Being a Buddhist woman in the early 1900s

Dr. Jessica Starling, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, has landed her third external grant this year. In addition to receiving a 2015 curriculum development award from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a short-term fellowship from the Japan Foundation last month, the American Philosophical Society has awarded Dr. Starling $5,000 in support of her research. Dr. Starling’s current project, “Buddhist women’s associations and the production of religious literature for women in modern Japan (1890s-1930s)” investigates the relationship between modern Buddhist laywomen and the male priests who wrote for them about what it meant to be a Buddhist woman. The American Philosophical Society Franklin Research Grant Program is designed to help offset research expenses; Dr. Starling will use this support after she returns from Japan to purchase books, travel for participant observation at a Pure Land Buddhist gathering, and for transcription assistance. More about Dr. Starling’s research is available here.

May 2016