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N.B. The text below refers to the intial proposal to create a Daoist Studies Consulation at the AAR. The Daoist Studies Consultation subsequently attained Group Status in 2008.

Daoist Studies Consultation Proposal1

Program Unit Chair

Steering Committee

Advisors and Senior Participating Members

Founding Motivations and Statement of Intent

The time has now come for the American Academy of Religion to establish a Daoist Studies Consultation that will encompass the diversity and complexity of this developing field. Like the well-established Buddhism section and Confucian Traditions group, the Daoist Studies Consultation will provide a context for both more conventional and innovative approaches to the study of Daoism and related topics.

Daoism (Taoism) 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. Daoism is no longer simply a Chinese religious tradition: it is now a global religious and cultural phenomenon, existing in Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam and practiced by people of a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. It is also slowly becoming established in the United States in various forms, with varying degrees of connection with the earlier Chinese religious tradition.

Daoist Studies, conventionally associated with Sinology, textual study and Chinese area studies, is now expanding to include other theoretical and methodological approaches: anthropology, comparative religion, cultural studies, intellectual history, philosophy, sociology, and womenˇ¦s studies. Daoist Studies may no longer be equated with or encompassed by the study of ˇ§Chinese religions.ˇ¨ 

The Daoist Studies Consultation aims to provide a forum for presenting, exploring, and discussing these various approaches to the study of ˇ§Daoism.ˇ¨ In addition to more conventional historical and textual approaches, the Daoist Studies Consultation 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.

Typical panel topics may include the following:

As currently planned, our first call for papers will solicit a panel entitled ˇ§Daoist Studies: Problems and Prospects.ˇ¨ This panel will explore the state of the field of Daoist Studies, a self-reflective discussion of requisite skills and evaluative criteria, and theoretical issues in Daoist Studies, specifically new interpretative models for understanding and teaching Daoism.

The motivation for establishing the Daoist Studies Consultation is fivefold. First, we have a sincere interest in deepening our own understanding of Daoism as a global religion and contributing to the growth of Daoist Studies. Second, the Daoist Studies Consultation will foster public understanding and increased consideration of this relatively understudied and poorly understood religious tradition. Third, the Daoist Studies Consultation will provide a supportive environment where younger and international scholars can present their research. Fourth, the introduction of larger theoretical and methodological issues, derived from and applicable to comparative religious studies, will foster productive conversations and collaborations with other Program Units, and reach out to AAR members who are not primarily interested in Daoism or Chinese religion. Both teachers and comparativists will take interest in the Daoist Studies Consultation. Finally, the interests and concerns of the Daoist Studies community extend beyond the mandate of existing Program Units. For example, in 2001 a review panel of J.J. Clarkeˇ¦s The Tao of the West was held in the Chinese Religions Group. At the conclusion of the panel, one member commented that the review panel did not fall within the purview of the Chinese Religions Group because, strictly speaking, it was not studying Chinese religions but rather Western interpretations of Daoism. This is a prime example of an important academic discussion that would be situated more appropriately within the Daoist Studies Consultation. The proposed Daoist Studies Consultation recognizes and welcomes the importance of intellectual clarification and intellectual history in understanding how and why Daoism is understood (constructed) in the ways that it is.

It is conceivable that an objection to the approval of the Daoist Studies Consultation could be raised given the possibility that other groups, specifically the Chinese Religions Group, might be affected adversely. Many responses are possible. First, this proposal was presented to and publicly discussed with members of the Chinese Religions Group during the 2004 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Here the proposal received the enthusiastic support of that groupˇ¦s members, who voted unanimously to have the Steering Community of the Chinese Religions Group write a formal letter of support for the Daoist Studies Consultation. Second, it is extremely rare to hear papers on topics proposed by the Daoist Studies Consultation within the American Academy of Religion, whether during sessions of the Chinese Religions Group, Japanese Religions Group, or Korean Religions Group. Many scholars look forward to an opportunity to examine and discuss trans-Chinese forms of Daoism, theoretical and methodological issues in the study and teaching of Daoism, and comparative approaches to Daoist Studies. As the Daoist Studies Consultation plans to focus on these and other topics, the Chinese Religions Group can continue to include panels on Daoism under the rubric of the history of Chinese religions. In addition, it is hoped that panels co-sponsored by the Daoist Studies Consultation and the Chinese Religions Group, Japanese Religions Group, Korean Religions Group, Mysticism Group, as well as Religion and Ecology Group will be undertaken. However, as importantly, the Daoist Studies Consultation can become a place where AAR members who wish to focus solely on Daoism broadly conceived and discuss larger hermeneutical and philosophical issues can have a clean, well-lit place.

