Contemporary Buddhism

The summer school enquires into contemporary Buddhism as an interdisciplinary topic of investigation through bridging area studies, religious studies, anthropology, sociology and political science. Building upon an introduction to some key concepts of Buddhism, we explore how ‘Buddhism’ is employed within various contexts in Asia and beyond, while paying attention to possible contradictions, contentions and contentment with contemporary issues.

Course leader

Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg and Trine Brox

Target group

Bachelor students (must have completed one year of Bachelor studies)

Course aim

Knowledge: - Recent research within the fields of Contemporary Buddhist Studies - Theoretical and conceptual approaches for analysing Buddhism in the contemporary world Skills: - Finding and structuring knowledge about a particular research topic and issue - Critical reading and analysis of academic texts and popular media resources related to this topic - Discussing and problematizing the topic through analyzing how this topic is written about in primary and secondary literature - Writing an academic assignment, including citing sources appropriately - Critically engaging with Buddhism and the ways in which Buddhism is propounded and practiced in the contemporary world in Asia and beyond - Conducting an analysis of texts, primary and secondary - Handling and integrating theory into the written and oral assignment