2017 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Globalizing Chinese Buddhism: Ideoscape of Values, Ethics, and Lifestyles
| Project/Area Number |
16KT0094
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| Research Institution | Sophia University |
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Principal Investigator |
Wank David 上智大学, 国際教養学部, 教授 (60245793)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
足羽 與志子 一橋大学, 大学院社会学研究科, 教授 (30231111)
FARRER GRACIA 早稲田大学, 国際学術院(アジア太平洋研究科), 教授 (70436062)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2016-07-19 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | religion / Buddhism / culture / transnationalism / sociology / anthropology / globalization / localization |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
FIELDWORK: (1) December 22, 2017 - January 5 2018, Fieldwork in New York region on immigrants' transnational religious activities. We learned that, with bilingual competency and devotion to religious courses, children of immigrant religious communities return to China for (mostly underground) evangelical missions, channeling resources to training religious communities in China. (Farrer); (2) October 12-21. Conducted fieldwork on China Xiamen International Buddhist Products and Craft Fair. Through interviews with companies we could understand the division of the products into religious product and lifestyle style products, and the way in which Buddhism in China was increasingly being conceived as culture, rather than religion (Wank & Ashiwa) (3) December 6-16. Through fieldwork in Singapore and Penang, we were able to further document historical links between Buddhists overseas and in China and to understand how Buddhism from China had implanted in overseas Chinese communities and its activities. We were able to interview clerics and heads of the Buddhist Association of Malaysia and obtain value documents related to the history of Buddhism in Malaysia and on specific temples. (Wank & Ashiwa)
WORKSHOPS/PRESENTATIONS: Part of our project is to develop a network to examine issues of Buddhism as culture and daily life. For this purpose we held workshops at Xiamen University and National University of Singapore to exchange with scholars and graduate students on these matters. The number of attendees at each workshop was 12 person and 20 persons respectively (estimated)
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The project is proceeding smoothly. We have been able to conduct three periods of fieldwork this year and obtained much data in the form of interviews and documents. The interviews and hold two workshops at which we presented our findings to local scholars and received excellent feedback. We have also obtained excellent interview data, which we are now transcribing and analyzing the documents that we could obtain.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
RESEARCH TRIPS: We plan to conduct further fieldwork this year in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Sri Lanka focusing on temples that are related to China's Nanputuo Temple. We have already made arrangements to visit some temples for this summer and then will make arrangements for temples in to visit in the winter.
PUBLICATIONS: We are completing our manuscript the The Space of Religion: Buddhism, State, and Local Communities in China and will submit it to a publisher this year
CONFERENCE: We are planning to co-organize a conference with Inalco (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales) this March in Paris on the topic of our research project.
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| Causes of Carryover |
We will use the funds as expressed to continue the research as planned. (1) We intend to make research trips to Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Europe, and North America, as well as within Japan. We will hire a research assistant to analyze the data. (2) We intend to organize a conference at INALCO (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales) in March 2019. (3). We will proceed with the publication plan for our boo
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