The Abstract
From its North Indian origins Buddhism expanded across much of Asia, including Southern India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Tibet, Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan. In contrast to studies of "Chinese" Buddhism or "Vietnamese" Buddhism, this project focuses on the early medieaval monastic institutions across the entire Buddhist world.
During the first 18 months of work conducted via the Internet from three different time-zones in the USA and Australia, we have constructed a freely accessible online database [http://monastic-asia.wikidot.com] of easily correctable information on over 500 Asian monastic institutions. The data include their: (1) exact geographical coordinates; (2) official and variant names; (3) probable doctrinal affiliations; (4) architectural form; (5) probable organizational characteristics; (6) probable chronology and dating. Each monastery is linked directly to its position in GoogleEarth, allowing an overall or close up view of the site. Many sites have embedded photos of architectural features.
In September 2010 we have now begun the second phase of the project: recording evidence of bilateral connections between monasteries, such as the longstanding links between Sri Lankan monasteries and Nalanda. What, however, were the overall Asian patterns? How did long-distance flows of students, teachers, relics, books, sculpture, paintings and donations influence intellectual, religious, artistic, even economic and political developments? What were the main types and styles of inter-monastic Buddhist communications [= exchanges of information, in oral and written formats], contacts [= flows of personnel] and affinities [= political, doctrinal, intellectual and artistic links and parallels]? Did they significantly vary with changes to their geographical, cultural, political, or temporal contexts?
In other words, the project systematically documents, maps and explores the intimate contours of a closely interlinked and mutually influential Buddhist world. We invite interested scholars to critique our efforts so-far, to contribute new data or refinements, and to join our online team.
Three Biographical Notes
Stewart Gordon
moc.liamg|utsnodrog#moc.liamg|utsnodrog
http://web.mac.com/stewart_gordon
Education
- University of Michigan BA, MA, PhD, 1972, History (South Asia specialty), Sociology
Fellowships and Awards
- Woodrow Wilson Fellowship (1967)
- Fulbright Hayes Language Fellowship (1968-1969)
- Fulbright Fellowship-HEW (1969-1970) (India)
- American Institute of Indian Studies, Senior Fellowship (1975-1976) (India)
- Social Science Research Council, Research Grant (1977) (England)
- Social Science Research Council, Research Grant (1980) (England)
- American Institute of Indian Studies, Senior Fellowship (1990). (India)
Current Position
- Senior Research Scholar, Center for South Asian Studies, University of Michigan.
Books
- The Marathas: 1600-1818, volume II-4 of the New Cambridge History of India (Cambridge, 1993). Paperback reprint, 2001.
- Marathas, Marauders, and State-Formation in Eighteenth Century India (Oxford, 1994). Paperback reprint, 1997.
- Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture (Palgrave Press, 2001). This volume explores the trans-cultural, trans-religious use of luxury robes as a means of building loyalty in many Asian medieval kingdoms.
- Robes of Honour:Khil’at in Pre-Colonial and Colonial India (Oxford University Press, 2002). Specific case studies of the use of robing and its ambiguities in the Indian setting. The volume also includes a long theoretical chapter on robing both inside and at the margins of the medieval Islamic world.
- When Asia Was the World (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, January, 2008) Uses networks across Asia and travel accounts to examine the period 500-1500 AD. The book is in wide use in teaching Asian and World history and is contracted for translation into Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Arabic and several South Asian languages.
- Routes (University of California Press, forthcoming 2011). This volume examines twelve of the great trade routes of human history, linking them by common themes – intellectual and religious transfer, government taxation and control, piracy and risk assessment, shared systems of rights and expectations
T. Matthew Ciolek
www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online,
Canberra, Australia.
moc.keloic|keloicmt#moc.keloic|keloicmt
http://www.ciolek.com/PEOPLE/ciolek-tm.html
Education
- University of Warsaw MA (Anthropology) 1970, University of Warsaw MA (Archaeology) 1970, The Australian National University PhD (Anthropology) 1978, Canberra College of Advanced Education GradDip (Computing Studies) 1984.
