Matthew King on Decolonizing the Classroom

In this episode, Sarah Richardson speaks with Matt King, Associate Professor in Transnational Buddhism in the Department of Religious Studies and Director of Asian Studies at the University of California, Riverside.

Sarah and Matt talk about why there is even such a thing as Buddhist studies, and why it matters to work toward decolonizing the classroom. They also discuss how his research informs his teaching, and what kinds of approaches he takes to promote inspired learning.

Resources Mentioned

Johan Elverskog’s 2013 book, Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road

Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire

Charlene E. Makley’s 2003 article, “Gendered Boundaries in Motion: Space and Identity on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier” in American Ethnologist 30(4)

Gregory Schopen’s video lecture on The Buddha as a Businessman

Article on The Tao of RZA

See show notes at teachingbuddhism.net/matt-king/.