Table of Contents
- CFP> Japanese Religions Unit at the AAR
- CONFERENCE> Tibetan Buddhism and Political Power
in the Courts of Asia, April 5-6, The Rubin
CFP>
Japanese Religions Unit at the AAR
by Levi McLaughlin
Members of this forum may wish to submit a panel proposal to the Japanese Religions Unit of the American Academy of Religion. The call for papers is now open, and the deadline for proposal submissions is Monday, March 4 at 5:00 p.m. EST. If you have questions about the Unit or the application process please contact Asuka Sango at asango@carleton.edu or Levi McLaughlin at lmclaug2@ncsu.edu
Come join us in sunny San Diego this coming November.
The CfP follows, and is accessible at https://papers.aarweb.org/content/japanese-religions-unit
Call for Papers:
We invite papers sessions, individual papers, and roundtables that address all aspects of Japanese religious practice and thought. All time periods welcome. To facilitate greater exchange within and beyond Japanese religions, we prefer proposals that include explicit reflection on the study of religion more broadly. Creative formats are encouraged (film, organized discussion, pre-circulated papers/texts, workshop, etc.).
Our Unit is committed to diversity and inclusion. We strongly encourage considering balance in terms of gender, and areas of specialization and time periods, as well as balance between graduate students, junior scholars, and senior scholars. Showing little or no regard for such diversity will reflect very negatively on your proposal.
In submitting proposals, please follow the AAR guidelines carefully. First-timers are encouraged to contact the co-chairs for additional advice (Asuka Sango at asango@carleton.edu; Levi McLaughlin at lmclaug2@ncsu.edu).
Next year's Annual Meeting theme is "Scholarly Workers in Public Spaces: A Necessary Long Term Focus in the Study of Religions." Of course, we need not be limited to this theme.
Also, we would like to draw your attention to the AAR's session allotment. Our Unit has two options: (a) one 2.5 hour session and one 2 hour session; or (b) one 2 hour session and two 90 min sessions. Co-sponsorship adds one 90 min session to this allotment. We are therefore hoping to sponsor more 90 min sessions to allow more people to participate. Please keep this in mind as you compose your proposal.
Below are possible topics proposed by our members this year. We also welcome proposals on other topics as well.
Possible topics for AAR 2019:
● Non-Profit Organizations (NPO) and religion
● Workshop-style panels with pre-circulated papers and conversations with authors, Jolyon Thomas: jolyon@sas.upenn.edu
● Brainstorming session for a new Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions (with new categories such as "money," "time," etc.), Matt McMullen: mcmullen@nanzan-u.ac.jp
● Disasters as a lens through which to analyze religion and local communities, Kristina Buhrman: kbuhrman@fsu.edu
● "Religion" as an epistemological category in Japan, Ernils Larsson: ernils.larsson@teol.uu.se
● “The Specter of Idealism in the Study of Japanese Religions: Beyond the Practice-Belief Dichotomy", Ethan Bushelle: Ethan.Bushelle@wwu.edu
● Representations of Buddhism in contemporary Japanese literature and media. Papers would discuss various aspects of Buddhism (or we could expand it to Japanese religions) as characterized in particular books, movies, anime, manga, online environments, etc. These might include, for example, any of Genyū Sokyū's novels, Zazen Girl by Taguchi Randy, Yumemakura Baku's series on Kūkai or the 2017 movie based on it, Legend of the Demon Cat, anime series (and manga) such as Saints Young Men, manga depicting founders of religious traditions and other Buddhists (e.g., the 2018 manga Zen: Shaku Sōen), etc. Papers could also focus on Buddhism in the writings of Ishimure Michiko, who passed in February 2018, Ronald Green: rgreen@coastal.edu
CONFERENCE>
Tibetan Buddhism and Political Power in the Courts of Asia, April 5-6, The
Rubin
by William Dewey
The Rubin Museum of Art, Presented
with Columbia University
Tickets are now available for our spring conference! Join us Saturday,
April 6, for an academic conference held in
conjunction with the exhibition Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism,
on view February 1 through July 15, 2019. We will kick off the conference with
a reception and tour of the exhibition on Friday, April 5.This international conference will examine Tibetan Buddhism’s dynamic political role in history as a major catalyst in moving the religion beyond Tibet’s borders to its Tangut, Mongol, Chinese, and Manchu neighbors.
Schedule of Events
Keynote Address
Tsering Shakya (University of British Columbia) “Yellow Hats and Golden Countenances, Tibetan Buddhism and Empire”
Gendun Tenpa (Dargye Museum, Chengdu) “Tsongkha Kingdom as Mediator between the Tibetan Empire and Tangut Xixia”
Kurtis Schaefer (University of Virginia) “Scripture, Politics, and War in the Age of the Fifth Dalai Lama”
Nancy Lin (UC Berkeley) “Two Models of Lay Buddhist Kingship at the Court of Miwang Polhané”
Wen-shing Chou (Hunter College) “Visualizing Emperor as Guru: Kingship and Devotion in Qing-Dynasty China”
Respondent: Chris Atwood (University of Pennsylvania)
Bryan J. Cuevas (Florida State) “The Politics of Magical Warfare”
Carl Yamamoto (Towson University, MD) “Vanquishing the Enemies of the Teachings: Tantra and Warfare According to Zhang Tselpa”
Karma Phuntsho (Loden Foundation, Bhutan): “Mahākāla and Magic in the Making of Bhutan”
Respondent: Karl Debreczeny (Rubin Museum of Art)
Eveline Washul (Columbia University) “The Three Chol kha of Tibet: Sakya Narratives of Power after the Mongol Yuan”
William Dewey (Rubin Museum of Art) “Tibetan Dynastic Politics and the Making of Taranatha’s History of Indian Buddhism”
Lan Wu (Mount Holyoke College, MA) “Paths to Knowledge: Beijing's Yonghegong and Qing Mongolian Buddhists in the Eighteenth Century."
Riga Shakya (Columbia University) “Entangled Objects: Gift, Reciprocity and the Making of the Imperial Subject in 18th-Century Tibet”
Respondent: Gray Tuttle (Columbia University)
Patricia Berger (UC Berkeley)
More information can be found on our website!
