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| Jean DeBernardi |
| Department of Anthropology |
| The University of Alberta |
| Current Research Projects |
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1. Rites of Belonging: Religion and Politics in a Malaysian Chinese Community |
| This monograph combines history and ethnography in a study of the relationships between religion, identity, and politics under colonialism and nationalism in Penang, Malaysia. |
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2. Possessed by the Past: Chinese Spirit Mediums in Penang, Malaysia |
| This monograph is a study of Chinese spirit mediums that investigates both the logic of popular religious practice, focusing on divination and the trance performance, and the teachings of four master spirit mediums. |
| 3. Chinese Christian Syncretism in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia |
| Since 1995, I have been conducting ethnographic and historical research on Christianity in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia, with support from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. The research focuses on the Brethren Movement together with charismatic churches that have emerged from this movement through a process of schism. |
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| 4. Remaking Daoist Practice in Transnational Networks: Religious and Cultural Pilgrimage to the Daoist Temple Complex at Wudang Mountain |
| Since 2002 I have been developing a new research project on religious and cultural pilgrimage from 'greater China'--primarily Malaysia and Singapore--to one very famous pilgrimage site, the Daoist temple complex at Wudang Mountain, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site and a popular destination for students of martial arts. At the same time as I investigate pilgrimage, I am also documenting the modernization of Daoism in a number of urban settings. Future plans include further research in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, as well as a return to Wudang Mountain. |