Winfield responds to book panel dedicated to 'Zen and Material Culture'

Associate Professor Pamela Winfield recently responded to a book panel dedicated to her co-edited volume "Zen and Material Culture" at the ASIANetwork annual conference in Philadelphia.   

On April 7,  at the ASIANetwork annual conference in Philadelphia, Associate Professor Pamela Winfield responded to a book panel dedicated to her co-edited volume “Zen and Material Culture” published by Oxford University Press in 2017.

Conference organizers first approached Winfield last June about responding to the panel, which featured three leading scholars of Japanese Buddhist art, materiality, and materialism. Ive Covaci (Art History, Fairfield University) indicated how the volume could be used in the classroom setting. Hank Glassman (East Asian Studies, Haverford College) commented on the volume’s general contribution to material and visual culture studies. Kin Cheung (Religious Studies, Moravian College) reflected on the economic theme that runs throughout several chapters in the volume.

In her response, Winfield shared emailed comments from her co-editor Steven Heine (Florida International University), and agreed to Glassman and Cheung’s public call for a second edited volume, provided that they and others in the audience pledge to contribute essays to address the many other objects and articles of the Zen tradition that are still understudied.

ASIANetwork is a consortium of Asian Studies Programs at liberal arts colleges and universities. The Provost’s Office generously sponsors Elon’s subscription membership to the consortium, and Winfield’s conference travel was sponsored in part by grants from the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture  Society (CSRCS) and the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL).