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Anne M. Blackburn

Associate Professor
South Asian Studies and Buddhist Studies

346 Rockefeller Hall
(607) 254-6501
amb242@cornell.edu



Biographical Note

Ph.D. in History of Religions received in 1996 from The University of Chicago Divinity School. M.A. in Religious Studies received in 1990 from The University of Chicago Divinity School. B.A. in Asian History & Religion (Special Major) received in 1988 from Swarthmore College. Teachers include: Steven Collins, Charles Hallisey, Frank Reynolds, P.B. Meegaskumbura, and Donald Swearer.

I was trained to study Buddhism as an historian of religions (in a program greatly influenced by approaches to historical sociology and hermeneutics) rather than as a philologist. My secondary supervisor worked in Buddhist Studies and South Asian Studies and was (unusually for the field at that time) insistent that the scholars working on Buddhist texts attend to their literary features, and the contexts for their composition and reception. This combination of influences allows me to approach Buddhist texts with attention to the contexts in which they were composed and used. It has also led me to substantial work in the history of devotional practices and intellectual history, topics first broached in undergraduate days at Swarthmore College. I approach this work with the assumption that the history of Buddhist texts and practices should not be divorced from the history of other forms of life with which they are closely connected, and through which they have been constituted.

Curriculum Vitae

Major Publications & Research in Progress:
Books:

  • Buddhist Learning and Textual Practice in Eighteenth-Century Lankan Monastic Culture (Princeton 2001).
  • Approaching the Dhamma: Buddhist Texts and Practices in South and Southeast Asia. ed. Anne M. Blackburn and Jeffrey Samuels. (BPS Pariyatti Editions 2003).
  • Locations of Buddhism: Colonialism and Modernity in Sri Lanka.
  • Monks, Texts, and Relics: A History of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia.

    • Selected Articles:

  • "Localizing Lineage: Importing Higher Ordination in Theravadin South and Southeast Asia." In Constituting Communities: Theravada Buddhism and the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia, ed. John Holt, Jonathan Walters and Jacob Kinnard. (SUNY 2003).
  • "Notes on Sri Lankan Temple Manuscript Collections." Journal of the Pali Text Society. 27(2002):1-59.
  • "Serendipity and Sadness." In Excursions and Explorations: Cultural Encounters Between the United States and Sri Lanka, ed. Tissa Jayatilleke. (Print Pack Limited, Colombo 2002).
  • "Looking for the Vinaya: Monastic Discipline in the Practical Canons of the Theravada." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. 22 (1999):2: 281-309.
  • "Magic in the Monastery: Textual Practice and Monastic Identity in Sri Lanka." History of Religions. 38 (1999): 4:354-372.

    • Graduate Study:
    Prospective graduate students, and graduate students working at other institutions, are welcome to communicate about their plans and interests: amb242@cornell.edu or 607-254-6501.

    Courses:
    Asian 2201 Sophomore Writing Seminar: Buddhist Felicities
    Asian 2215 Introduction to South Asia
    Asian 3356 Theravada Buddhism
    Asian 4438/6638 Monks, Texts & Relics: Transnational Buddhism in Asia
    Asian 4462/6662 Religion, Colonialism & Nationalism
    Asian 6634 Buddhist Studies Seminar
    Pali 1151/1152 Accelerated Elementary Pali
    Pali 4450 Readings in Pali

    Related links:
    Ph.D. in Asian Religions at Cornell University
    Sinhala Language Program at Cornell University
    South Asia Program at Cornell University
    Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University
    Religious Studies Program at Cornell University
    American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies

    Updated 01/09/2009