Religious Studies: Juliane Schober

Professor of Religious Studies
Ph.D., University of Illinois
Arrived at ASU: 1991

Office: ECA 353
Phone: (480) 965-7054 or 965-7145
E-mail: j.schober@asu.edu
CV: (PDF)

Research Interests

Her theoretical interests encompass religion and politics, civil society and conflict, identity, ritual, sacred space and icons and conjunctures of religion and modernity. Her research focuses on Theravada Buddhism in Burma, particularly on ritual, sacred geography, and the veneration of icons in the modern state cult.

Biography

Juliane Schober (PhD., Anthropology, Illinois) is Associate Professor of Religious Studies. During her tenure at ASU, Professor Schober was Principal Investigator on Title VI grants for Southeast Asia, and others for Ford, Luce and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is a former Director of the Program for Southeast Asian Studies where she remains actively involved. She is also affiliated with the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict.

Her present project traces the genealogies on modern Buddhism in Burma during the country’s pre-colonial, colonial and independent eras. She has contributed to several encyclopedias, including The Encyclopedia of Religion (MacMillan, Second Edition), The Encyclopedia of Buddhism (MacMillan, edited by Buswell, Lopez and Strong, 2003) and The Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Routledge, forthcoming, edited by Prebish and Keown).

Courses Taught

REL 203 - Saints and Sinners: Explorations in Sacred Biography
REL 240 - Introduction to Southeast Asia
REL 305 - Myth, Ritual and Symbol
REL 345 - Asian Religious Traditions
REL 350 - Hinduism
REL 351 - Buddhism
REL 352 - Modern Buddhism
REL 405 - Buddhism and the West
REL 494/598 - Buddhism in Southeast Asia
REL 591 - Seminar in Buddhism, Politics and Modernity

REL 591/691 Religion, Civil Society and Conflict

Selected Publications

Genealogies in the Study of Religion in Burma, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, special issue on “Communities of Interpretation in the Study of Burma,” 39(2), pp. 255-267, June 2008.

Educating the 'Other': Buddhism and Colonial Knowledge in Burma, in Buddhism, Power and Political Order, Ian Harris (ed.), Routledge Curzon Critical Studies in Buddhism Series, 2007: 52-70.

Acharn Mun (1870-1949); Aung San Suu Kyi (b.19, June, 45); Bodies of the Buddha; Buddhadasa (1926-1993) Disciples of the Budda; Famous Buddhist and Ideal Types; Mahâsî Sayadaw (1904-1982); The Life of Siddhârtha Gautama; U Nu (1907-1995); in Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Damien Keown and Charles Prebish, (eds.) London, New York: Routledge. 2007

Buddhism, Violence and the State in Burma (Myanmar) and Sri Lanka, Disrupting Violence: Religion and Conflict in South and Southeast Asia, L. Cady and S. Simon, eds., Oxon: Routledge, 2006: 51-69.

Buddhism and Modernity im Myanmar, in Buddhism in Wolrd Cultures: Contemporary Perspectives, ABC-Clio, S. Berkwitz, editor, 2006: 73-100.

“Buddhist Visions of Moral Authority and Civil Society: The Search for the Post-Colonial State in Burma” in Burma at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century (M. Skidmore, ed., Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press, 2005: 113-133).

Burmese Spirit Lords and their Mediums, Encyclopedia of Shamanism, Mariko Walters (ed.), ABC-CLIO, 2004.

Mapping the Sacred in Theravada Buddhist Southeast Asia, Sacred Places and Modern Landscapes: Sacred Geography and Social-Religious Transformations in South and Southeast Asia, Ronald Bull (ed.), Program for Southeast Asian Studies Monograph Series, Arizona State University. Pp.1-29, 2004.

Sacred Biography, in Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Robert Buswell (editor), MacMillan, pp.45-47, 2003.

Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia, Editor. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997; reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, 2002.

"Venerating the Buddha's Remains in Burma: From Solitary Practice to the Cultural Hegemony of Communities”, The Journal of Burma Studies, 2001, vol. 6, pp. 111-140, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.

Paying Homage to the Buddha's Tooth Relic: A Modern Burmese State Ritual. In Frank E. Reynolds and Jason Carbine, editors, A Living Buddhism. Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2000.

"Buddhist Just Rule and Burmese National Culture: State Patronage of the Chinese Tooth Relic in Myanmar." In History of Religions, February 1997, 36:3, pp. 218-243.

In the Presence of the Buddha: Ritual Veneration of the Burmese Mahamuni Image. In Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia, edited by Juliane Schober. Hawaii University Press, 1997: 259 - 288, reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, 2002.

Religious Merit and Social Status among Burmese Lay Buddhist Organizations. In Blessing and Merit in Mainland Southeast Asia. Ed. by Nicola Tannenbaum and Cornelia Kammerer. Yale University Southeast Asia Monograph Series, 1996: 197-211.

Trajectories in Buddhist Sacred Biography. In Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia, edited by Juliane Schober. Hawaii University Press, 1997: 1-15, reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, 2002. 1-15.