Robert P. Weller

Curriculum Vitae

March 2001

Employment:

  • 1990- Research Associate, Institute for the Study of Economic Culture; and Professor, Department of Anthropology, Boston University (Associate Professor, 1990-2000)
  • 1986-1990 Assistant Dean for Study Abroad and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Duke University
  • 1980-1986 Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Duke University

    • Academic Interests:

    Education:

  • 1975-1980 The Johns Hopkins University, Anthropology, Ph.D. (1976-1977 Stanford University, Program in East Asian Studies, on leave from Johns Hopkins.)
  • 1974-1975 Yale University, Anthropology, transferred.
  • 1970-1974 Yale University, Anthropology, B.A.

    • Publications -- Books and Edited Works:

  • 1999 Alternate Civilities: Chinese Culture and the Prospects for Democracy. Westview.
  • 1996 Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China. Editor, with Meir Shahar. University of Hawai'i Press.
  • 1994 Resistance, Chaos and Control in China: Taiping Rebels, Taiwanese Ghosts and Tiananmen. Macmillan Press and University of Washington Press.
  • 1987a Unities and Diversities in Chinese Religion. Macmillan Press and University of Washington Press.
  • 1987b Symposium on Hegemony and Chinese Folk Ideologies. Editor, with Hill Gates. Special issues of Modern China, 13, nos. 1 and 3.
  • 1982 Power and Protest in the Countryside: Studies of Rural Unrest in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Editor, with Scott E. Guggenheim. Duke University Press. Paperback edition, 1989.

    • Publications -- Articles and Chapters (last three years):

  • 2000 "Living at the Edge: Religion, Capitalism, and the end of the Nation-State in Taiwan." Public Culture 3:477-498.
  • 2000 "From State-Owned Enterprise to Joint Venture: A Case Study of the Crisis in Urban Social Services." China Journal 43:83-99.
  • 1999 "Identity and Social Change in Taiwanese Religion." In Murray Rubenstein (ed.), Taiwan: A New History. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, pp. 339-365.
  • 1999 "Daoismus und die Möglichkeit einer chinesischen Zivilgesellschaft." In Josef Thesing and Thomas Awe (eds.), Dao in China und in Westen: Impulse für die moderne Gesellschaft. Bonn: Bouvier, pp. 139-157.
  • 1998 "Culture, Gender, and Community in Taiwan's Environmental Movement" (with Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao). In Arne Kalland and Gerard Persoon (eds.), Environmental Movements in Asia. London: Curzon, pp. 83-109.
  • 1998 "Horizontal Ties and Civil Institutions in Chinese Societies." In Robert W. Hefner (ed.), Democratic Civility: The History and Cross-Cultural Possibility of a Modern Political Ideal. New Brunswick: Transaction, pp. 229-247.
  • 1998 "From Heaven-and-Earth to Nature: Chinese Concepts of the Environment and their Influence on Policy Implementation" (with Peter K. Bol). In Michael B. McElroy, Environmental Protection and Economic Growth. Cambridge: Harvard University Committee on Environment, pp. 473-499. Reprinted in Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Berthrong (eds.), Confucianism and Ecology: The Interrelation of Heaven, Earth, and Humans. Cambridge: Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions, 1998, pp. 313-341.
  • 1998 "Zongjiao yu 'Xin Taiwan Rentong': Yixie Chubu Sisuo [Religion and New Taiwanese Identities: Some First Thoughts]." Hong Kong Journal of Social Sciences No. 11:73-82.
  • 1998 "Merit and Mothering: Women and Social Welfare in Taiwanese Buddhism" (with Chien-Yu Julia Huang). Journal of Asian Studies 57(2):379-396.
  • 1998 "Divided Market Cultures in China: Gender Enterprise, and Religion." In Robert P. Hefner (ed.), Market Cultures: Society and Morality in the New Asian Capitalisms. Boulder, CO: Westview, pp. 78-103.
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    Papers Read (last three years):

  • 2001 "Night of the Living Dead Fish: China and the Globalization of Nature." 41st Annual Edward H. Hume Memorial Lecture, Yale University.
  • 2001 "Globalization and China: Challenging Cultural Boundaries." Panelist for sessions on "The Politicization of Culture" and "The Global Environment." Tufts University.
  • 2000 "Popular Religion and Public Institutions." Conference on Realms of Freedom in the Modern Chinese World. Washington University, St. Louis.
  • 2000 "Markets, Margins, and the Growth of Religious Diversity: Taiwan in Comparative Perspective." International Conference on Sinology, Taiwan.
  • 2000 "Markets, Political Margins, and Religious Change: New Buddhisms, Old Spirits, and Falun Gong in China and Taiwan." Harvard University Seminar on Religion and Economic Change.
  • 1999 "Alternate Civilities in China and Taiwan." New England China Seminar.
  • 1998 "Environmental Policy in China." Harvard University, Asia Center Inaugural Conference.
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    Professional Service (selected, last five years):

  • 1999- Board of Advisors, Journal of Chinese Religion.
  • 1999-2001 Elected Member, China and Inner Asia Council, Association for Asian Studies; chair, 2000-1.
  • 1994- Consultant, World Bank Asia Division.
  • 1997 Consultant, International Finance Corporation.
  • 1994-6 Director, Workshop on Taiwan Studies, Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University.
  • 1993-6 Member, Joint Committee on Chinese Studies, Social Science Research Council and American Council of Learned Societies.
  • 1992-6 Member, Social Science Research Council International Predissertation Fellowship Program committee; chair, 1994-6.

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    For abstracts of some of his publications, click here.
    For some field photographs, click here.
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