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Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

 
Venue: 
FAMES Room 8/9
Event date: 
Thursday, 17 October, 2024 - 14:00
Speakers: 
Event organiser: 

China Research Seminar Series talk given by Dr David Mozina, University of Cambridge.

Rage is often thought of as difficult to control, as something that wells up and foments instability and violence both public and private. The history of religions is replete with episodes in which holy wrath has led to riots, revolutions, melees, and massacres. But rage has also been imagined as productive, even essential, for deeply spiritual pursuits. This presentation explores how rage has been a crucial aspect of Daoist liturgy as practiced in China today and yesterday. It examines how rage, while still remaining dangerous and potentially self-destructive, has been a catalyst forming a deep connection between human and divine and so providing efficacy in rituals designed to protect and heal. 

David J. Mozina (Ph.D. Harvard) is an Affiliated Researcher in the Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. He studies living Daoist and Buddhist ritual traditions in rural south China, and their roots in the liturgical vibrancy of the eleventh through early fifteenth centuries. He is the author of Knotting the Banner: Ritual and Relationship in Daoist Practice (University of Hawai‘i Press, Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2021), which was named a finalist for the 2022 Best First Book in the History of Religions by the American Academy of Religion. David has authored articles that have appeared in venues such as the Journal of Chinese Religions, Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie, and Daoism: Religion, History, and Society. He has received research grants from the American Philosophical Society, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council; and has served as co-chair of the Daoist Studies Unit of the American Academy of Religion and on the Executive Board of Directors of the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions. He is currently working on a book manuscript about Daoist dealings with the Fengdu underworld from the thirteenth century on. 

Contact
Dr Noga Ganany: ng462@cam.ac.uk