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AAR Daoist Studies Group Mission Statement
The Daoist Studies Group has been formed to create an independent gathering place for the field of Daoist Studies, for investigating the religious tradition which is Daoism and related topics. As we understand it, Daoism is a Chinese religious tradition which has been continually modified and transformed for some two thousand years and which is currently in the process of globalization. As here conceived, the field of Daoist Studies, conventionally associated with Sinology, textual study and Chinese area studies, is now expanding to include other theoretical and methodological approaches: anthropology, archaeology, comparative religious studies, cultural studies, intellectual history, material culture studies, philosophy, sociology, womenˇ¦s studies, and so forth. The Daoist Studies Group aims to provide a forum for presenting, exploring, and discussing these various approaches to the study of ˇ§Daoism.ˇ¨ In addition to historical and textual approaches, the Daoist Studies Group recognizes the importance of considering Daoism as a global religion, the history of the study of Daoism, as well as dominant and alternative interpretative models.