

      Collaborating Institutions

      Our regular collaborating institutions include the following:

      Asia Research Institute, Religion and Globalization Research Cluster, NUS (Singapore)

      Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies (Chennai, India)

      Center for Cultural Sociology, Yale University (USA)

      Center for the Study of Chinese Religions, Taiwan Cheng-chi University

      Centre on Religion and Chinese Society, Purdue University (USA)

      Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (Jogyakarta, Indonesia)

      Institute for the Study of World Religions, China Academy of Social Sciences

      Institute of Ethnology, University Münster (Germany)

      Institute of Religious Studies, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences

      Max Planck Institute for the Study of Ethnic and Religious Diversity (Germany)

      Religion, Society and Secularity Research Group (GSRL) of the CNRS/Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (France)

      Salesian Research Centre, Salesian College Siliguri (Darjeeling, India)

      Output

      Publications

      David A. Palmer and Fabian Winiger. “Neo-Socialist Governmentality: Managing Freedom in the Peoples’ Republic of China”. Economy and Society, forthcoming.

      David A. Palmer and Rundong Ning. “Ethics of the Heart: Moral Breakdown and the Aporia of Chinese Volunteers”. Current Anthropology, forthcoming.

      David A. Palmer and Rundong Ning. “The Resurrection of Lei Feng: Rebuilding the Chinese Party-State’s Infrastructure of Volunteer Mobilization”, in Elizabeth Perry, Gzegorz Eckiert and Xiaojun Yan eds., Ruling by Other Means: State-Mobilized Social Movements. Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.

      David A. Palmer and Zhaoyuan Wan. “The Cosmopolitan Moment in Colonial Modernity: The Bahá’í Faith, Spiritual Networks and Universalist Movements in early Twentieth Century China”. Modern Asian Studies, forthcoming.

      2019. David A. Palmer, Martin Tse and Chip Colwell. “Guanyin’s Limbo: Icons as Demi-Persons and Dividual Objects”. American Anthropologist. Published online on 23 Aug. 2019.

      2019. David A. Palmer. “Three Moral Codes and Micro-Civil Spheres in China” in Jeffrey Alexander, David A. Palmer, Agnes Ku and Sunwoong Park eds., The Civil Sphere in East Asia. Cambridge University Press, pp. 126-147.

      2019. Li Ji. “‘Little Flowers’: Chinese Christian Women in Northeast China”, in Piotr Adamek and Sonja Huang Mei Tin eds., The Contribution of Chinese Women to the Church. Franz Schmitt Verlag, Siegburg, pp. 103-118.

      2018. David A. Palmer and Fabian Winiger. “Secularization, Sacralization and Subject Formation in Modern China”, in Peter van der Veer and Kenneth Dean eds., A Secular Age in Asia?, Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 83-105.

      2018. David A. Palmer. “Spirituality, Transcendence, and the Circulatory History of Modern Asian Religion” (Review Essay). Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 78:1, pp. 171-180.

      2018. David A. Palmer and Jeremy Jammes. “Occulting the Dao: Daoist Inner Alchemy, French Spiritism and Vietnamese Colonial Modernity in Caodai Translingual Practice”, Journal of Asian Studies77:2, pp. 405-428.

      2018. David A. Palmer. “Religion, Spiritual Principles and Civil Society”, in Benjamin Schewel and Geoffrey Cameron eds., Religion and Public Discourse in an Age of Transition: Reflections on Baha’i Practice and Thought.Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

      2018. Li Ji. “Catholic Communities and Local Governance in Northeast China”, The China Review, Vol. 18, No. 4, November, pp. 107-129.

      2018. Li Ji. “Resistance, Accommodation and Indigenization: Religion and Political Transformation in Modern China”, Twentieth-Century China 43, no.2: pp. 188-195.

      2017. David A. Palmer and Elijah Siegler. Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 314 pages.

      2017. David A. Palmer. “Is Chinese (Lack of) Religion Exceptional?”, in Ryan Hornbeck, Justin Barrett and Madeleine Kang eds. Religious Cognition in China “Homo Religiosus” and the Dragon. Springer International Publishing, pp. 17-34.

