Thematic Interests: Religion, Buddhism, Negotiation of Orthodoxy/Heterodoxy in Religious Practice and Identity, Anthropology of Time, New Religions, Translation Theory, Charisma, Colonial Modernity and Modernization, Korean Film

Region: Korea, Japan

I am interested in the anthropology of modernity particularly as it is played out in negotiation of orthodoxy and heterodoxy in religious practice and identity. As a long term project, I would like to explore Korean Buddhism’s encounter with modernity focusing on events from the Japanese colonial period up to the present day. The complex negotiations involved in questions like ‘Who really constitutes the Korean Sangha(community of the ordained)?’ and ‘Which religious practices are truly Buddhist?’ interest me. Ultimately, I seek to understand the changing perceptions and strategies of Korean Buddhists and Buddhist elites as they engage popular religious practices, the ‘power of the sacred’, the ‘project of modernity,’ and state policy in a competitive religious market place. I’ve recently completed an M.A. in Religious Studies at Seoul National University in South Korea and am currently working towards a PhD in anthropology here at Cornell.