This international conference aims to bring together scholars working on practices of record-keeping, historiography, and hagiography in the Buddhist tradition and in related cultural fields. Recent years saw a steadily-growing interest in the impact of Buddhism on historiography and hagiography, in tandem with an unprecedented increase in the availability of textual and visual primary sources. Ambitious digitization projects (especially of premodern sources) and the changing landscape of the digital realm offer new opportunities to study premodern and contemporary practices of writing and narration. In this three-days conference, we seek to foster an interdisciplinary discussion on practices of textual and visual recording, storytelling, and memory in Chinese Buddhism and beyond – past, present, and future.
This conference is generously sponsored by the Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟) and hosted by the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge.
The conference will take place at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom, on 8-10 July 2024 (08/07/2024-10/07/2024). Accommodation and meals will be provided for the duration of the conference. Travel expenses to Cambridge will be covered for conference presenters (please contact organizers for further details).
We welcome proposals for papers on topics relating to historiography, hagiography, and narration, including but not limited to:
- Buddhist historiography and record-keeping
- Historiography and record-keeping in other Chinese religious traditions
- Narrating lives of extraordinary individuals (e.g. biographies, autobiographies, hagiographies) in textual, oral, visual, and material forms
- The intersection of Buddhism and literature
- Book culture and production of texts in the Buddhist tradition (e.g. in print culture, manuscript culture, publishing practices, patronage of textual production, production of temple gazetteers and mountain gazetteers etc.)
- Uses of visual arts and the performance arts in creating or supporting Buddhist historiography and hagiography
Proposals for papers should include the following information:
- Name, affiliation, and title of position at the affiliated institution (independent scholars are also welcome to apply; please note “independent scholar” in your proposal if relevant)
- Title
- 250 word abstract
- Contact information: email, address, and phone number(s)
The deadline for all proposals is Friday, February 23rd, 2024 (23/02/2024). Proposals should be sent as either Word or PDF to the following email address: hist.hagio@gmail.com
For general information and logistical questions, please email the organizing committee at: hist.hagio@gmail.com
Regarding the conference, please contact the primary organizer, Dr Noga Ganany at ng462@cam.ac.uk.
*Proposals must be submitted in English.