      2017. David A Palmer. “Daoism and Human Rights: Integrating the Incommensurable”, in Joseph Tham, Kai Man Kwang & Alberto Garcia eds. Religious Perspectives on Bioethics and Human Rights.Springer International Publishing, pp. 139-144.

      2016. David A. Palmer and Elijah Siegler. “Healing Tao USA and the History of American Spiritual Individualism” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 25: pp. 245-265.

      2016. Li Ji. “‘Sacred Heart’ and the Appropriation of Catholic Faith in Nineteenth-Century China.” Song Gang ed., Reshaping the Boundaries: Ming-Qing Chinese Encounters with Western Culture. Hong Kong: The University of Hong Kong Press, pp. 76-90.

      2015. Li Ji. God’s Little Daughters: Catholic Women in Nineteenth-Century Manchuria. Seattle: University of Washington Press. (Paperback edition in March 2017)

      2014. David A. Palmer. “Transnational Sacralizations: When Daoist Monks Meet Spiritual Tourists”, Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology 79: 2, pp. 169-192.

      2014. Li Ji. “Faith, Gender, and Literacy: The Du Letters and Catholicism in Nineteenth-Century Northeast China.” Journal of Tsinghua University, 2: 7-16.

      2014. Li Ji. “Christianity in Northeast China: A Reflection on Recent Shift of Paradigms in Social, Cultural, and Religious History.” Wu Xiaoxin ed., Narratives from the Hinterland: Perspective, Methodology, and Trends on the Studies of Christianity in China, Beijing: Guangxi Normal University Press, pp. 325-339.

      2013. Li Ji. “God’s Little Daughters: Christian Virgins and Catholic Communities of Women in Northeast China.” The Chinese Historical Review 20.1, pp. 16-33.

      2013. Li Ji. “Dissemination of Catholicism in Nineteenth-Century Northeast China: A Study of MEP Archives on Missions Mandchourie”, Zhao Yifeng ed., Manuscripts, Memories, Localization, and Explanations: New Perspectives on Christianity in Northeast China and Sino-Western Cultural Exchange, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, pp. 107-127.

      2013. David A. Palmer. “From ‘Congregations’ to ‘Small Group Community Building’: Localizing the Bahá’í Faith in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China.” Chinese Sociological Review, 45: 2, pp. 78-98.

      2012. David A. Palmer and Liu Xun eds., Daoism in the Twentieth Century: Between Eternity and Modernity. Berkeley: University of California Press. 376 pages.

      2012. Li Ji. “Measuring Catholic Faith in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century China.” Owen White and J. P. Daughton eds., In God’s Empire: French Missionaries and the Modern World, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 173-94.

      2011. Vincent Goossaert and David A. Palmer, The Religious Question in Modern China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 464 pages. Author order is alphabetical by publisher’s policy. French edition (La question religieuse en Chine) published by CNRS Editions, Paris, in 2012.

      2011. David A. Palmer. “Gift and Market in the Chinese Religious Economy”.  Religion 41:4, pp. 1-26.

      2011. David A. Palmer, Glenn Shive and Philip Wickeri eds., Chinese Religious Life. New York: Oxford University Press. 296 pages. Chinese edition: Zhongguoren de zongjiao shenghuo, published 2014 at the Hong Kong University Press.

      2011. David A. Palmer. “Chinese Redemptive Societies and Salvationist Religion: Historical Phenomenon or Sociological Category?”, Journal of Chinese Theatre, Ritual and Folklore / Minsu Quyi, 172, pp. 21-72.

      2009. David A. Palmer. “Religiosity and Social Movements in China: Divisions and Multiplications”, in Gilles Guiheux & K. E. Kuah-Pearce eds., Social Movements in China and Hong Kong: The Expansion of Protest Space. ICAS/Amsterdam University Press, pp. 257-282.

      2009. David A. Palmer. “China’s Religious Danwei: Institutionalizing Religion in the Peoples’ Republic.” China Perspectives, 4, pp. 17-31.

      2008. David A. Palmer. “Heretical Doctrines, Reactionary Secret Societies, Evil Cults: Labelling Heterodoxy in 20th Century China”, in Mayfair Yang ed., Chinese Religiosities: the Vicissitudes of Modernity and State Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 113-134.

