AAR Annual Meeting, Atlanta, October 30-November 1, 2010

Posted on 01. Sep, 2010 by James Miller in Conference Notice, AAR, Daoism

(1) A30-216 Saturday 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Location: Marriott Marquis - L507
World of an Object: The Social and Cosmic Networks of Daoist Material Culture
This panel brings together studies of a disparate body of Daoist materials in an effort to explore what objects are imagined to do in Daoist practice. Each paper examines materials as loci of social and cosmic networks, sites in which objects gain liturgical power, social or cosmological significance, or even come to life. While we acknowledge the people who used these objects for some social or liturgical function, we underscore the study of material culture as a methodology to help us come to terms with the significant and pervasive cultural meanings enveloping objects. Each panelist offers arguments for how material culture became sites where the human and divine worlds in China was negotiated and articulated. By exploring materials as nexuses of social and cosmic meanings, this panel makes a contribution to the growing understanding of Daoist material culture brought humans and cosmic beings together in ancient, medieval, and imperial China.

Presiding: David Mozina, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

  • David Boyd, Indiana University, "The Embodiment of Immortality"
  • Suzanne Cahill, University of California, San Diego, "Mirrors and Daoism in Han through Tang Dynasty China"
  • Jonathan Pettit, Indiana University, "Resurrecting Maoshan: The Renovation of Temple Ruins in Medieval Daoism"
  • Neil McGee, Columbia University, "Wang Liyong’s Transformations of Lord Lao and its place in the Visual Propaganda Program of Song Gaozong (r. 1127-1162)"

Respondent: Gil Raz, Dartmouth College

** Business Meeting: Xun Liu, Rutgers University
Gil Raz, Dartmouth College

(2) A1-220 Monday 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM (Location: Marriott Marquis - L503)
Representations of Daoism in Medieval and Modern East Asia
This panel brings together four different representations of Daoism, ranging in time and space from twelfth-century China, to Korea, and to contemporary cyberspace. Each paper examines a distinct representation of Daoism and by Daoists. The first paper examines the integration of the cult of the martial God, Zhen Wu, into the Daoist ritual pantheon. The second paper explores the representation of Zhang Doaling, the first Celestial Master, in gazzetteers and hagiographies composed a millennium after his life. the third paper explores the changing representations of the goddess Magu, in medieval China and in Korea. The fourth paper explores contemporary online discussions of non-contact “sexual alchemy,“ transforming ancient practices into contemporary idiom and representation.

Presiding: Harold D. Roth, Brown University

  • Shin-yi Chao, Rutgers University, Camden, "The Dynamic Between Liturgical Innovation And Pantheon Growth In Daoism of the Song-Yuan Period: A Case Of Zhenwu (Perfected Warrior)"
  • Paul Amato, Arizona State University, "Zhang Daoling at Mount Longhu: The Revision of a Hagiography and the Creation of a Lineage"
  • Helen Hwang, University of California, Los Angeles, "Exploring the Visual Representations of Magu: Her Transnational Identities from a Daoist Goddess to the Cosmogonist Uncovered"
  • Clarke Hudson, University of Virginia, “Man Does Not Part His Robes, Nor Does the Woman Loosen Her Belt”: Online Chinese Discussions of Non-Contact “Sexual” Alchemy"

Responding: Livia Kohn, Boston University

Co-sponsored Panel, with Chinese Religions Group

(3) A31-315 Sunday 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM (Location: Marriott Marquis - A707)

Topics in Medieval Chinese Religion

Presiding: Clarke Hudson, University of Virginia

  • Yan Liu, Harvard University, "Healing by Incantation in Medieval China"
  • Thomas Michael, Boston University, "Ge Hong and the Formation of the Medieval Daoist Xian"
  • Terry Kleeman, University of Colorado, "State and Religion in Early Celestial Master Daoism"