Hello to all our friends of Buddhist Studies!
I hope this message finds you enjoying the gifts of fall. Here in Toronto the air is brisk and the leaves have started turning beautiful colours. Some classes have gone back in person and others remain online, and our downtown campus is feeling lively again. Some of our students are relishing the return to campus, while some remain far away. What is your experience of this fall like? We would love to hear your updates! We also hope to see you soon (online) at some of our fall events. We are especially excited to share news here of our upcoming series for the year, focused on the topic of animal and environmental ethics by exploring the concept of Posthumanism, hope you will find this interesting and make time to join us!
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Buddhism and Posthumanism Event Series 2021–2022
How are anthropocentric attitudes driving the climate crisis? What do Buddhist traditions say about these attitudes? What is our responsibility to non-human animals and the natural world? What do Buddhists say about the place of humans in multispecies environments?
The Ho Centre is thrilled to announce its 2021–22 speaker series Buddhism and Posthumanism: Questioning the Place of Humans in Multispecies Environments, which features climate researchers, activists, and Buddhist studies scholars focused on reconsidering the place of humans in an interconnected world.
What is posthumanism? Posthumanism acknowledges that humans are an animal like any other and that we are but one equal element in the diverse web of nature. As such, posthumanism also acknowledges that the pursuit of human progress should not presuppose human supremacy, and that non-human animals should have the conditions necessary for their own flourishing as well. In light of humanity’s current course, it recognizes too that destructive environmental practices harm a vast network of beings, humans and non-humans alike, threatening our collective futures.
Many aspects of Buddhist traditions resonate with these ideas, such as Buddhist models of self-cultivation and of generating compassion for all beings. Yet deeply embedded notions of human superiority sit in tension with these same posthumanist ideas. The aim of this series, then, is to explore Buddhist resonances, departures, and contributions to posthumanist attempts to meet the present climate emergency, and to consider paths forward involving individual and collective action.
This series will feature Zoom meeting conversations with five leading figures in the field, all talks will begin at 3pm EST. These are:
November 4, 2021
Leah Stokes, Associate Professor, University of California Santa Barbara
December 2, 2021
Geoff Barstow, Associate Professor, Oregon State University
January 27, 2022
Janet Gyatso, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies, Harvard University
February 10, 2022
Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia, Asian Studies Program, University of California Riverside
March 24, 2022
Dekila Chungyalpa, Director of the Loka Initiative, Center for Healthy Minds and Healthy Minds Innovations, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Register HERE!
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All We Can Save: A Conversation with Leah Stokes
Thursday November 4, 2021
3 PM ET
For the first event in our new series Buddhism and Posthumanism: Questioning the Place of Humans in Multispecies Environments, Leah Stokes will join Kayla Bowland, Frances Garrett, and Rory Lindsay of the Ho Centre for Buddhist Studies for a conversation about energy, climate and environmental politics. Stokes will discuss her current research on environmental policy and describe how her undergraduate training in Buddhist studies informed her development as a scholar and activist. She will also discuss the challenges facing climate activists and consider how Buddhist communities and Buddhist studies scholarship might engage with efforts to combat the climate crisis. Please sign up for the event HERE. |
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Congratulations to Dr. Lauran Hartley from the Tibetan Studies Library
HCBS has long supported a partnership for Tibetan language librarianship and collecting with the East Asian Library at the University of Toronto and Columbia University. We congratulate our fantastic friend and colleague, Dr. Lauran Hartley, who has left her position as librarian at Columbia to take on an exciting new role as the Director of the Modern Tibetan Studies program at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University. We have so appreciated all that Lauran has done in her time working with the East Asian Library and collaborating with the University of Toronto, where she has supported and maintained the acquisition and organization of Tibetan language library resources, and directly supported our Tibetan language research teams. While the East Asian Library at Columbia seeks a replacement librarian, Lauran will continue to be available to support our own academic researchers.
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Happy Things to Share
Welcome to our new Work-Study student Kayla Bowland who will work with the HCBS team this year.
Congratulations to our own Buddhist Studies graduate student, Andrew Erlich (andrew.erlich@mail.utoronto.ca), for the successful defense and completion of his dissertation "Contextualizing Medicine and its Roles in Seventeenth-Century Tibet.” Congratulations Dr. Erlich on this wonderful achievement!
Congratulations to Toronto doctoral candidate Rachelle Saruya who was awarded the UTM Historical Studies Graduate Fellowship 2020/21 for her project "Autonomous Beings and Docile Bodies: Myanmar-Burmese Buddhist Nuns, Educational Practices, and Rituals in Training."
Remember to keep in touch with what our past Director, Dr. Frances Garrett, is doing over at the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health program at New College. You can keep up to date with all the interesting things going on by signing up for their newsletter here.
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Podcast: The Circled Square
More episodes will be out soon, but there are already sixteen worth listening to (again). This is the only Podcast about Teaching in Higher Education in Buddhist Studies, and we would love you to listen, like and share! http://teachingbuddhism.net/
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Please stay well and keep in touch!
Warmly,
Sarah Aoife Richardson
Interim Director
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