David A. Palmer

Bio: David A. Palmer is an academic researcher from University of Hong Kong. The author has contributed to research in topics: China & Modernity. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 60 publications receiving 977 citations. Previous affiliations of David A. Palmer include London School of Economics and Political Science & The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The Religious Question in Modern China

Abstract: Recent events - from strife in Tibet and the rapid growth of Christianity in China to the spectacular expansion of Chinese Buddhist organizations around the globe - vividly demonstrate that one cannot understand the modern Chinese world without attending closely to the question of religion. "The Religious Question in Modern China" highlights parallels and contrasts between historical events, political regimes, and cultural movements to explore how religion has challenged and responded to secular Chinese modernity, from 1898 to the present. Vincent Goossaert and David A. Palmer piece together the puzzle of religion in China not by looking separately at different religions in different contexts, but by writing a unified story of how religion has shaped, and in turn been shaped by, modern Chinese society. From Chinese medicine and the martial arts to communal temple cults and revivalist redemptive societies, the authors demonstrate that from the nineteenth century onward, as the Chinese state shifted, the religious landscape consistently resurfaced in a bewildering variety of old and new forms. "The Religious Question in Modern China" integrates historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives in a comprehensive overview of China's religious history that is certain to become an indispensable reference for specialists and students alike.

Qigong Fever: Body, Science, and Utopia in China

Abstract: AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationIntroduction 1. The Birth of Modern Qigong, 1949-64 2. Political Networks and the Formation of the Qigong Sector 3. The Grandmasters 4. Qigong Scientism 5. Qigong Fever 6. Controversy and Crisis 7. Control and Rationalisation 8. Militant Qigong: The Emergence of Falungong 9. Falungong Challenges the CCP Epilogue: The Collapse of the Qigong MovementConclusion Appendix: On the Sources Used for this StudyBibliographyIndex

Neo-socialist governmentality: managing freedom in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract: This paper conceptualizes ‘neo-socialist governmentality’ as a set of rationalities of governance that aim to shape, nurture, constrain and guide the autonomy of Chinese subjects in the post-revolu...

Chinese religious life

Abstract: Introduction Philip Wickeri Part I: Ways of Being Religious in the Chinese World 1. Spirituality in a Modern Chinese Metropolis, Lizhu Fan and James Whitehead 2. Communal Worship and Festivals in Chinese Villages, Wai-lun Tam 3. The Religious Life of Ethnic Minority Communities, Philip Wickeri and Yik-Fai Tam 4. Modalities of Doing Religion, Adam Chau Part II. Religion, Culture, and Society 5. The Body: Health, Nation, and Transcendence, David A. Palmer 6. Gender and Sexuality, C. Julia Huang, Elena Valussi, and David A. Palmer 7. Chinese Cosmology and the Environment, Robert Weller 8. Religious Philanthropy and Chinese Civil Society, Andre Laliberte, David A. Palmer, and Keping Wu Part III. Religion, Politics, and the Economy 9. Religion in Chinese Social and Political History, David A. Palmer 10. The Social Organization of Religious Communities in the Twentieth Century, Vincent Goossaert 11. Contemporary Issues in State-Religion Relations, Andre Laliberte 12. Market Economy and the Revival of Religions, Fenggang Yang Part IV. Global Perspectives 13. The Globalization of Chinese Religions and Traditions, Richard Madsen and Elijah Siegler Conclusion, Glenn Shive Glossary Suggested Further Readings Index

萨义德的“Orientalism”释义

Abstract: 萨义德以其独特的双重身份,对西方中心权力话语做了分析,通过对文学作品、演讲演说等文本的解读,将O rie n ta lis m——"东方学",做了三重释义:一门学科、一种思维方式和一种权力话语系统,对东方学权力话语做了系统的批判,同时将东方学放入空间维度对东方学文本做了细致的解读。

Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion

Abstract: Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. By Rodney Stark and Roger Finke. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. 343 pp. $48.00 (cloth); $18.95 (paper). At a recent American Academy of Religion meeting, after a brilliant paper was presented on God and religious experience, the speaker was asked this question by an academic: "But how can you say these things in our postmodem, anti-enlightenment, pluralistic age?" Acts of Faith secures the thesis that not just talk about, but devout belief in, God is rational, widespread, and shows no sign of abating. For a vast number of well-educated, articulate human beings talk of God is not very difficult at all. Acts of Faith is an important treatment of the sociology of religious belief and should be considered required reading by anyone interested in the social standing and assessment of religion. It overturns the conventions of a great deal of earlier sociological inquiry into religion and stands as a model of clarity and rigor. Rodney Stark and Roger Finke begin by documenting the social and intellectual history of atheism, noting how history, sociology, and psychoanalysis have been employed to exhibit the irrationality of religious belief. They underscore how many of these projects have done little more than presup- pose the credulous nature of religion. There is something darkly humorous about the many techniques employed by "intellectuals" and social scientists to explain why religion persists and even grows amidst "modernity." Stark and Finke's analysis is devastating. From the outset through to the last chapter the writing is crisp and at times quite amusing. Here is a passage from the introduction, lamenting the fact that many sociologists focus their work on fringe religious groups: A coven of nine witches in Lund, Sweden, is far more apt to be the object of a case study than is, say, the Episcopal Church, with more than two million members. Some of this merely reflects that it is rather easier to get one's work published if the details are sufficiently lurid or if the group is previously undocumented. A recitation of Episcopalian theology and excerpts from the Book of Common Prayer will not arouse nearly the interest (prurient or otherwise) than can be generated by tales of blondes upon the altar and sexual contacts with animals (p. 19). Stark and Finke have written a text that abounds in technical case studies, while at the same time giving us a book that is a pleasure to read. The introduction and first three chapters alone are a tour de force. They expose the blatant inadequacy of sociological work that reads religious belief as pathology or flagrant irrationality. They challenge the thesis of impending, virtually inevitable secularization, for instance, in part by refuting the claim that in the distant past almost everyone was religious. …

“Fragmented Authoritarianism 2.0”: Political Pluralization in the Chinese Policy Process*

Abstract: Traditional analyses of political liberalization in China focus on elections or other facets of democratization. But they cannot account for the fact that although China remains authoritarian, it is nevertheless responsive to the increasingly diverse demands of Chinese society. I argue that the rules of the policy-making process are still captured by the fragmented authoritarianism framework, but that the process has become increasingly pluralized: barriers to entry have been lowered, at least for certain actors (hitherto peripheral officials, non-governmental organizations and the media) identified here as “policy entrepreneurs.” With policy change as the variable of interest, I compare three cases of hydropower policy outcomes. I argue that policy entrepreneurs' ability to frame the issue effectively explains variation in hydropower policy outcomes. I then extend these findings to an unlikely policy area, international trade, specifically, the 2001–06 Sino-EU trade talks over child-resistant lighter safety regulations.

Desiring China: Experiments in Neoliberalism, Sexuality, and Public Culture

Abstract: COURSE DESCRIPTION In popular and scholarly discourse, the term \"globalization\" is widely used to put a name to the shape of the contemporary world. In the realms of advertising, a variety of media, policymaking, politics, academia, and everyday talk, \"globalization\" references the sense that we now live in a deeply and everincreasingly interconnected, mobile, and speeded-up world that is unprecedented, fueled by technological innovations and geopolitical and economic transformations. Drawing on perspectives from history, anthropology, cultural and literary studies, geography, political economy, and sociology, this course will explore theories, discourses, and experiences of globalization.