      2003. David A. Palmer. “Modernity and Millenialism in China: Qigong and the Birth of Falun Gong”, Asian Anthropology, 2, pp. 79-110.

      Events and Activities

      • Conferences, Workshops and Symposiums

      Green Finance Forum “Bringing local values into the ESG framework in Asia” (January 16, 2023) (Details)

      CRF BRINFAITH Infrastructures Group Theory Workshop. (September 24, 2019)

      CRF Planning Workshop on “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road” (October 26, 2018)

      Workshop on “Chinese Minjian Religion: Reviewing the Field and Future Directions”, co-sponsored with Center on Religion and Chinese Society, Purdue University. (May 5, 2018)

      Conference on “Science and Humanities in the 21st Century”, co-sponsored with the Faith and Science Collaborative Research Forum (FaSCoRe). (November 3 – 6, 2017) (Details)

      Conference on “The Church of the Almighty God and the Question of xiejiao”, co-sponsored with Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion. (September 15 – 16, 2017)

      Symposium on “Terrorism and Radicalisation: Ideology, Networks, Framing and Prevention”, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, and HKIHSS, the University of Hong Kong. (September 8, 2016)

      International Conference on “Jing Jiao”, jointly hosted with the School of Chinese of the University of Hong Kong and the Divinity School of Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. (June 10 – 12, 2015) (Details)

      Forum on “Spirituality in Chinese Society”, East China Normal University, Shanghai. (November 29 – 30, 2014)

      International Conference on “Texts and Contexts: Redemptive Societies and Religious Movements in Modern China”, the University of Hong Kong. (November 8 – 9, 2014) (Details)

      • Faculty Development Workshops

      “Religion and Society in Asia: India/China/Indonesia, Third Summer School Yogyakarta, 2019”, sponsored by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, supported by Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies. (August 5 – 9, 2019)

      “Asia Network Faculty Enrichment Program (ANFEP): China-India Study Tour”, co-sponsored with Hong Kong America Center. (June 10 – 30, 2018)

      “Religion and Society in Asia: India/China/Indonesia, Second Summer School Chennai, 2018”, sponsored by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, supported by Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies. (May 14 – 18, 2018)

      “Religion and Society in Asia: India/China/Indonesia, First Summer School Hong Kong, 2017”, sponsored by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. (May 15 – 19, 2017)

      Website for Religion and Society in Asia: https://rsa-ici.weebly.com/

      • Lectures and Seminars
      BRINFAITH Lecture Series

      “The Belt and Road Initiative and Spirit Mediums: The Lower Sesan 2 Dam and Sacred Space in Northeastern Cambodia” by Dr. Ian G. Baird (March 27, 2023) (Details)

      “Africa in and beyond China’s BRI: Development and Security in a New Era of Global Competition” by Dr. Daniel Large (February 28, 2023) (Details)

      “The State of Religions in Hong Kong 2022” by Rev. Dr. Kim-Kwong Chan, Professor Fuk-tsang Ying, Professor David A. Palmer, Professor Fenggang Yang (October 25, 2022) (Details)

      “Sailors and Slaves in Medieval Maritime Asia: from baghdād to baghpūr” by Dr. Ha Guangtian (November 16, 2022) (Details)

      “Iran and BRI: A Cultural Perspective of Strategic Cooperation” by Dr. Alireza Khoshrou (September 13, 2022) (Details)

      “Magic Power Reconfigured: Chinese Popular Religion in Cities” by Professor Wei-Ping Lin (May 25, 2022) (Details)

      ‘“The Dharma Assembly”: Exploring a dynamic infrastructure for contemporary Han Chinese participation in Tibetan Buddhist monastic contexts’ by Dr. Catherine Hardie (May 10, 2022) (Details)

      ‘“Without Ritual, there would be no Ethnic Culture”: Religion and Changing Chinese Diasporic Identity in Vietnam’ by Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tho (April 11, 2022) (Details)

      “Old Roads, Religious Mobility, and Paradigms of Long-Distance Transmission — Epigraphic and Petroglyphic Complexes in a Transit Zone between Eurasian Frontiers” by Dr. Jason Neelis (February 25, 2022) (Details)

      “Hidden Treasures of the Silk Road — An Ontological Shift in Thinking of Things”, by Dr. Andrea Jian Chen (January 26, 2022) (Details)

