Transcript The Religious Narrative of Modern China: Updating the Local Past

THE RELIGIOUS NARRATIVE OF
MODERN CHINA
Updating the Local Past
&
Embracing Global Patterns
Stefania Travagnin
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies
Beginnings…
What & Why & How
• BEGINNING
– Chinese Studies
– Study of Religion
– Research on 20th-21st century China and Taiwan
• REFLECTIONS
– Modernity vs. Tradition/Classic Civilization
– Present vs. Past
– Outer vs. Inner Factors
…Objectives
What & Why & How
• Application:
– Tradition WITHIN Modernity
– Past WITHIN the Present
– Inner-Chinese MERGING WITH Outer-Western
• Results:
– Revising Historic Method
• From DYNASTY-HISTORY to NETWORK-BASED
HISTORY
– Alternative Approaches to Religious and Cultural Diversity
• The ‘East Asian Model’
Pew Research Center (2014)
Centre for the Study
of Religion and Culture
in Asia
CSRCA Current Projects
Research at the Centre
TEXTUALITY
IN EAST ASIAN BUDDHISM
RELIGION AND MEDIA
IN EAST ASIA
CRITICAL CONCEPTS AND METHODS
FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION IN MODERN CHINA
BUDDHIST NETWORKS OF EDUCATION IN CHINESE HISTORY
REVISING DIACHRONIC AND SYNCHRONIC DEVELOPMENTS
What now?
• Suggestions for the study of religion in modern
China (from a local and global perspective)
– Alternative research perspectives
– Updating critical concepts and methods
– Chinese studies in constructive dialogue with
scholarship/scholars on non-Western societies
– China as a global player
stefaniatravagnin.net