The Circled Square

Abishek Amar on Negotiating the Layers: Material History in our Teaching

In this episode, Sarah Richardson speaks with Abishek Amar, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Hamilton College. Abhishek specializes in the archaeological history of South Asian religions, and he is leading a digital research project, Sacred Centers in India, which examines material, culture and texts that reveal histories of the Hindu and Buddhist cities of Gaya and Bodhgaya.

Sarah and Abishek talk about what it means to teach about Indian Buddhism in a small liberal arts college in the U.S. They discuss some of the many ways that Buddhism can be studied, and how a nuanced understanding of the history of Buddhism can be gleaned from modern archaeological sites and how they’ve been reconstructed, and from the examination of material culture more generally.

Resources Mentioned

Kevin Trainor’s book, Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide, published by Oxford University Press, in 2004.

Gregory Schopen’s 1991 article, “Archaeology and Protestant Presuppositions in the Study of Indian Buddhism” in History of Religions 31(1), pp. 1-23.

Abhishek Amar’s book, Cross-disciplinary Biography of a Contested Buddhist Site, edited jointly with David Geary (Oxford University, UK), and Matthew R. Sayers (Lebanon Valley College, USA), London: Routledge Publication, 2012.

Abhishek Amar’s 2012 article, “Bodhgaya and Gaya: Buddhist Responses to the Hindu Challenges in Early India,” in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 22(1), pp. 155-185.

See show notes at http://teachingbuddhism.net/abishek-amar/.

Natalie Avalos on Anti-Colonial Teaching and Buddhism

In this episode, Sarah Richardson speaks with Natalie Avalos, now a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, but joining the department as an Assistant Professor in the 2020-21 academic year.

Sarah and Natalie discuss Natalie’s unusual research specialization in both Tibetan Buddhism and Native American and Indigenous religions traditions. They explore how she prioritizes the undoing of colonization through her teaching, covering somatic and affective dimensions of colonial legacies, historical trauma, and how to make the mechanisms of power visible to students.

Resources Mentioned

Religious Studies News issue on decolonial approaches to teaching religious studies

Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s book, Decolonizing Methodologies

All Buddhism is Engaged: Thich Nhat Hanh and the Order of Interbeing, by Patricia Hunt-Perry and Lyn Fine, a chapter in Christopher S. Queen’s book, Engaged Buddhism in the West

bell hooks on Contemplation and Transformation, in the book, Buddhist Women on the Edge

bell hooks on Building a Community of Love, an interview with Thich Nhat Hanh

A video of birds flying in murmuration

See show notes at http://teachingbuddhism.net/natalie-avalos/

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/.

Vanessa Sasson, Inhabiting the Stories: Buddhism from the Inside

In this episode, Sarah Richardson speaks with Vanessa Sasson, who teaches Religious Studies at Marianopolis College in Quebec, where she also co-teaches a popular course in which students travel to Nepal.

Sarah and Vanessa talk about how Vanessa got interested in the study of Buddhism, about her new novel about Yasodhara, the Buddha’s wife, and about how writing a work of fiction has changed her approach to teaching.

Resources Mentioned

Vanessa’s 2018 book, Yasodhara: A Novel about the Buddha’s Wife, published by Speaking Tiger Books

See show notes at http://teachingbuddhism.net/vanessa-sasson/.