      “New Visions for the New Globality: China’s BRI vs. Russia’s Greater Eurasian Space”, by Professor Alexey Maslov (December 15, 2021) (Details)

      “Reflecting on Maritime Transportation as the Sinew of Commerce and Conflict”, by Professor Laleh Khalili (November 22, 2021) (Details)

      “Infrastructure and Connectivity across the Karakoram-Pamir Watershed, since 1918”, by Hasan H. Karrar (October 4, 2021) (Details)

      “History Written in Advance: The Temporal Politics of Learning Mandarin for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Zambia”, by Mr. Justin Haruyama (September 23, 2021) (Details)

      “Making the Muslim World in the Age of Britain’s Steam and Print Initiative”, by Professor Cemil Aydin (June 30, 2021) (Details)

      “Circulations and Convergences: Mecca in the Conceptions and Mobilities of Chinese Muslim Diasporas in Saudi Arabia”, by Dr. Janice Hyeju Jeong (May 17, 2021) (Details)

      “The New Faith Roads in Southeast Asia: Dynamics of a Circulatory Missionary Process”, by Professor Jérémy Jammes (April 28, 2021) (Details)

      “The Politics of Muslim Infrastructure in Tanzania”, by Dr. Benjamin Kirby (March 8, 2021) (Details)

      “The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity”, by Dr. Darryl Li (March 1, 2021) (Details)

      “Religion as Infrastructure: Congolese Migration, Diaspora, and Religious Networks”, by Dr. Gerda Heck (January 25, 2021) (Details)

      “Supporting the Faith, Building the Empire: Imperial Japan’s Islamic Policies in World War II”, by Dr. Kelly Hammond (December 3, 2020) (Details)

      “China’s Islamic Outreach to the Middle East”, by Dr. Kyle Haddad-Fonda (November 25, 2020) (Details)

      “China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Nepal: National Imaginaries, Ethnographic Anxieties, and Geopolitical Power”, by Dr. Galen Murton (November 5, 2020) (Details)

      “Islamic Belongings to Chinese Society: Taboo, Tolerance and the Ban on Alcohol in a Chinese Hui Muslim Town” by Dr. Ruslan Yusupov (September 28, 2020) (Details)

      “The Religiosity of Millennials and the Islamic Movement of Hijrah in Indonesia” by Dr. Samsul Maarif. (September 27, 2019) (Details)

      “Muslim Traders in Yiwu (Zhejiang): Global Migrant Merchants and Local Markets” by Professors Fan Lizhu and Chen Na. (September 23, 2019) (Details)

      Asia Religious Connections Lecture Series

      “The All Asian Bhagavad Gītā” by Dr. Ithamar Theodor. (September 19, 2019) (Details)

      Spirituality, Religion and Society Lecture Series

      “Micropolitics and the Reproduction of Tin Hau Communitas in Hong Kong” by Professor Kuah Khun Eng. (May 29, 2019) (Details)

      “Is Guanyin (And Everything Else) a Palimpsest?” by Dr. Chip Colwell. (May 8, 2019) (Details)

      “The Post-Secular Problematic and the Theory of Secularization” by Dr. Benjamin Schewel. (April 2, 2019) (Details)

      “Raising the Dead = Girl Power? Charismatic Practice and Women’s Authority in a Chinese Christian Church” by Dr. Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. (April 1, 2019) (Details)

      “The Boxer Crisis in Comparative Perspective: Visions of Divine Intervention and Monuments of Martyrdom” by Professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom. (March 21, 2019) (Details)

      “Globalizing Jewish Studies in China” by Professor Song Lihong. (March 19, 2019) (Details)

      “Is there a Chinese Cultural Essence?” by Professor John Lagerwey. (January 23, 2019) (Details)

      “Dynamic of Memory and Religious Nationalism in a Sino-Vietnamese Border Town” by Dr. Tam T. Ngo. (October 25, 2018) (Details)

      “Nationalism and Religion in India and China" by Professor Peter van der Veer. (October 24, 2018) (Details)

      “The Chinese Pursuit of Happiness: Meaning, Morality, and Everyday Life” by Professor Richard Madsen. (September 10, 2018) (Details)