As mentioned, the field of Daoist Studies has now expanded in both membership and breadth of interest to the point where extant AAR panels cannot contain it. There are now members of the field of Daoist Studies whose primary interests do not center on ˇ§Chinese history,ˇ¨ ˇ§Chinese culture,ˇ¨ or ˇ§Chinese religion.ˇ¨ These include anthropologists, cultural theorists, comparative religionists, and historians of American religion. The requirement of a more-inclusive environment for scholarly exchange concerning Daoism has been filled recently by a number of international conferences. Specifically, Daoism and the Contemporary World (Boston University, June 2003) and Daoist Studies Today (Sichuan University, June 2004) brought together a diverse international academic community interested in a wide variety of innovative topics: Daoism and Chinese Medicine, Daoism and Ecology, Daoism and Feminism, and Daoism in the West.The Daoist Studies Consultation of the American Academy of Religion will provide a similar forum and perhaps will also lead to an increase in AAR membership and participation in annual conferences.

In addition, the Steering Committee of the Daoist Studies Consultation anticipates and will encourage panel participants to submit appropriate papers to the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, a journal which may benefit from expanding the diversity of extant AAR panels to include Daoist Studies.

The timeliness of establishing the Daoist Studies Consultation is confirmed and supported by the recent increase of publications on Daoism and the success of the Daoist Studies Website (www.daoiststudies.org). The increasing interest, both academic and popular, in Daoism is evidenced in the publication of the three recent introductions from a variety of perspectives: Daoism and Chinese Culture (2001) by Livia Kohn (historical/typological), Daoism: A Short Introduction (2003) by James Miller (thematic), and Taoism: The Enduring Tradition (2004) by Russell Kirkland (historical/theoretical). The burgeoning field of Daoist Studies continues to increase its publications with each passing year. Moreover, the Daoist Studies Website, which supports the present application, has performed a networking function within the international community of Daoist Studies. This alliance will help ensure the success of the AAR Daoist Studies Consultation.

It is to be hoped that the American Academy of Religion can recognize the importance of Daoism as a global religious tradition and make a place for AAR members involved in Daoist Studies as broadly conceived. It is to be hoped that the American Academy of Religion can see the necessity of the Daoist Studies Consultation.

Call for Papers

Daoist Studies Consultation. Louis Komjathy, Department of Religion, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA 98447. We invite paper proposals on ˇ§Daoist Studies: Problems and Prospects,ˇ¨ a panel that will explore the state of the field of Daoist Studies and theoretical issues in Daoist Studies, specifically new interpretative models for understanding and teaching Daoism. Please send paper proposals to via the AAR OP3 system or contact Louis Komjathy via email at komjathy@plu.edu.

Endnotes

1.The following proposal for a new Program Unit was submitted to the American Academy of Religion in December of 2004. It was, in turn, approved, and the Daoist Studies Consultation held its inaugural panel at the AAR annual meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 20, 2005.

2.See the Review Section of the Daoist Studies Website (www.daoiststudies.org). There are now three book series dedicated to publishing research on the Daoist tradition. These include the Daoist Classics series (University of California Press), edited by Stephen Bokenkamp (Indiana University); Daoist Translation series (Three Pines Press), edited by Livia Kohn (Boston University) and Harold Roth (Brown University); and RoutledgeCurzon Studies in Daoism, edited by Timothy Barrett (SOAS), Russell Kirkland (University of Georgia), Benjamin Penny (Australian National University), and Fabrizio Pregadio (Stanford University)