College of Arts and Sciences

In what context of philosophical and religious reflection did Buddhism first develop? How did social and political forces and desires shape the early growth and spread of Buddhism in Eurasia? How was Buddha-dharma localized, repeatedly, in diverse parts of South, Souhteast, and Himalayan Asia? Anne Blackburn, a scholar who has worked extensively with Buddhist texts will discuss these issues from an historical perspective. Anne Blackburn is Associate Professor of South Asian Studies and Buddhist Studies at Cornell University. She received an M.A. in Religious Studies and a Ph.D. in the History of Religions from The University of Chicago Divinity School.

Continue reading… Beauty, Power, and Protection: An Early History of Buddhism in Asia – Anne M. Blackburn

Andrew Fischer is one of the leading experts on China’s development policy in Tibet. He currently is a Fellow at the London School of Economics where he is teaching while completing his Ph.D. degree in the school’s Development Studies Institute (DESTIN). His research has focused on the interconnections between social and economic polarization, social exclusion and ethnic conflict within the rapid development taking place in the Tibetan areas of Western China. His talk will examine the interplay between the economic and political impact of China’s development policy in Tibet.  He is the author of State Growth and Social Exclusion in Tibet: Challenges of Recent Growth.

Continue reading… Extreme Dependence and Unequal Growth in Tibet: The Exceptionalities of China’s Western Development Strategies in the Tibet Autonomous Region – Andrew Fischer

Continue reading… Orphanages, Child Abandonment, and Infanticide in 19th-century China and France – Henrietta Harrison