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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/25418
Title: Theoretical Revelations and the Merging of Methods: Method and Theory in the Study of Medieval Japanese Buddhist Nuns and Material Culture
Authors: Thibaudeau, Kira
Advisor: Rowe, Mark
Benn, James
Department: Religious Studies
Keywords: Buddhism;Buddhist nuns;women in religion;theory;medieval Japan;Japanese Buddhism;Religious Studies;Buddhist Studies;Medieval Japanese Buddhist Studies;premodern Japanese Buddhism;premodern Japan;female monastics;Japanese nuns;patronage;merit;power-legitimacy-origins;legitimacy;field of merit;economy of merit;nuns;bikuni;Hokkeji;ama;convent;Buddhist material culture;method and theory
Publication Date: 2020
Abstract: This thesis develops a Theoretical framework to be applied to future research concerning medieval Japanese Buddhist nuns and their involvements with Buddhist material culture. My efforts at theory production serve as a preliminary attempt at laying a comprehensive Theoretical foundation for a fresh area of inquiry, namely merging the respective studies of Japanese Buddhist nuns with Buddhist material culture. This marks a promising area of study as a corrective to the enduring focus placed upon men by Religious Studies (RS) scholars. Indeed, RS has historically been, and largely continues to be, a field dominated by men. As such, RS research has concentrated upon the male population, both lay and monastic, and has only recently started shifting toward the question of where women were and what they were doing. Additionally, the study of Buddhist material culture is itself a relatively new field. Consequently, there are currently very few English publications exploring women’s involvement with this important aspect of Buddhism. As a means of contextualizing the Theoretical framework ultimately proposed, I first examine the states of the Buddhist Studies subfields of Buddhist nuns and of Buddhist material culture. I subsequently explore the states of theory production within RS and Medieval Japanese Buddhist Studies (MJBS), contending that a distinctive mode of theory (macro ‘capital-T’ Theoretical frameworks and micro ‘lowercase-t’ theoretical models, respectively) is found within each discipline. While I propose only a RS style macro Theoretical framework, I suggest that an ideal foundation for the study of nuns through the lens of material culture will take the form of a Theoretical complex comprised of both a Theoretical framework and a MJBS style theoretical model. Ultimately, I wish to begin the process of laying the groundwork for future research focusing on women and gender within the context of Buddhism and material culture.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/25418
Appears in Collections:Open Access Dissertations and Theses

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