Fellowships and Awards
- Nuffield Foundation Travelling Fellowship, Oxford University, UK (1978)
- Visiting Fellowship, Dept. of Sociology, The Australian National University, Australia (1980)
- Visiting Fellowship, Centre de Calcul, Université de Perpignan, France (1992)
- Visiting Fellowship, Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, University of California at Berkeley, USA (2000)
Current Position
- Visiting Fellow, School of Culture, History and Languages (The CHL, formerly known as the RSPAS), The Australian National University, Canberra.
Publications & Research Papers [a selection]
- 1998. Asian Studies and the WWW: a Quick Stocktaking at the Cusp of two Millennia. In: PNC Secretariat (ed.). 1998. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC), Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 15-18 May 1998, pp.101-142 [http://www.ciolek.com/PAPERS/pnc-taipei-98.html].
- 1999 - present. Georeferenced historical transport/travel/communication routes and nodes - Old World. OWTRAD Dromographic Digital Data Archives (ODDDA): Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. Canberra: www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online. [http://www.ciolek.com/OWTRAD/DATA/oddda.html].
- 1999-present. OWTRAD Notation System: a method for standardising and computerising geographical and logistical data about long-distance transportation/communication routes. Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. Canberra: www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online. Version 5.4 (Oct 2006). [http://www.ciolek.com/OWTRAD/notation.html].
- 1999-present. Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. Canberra: www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online. [http://www.ciolek.com/owtrad.html].
- 2000. Internet, Buddhist and Christian. pp. 650-655, In: William M. Johnston (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Monasticism, 2 Volume Set, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. [http://www.ciolek.com/PAPERS/fitzroydearborn2000.html].
- 2004. Online Religion. In: Hossein Bidgoli (Ed.), 2004, The Internet Encyclopedia, 3 Volume Set, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Vol. 2, pp. 798-811.
- 2006. Trade Routes. In: Robertson, Roland and Jan Aart Scholte (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Globalization. 4 Volume Set. New York: Routlege. ISBN: 0415973147.
- 2010. The Electronic Anthropologist: on sources of information, strategies, techniques and timing of online research. in: Malewska-Szalygin, Anna and Magdalena Radkowska-Walkowicz. (Eds.). Antropolog wobec wspolczesnosci : tom w darze Profesor Annie Zadrozynskiej [Anthropologist in the face of contemporaneity : a volume offered to Professor Anna Zadrozynska]. Warszawa: DiG, Instytut Etnologii i Antropologii Kulturowej UW. [www.ciolek.com/PAPERS/e-anthropologist.html].
Lizbeth Halliday Piel
ude.llesal|leipl#ude.llesal|leipl
Education
- Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science MS (Library Science) 1996; University of Massachusetts at Amherst MA (Japanese Literature) 2002; University of Hawaii at Manoa PhD (History – Japan specialty) 2007
Fellowships and Awards
- U.S. Department of Education: Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship (2002–2003; 2003–2004); UH Manoa Center for Japanese Studies Graduate Fellowship (2004–2005); UH Manoa History Department: Daniel Kwok Award (2007); Tasuku Harada Graduate Fellowship (2005–2006); Idus Newby Fund Award (2005)
Current Position
- Assistant Professor of History, Department of Humanities, Lasell College
Librarianship Experience
- Polaroid Archives (1990–4), Harvard University Littauer Library (1994–6), Pasona Corporation (1996), Economist Intelligence Unit (1996–8), Publishers Communication Group (1999), University of Massachusetts WEB DuBois Library (2000–1)
Conference Papers (on Japanese literature)
- New England Association for Asian Studies (2000, 2008); Harvard Graduate Student Conference for Japanese Studies (2001); International Conference of Asia Scholars, Berlin (2001); Annual Graduate Student Conference of the School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies (2005); World History Association (2009).
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