      “Daoist Patronage and Practices of Arts, Literati Culture, Local Politics and Society in Late Qing and Early Republican Nanyang” by Professor Liu Xun. (April 20, 2018) (Details)

      “Why Empire? Empire as a Topic in World History” by Professor Krishan Kumar. (March 22, 2018) (Details)

      “Interactions Between Christianity and Local Folk Religions in 19th and 20th Century China” by Professor Chu Xiaobai. (February 12, 2018) (Details)

      “The Spiritual Practice of Orthodoxy (東正教的靈修傳統)” by Professor Zhang Baichun. (January 23, 2018) (Details)

      “The Radical Roots of Love: Christianity, Communism, and the Politics of ‘Love’ in Modern China” by Dr. Guo Ting. (November 30, 2017) (Details)

      “China’s Religious Revival” by Mr. Ian Johnson. (November 6, 2017) (Details)

      “「邊緣人」的歷史與歷史書寫—以日本神戶華僑為例” by Professor Wang Ke. (September 22, 2017) (Details)

      “The Judicialization of Religious Freedom: The European Court of Human Rights and Minority Religions” by Professor James Richardson. (September 18, 2017) (Details)

      “Early Modern Globalization through a Jesuit Prism: Intercultural Encounters in Japan, China, India, and Tibet” by Professor Jose Casanova. (March 10, 2017) (Details)

      “Spirit Cults and Surrogate Rural Subjectivity in Yan’an, China” by Dr. Wu Ka-ming. (February 17, 2017) (Details)

      “Engendering Religious Compassion Chinese Women and the Micro-Politics of Buddhist Volunteerism” by Professor Khun Eng Kuah. (February 15, 2017)

      “Using Transdisciplinary Tools to Address Controversial Issues in History of Religion: the Case of Early Christianity” by Dr. Andrew Ter Ern Loke. (January 26, 2017) (Details)

      “Belief in Meaninglessness, Belief in Literature — Religious Imaginations in the Contemporary Chinese Fiction” by Dr. An Wei. (November 25, 2016) (Details)

      “Urban Restructuring and Temple Agency — the Case Studies of Han Buddhist Temples in Shanghai” by Professor Huang Weishan. (November 10, 2016) (Details)

      “The Dejiaohui and the Construction and Development of Its Transnational Network between Chao-Shan Region, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia” by Ms Wu Qi. (September 13, 2016) (Details)

      “The Anthropological Study of Religion in China: Contexts, Collaborations, Debates, and Trends” by Dr. Liang Yongjia. (September 9, 2016) (Details)

      “The Birth of a Religious Group: An Ethnographic Study of Confucian Congregation” by Dr. Chen Na. (April 19, 2016) (Details)

      Seminar on “Spiritual Connection and Cultivation: The Cultivation Experience of the Spiritual Mediators in Taiwan” by Professor Lin Mei-Rong. (June 18, 2015) (Details)

      Seminar on “Daoist Ritual, the Transformation of Tradition and the Politics of Heritage among the Lanten Yao Minority of Laos” by Mr. Joseba Estevez. (May 12, 2015) (Details)

      Seminar on “The Development of Buddhist Charity in China: the Case Study of the Ren’ai Foundation in Beijing” by Professor André Laliberté. (April 21, 2015) (Details)

      Seminar on “Qigong and Healing Communities in Contemporary Shanghai: Techniques of the Body, State Institutions and Transnational Flows” by Dr. Marceau Chenault. (January 20, 2015) (Details)

      Seminar on “The Dao of World Religions: The China Problem in Modern Religion” by Dr. Mark Larrimore. (December 10, 2014) (Details)

      Lecture on “Is the Concept of Secularism Relevant to China?” by Professor Prasenjit Duara. (November 7, 2014) (Details)

      Lecture on “The Jade Emperor: Sovereign Power, Celestial Bureaucracy, and the Political Theology of the Masses in China” by Professor Mayfair Yang. (September 18, 2014) (Details)

      Round-table Seminar on “Comparing Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion: Reflection and Prospectus” chaired by Dr. David A. Palmer, with panelists Yao Zhihua, Huang Yong, Ithamar Theodor, and Xing Guang. (September 16, 2014) (Details)

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