A talk by Justin McDaniel, Professor of Religious Studies (University of Pennsylvania)

This talk will focus on Professor McDaniel's new book Architects of Buddhist Leisure (University of Hawaii Press, 2017). The book looks closely at the growth of Buddhist leisure culture through a study of modern Buddhist architects who helped design Buddhist tourist sites, memorial gardens and monuments, museums and cultural centers, and even amusement parks in Nepal, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is designed to start a discussion about the very idea of Buddhist leisure space in modern Asia, question the role of the visionary architect, and look at the rise of Buddhist ecumenicalism.

FLYER

Short Biography
Justin McDaniel’s research foci include Lao, Thai, Pali and Sanskrit literature, Southeast Asian Buddhism, ritual studies, manuscript studies, asceticism, the undead, and general phantasmagoria. His first book, Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008). It won the Benda Prize from the Association of Asian Studies for the best first book in Southeast Asian Studies. His second book, The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011) won the George Kahin Prize for best book by a senior scholar in Southeast Asian Studies. His recent publications appear in the Bulletin l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient (Études thématiques), Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Aséanie, Journal of Religion and Film, Material Religion, Manusya, Journal of Burma Studies, and the Journal of the Siam Society, as well as co-editing five books on Pali and Thai literature, Palm-leaf Manuscript research, modern Buddhist biography, Material Culture and Religion, and liturgical studies. He is the co-editor of the journals Buddhism Compass and Journal of Lao Studies.