T HE R ELIGIOUS N ARRATIVE OF M ODERN C HINA Updating the Local Past & Embracing Global Patterns Stefania Travagnin Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies

Beginnings… What & Why & How B EGINNING – Chinese Studies – Study of Religion – Research on 20 th -21 st century China and Taiwan R EFLECTIONS – 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