Syllabus
Religions and Belief Systems of Taiwan
International Doctoral Program in Asia-Pacific Studies
(other students accepted with permission)
David Blundell
This course is about exploring the religions and belief systems of Taiwan as an overview
with specific case studies from perspectives drawn from the anthropology and sociology
of religion.
Our journey begins with a theoretical foundation in the study of belief systems. Once we
savor what theology and cross-cultural studies offer for the understanding of religions
and beliefs, the course will examine the earliest belief systems in Taiwan for prehistory to
the ethnographic present. The course is divided into sections (each section of two or three
weeks) based on theoretical perspectives and historical chronologies.
Requirements and course activities include keeping a weekly notebook, participating in
outings, taking a quiz, and writing a term paper. Most readings will be supplied. Scores
are based on (1) attendance and participation 20%, (2) mid-term 30%, (3) group or
individual final presentation 30%, (4) notebook 20%.
Section One
In the first weeks, philosophical academic studies of religions are explored and analyzed
in the context of their social, political, and ideological roles from selections of Edward
Tylor, James Frazer, Émil Durkheim, and Mircea Eliade. Charles Sanders Peirce’s work
sets the tone for comprehension of semiotics. Edmond Leach presents his “Time and
False Noses” in Rethinking Anthropology concerning sacred and profane social
occasions. This leads to Mary Douglas with her Purity and Danger. Works of Clifford
Geertz and Jacques Maquet are presented in terms of symbolic and aesthetic orientation
in cultural systems. The instructor will prepare these materials and other writings for the
class. Students are encouraged to share their own selected readings to share.
Section Two
Once having a footing in religion studies, the class explores beliefs from Taiwan
prehistory such as the Megalith. This introduces the concepts of animism that existed
across Eurasia from earliest times. Ancient sacred sites in Taiwan point to a spread of
connections with other megalith and dolmen cultures existing in Korea, Japan, Siberia,
etc. Books selections from Sacred Places: Prehistory and Popular Imagination by Bob
Trubshaw, and other works will be prepared for the class.
Section Three
In the past few millennia, history metal age influences bring waves of beliefs brought by
traders and immigrate groups. Taoism is introduced as a belief system important to the
island brought by incoming Chinese people during the past 400 years. The philosophical
and functional meanings of Taoism are traced through writings and practices in Taiwan.
Section Four
Introduction to Christian (Protestant and Catholic), Islamic, Buddhist systems and others
are brought in as they appear with various settlements in Taiwan. For example Buddhism
arrived as a component of Taoism, became its own religion brought in by imperial Japan,
with mainland immigration in the 1940s to became rekindled and transformed from
lineage masters of China and Tibet. Christianity introduced some of the first written texts
in Taiwan and over the past 400 hundred years created a viable layer of beliefs in
Taiwan. Islam came from Southeast Asia as it spread from there, mainland immigration
in 1949, and with Arabian diplomacy in the 1960s. These forms of religion are discussed,
as they are manifest in Taiwan.
Section Five
With the lifting of martial law in Taiwan a resurgence of beliefs flourished in the
population including modern new age, indigenous revival, and new aspects of established
religions, such as engaged and socially activist orientated groups including volunteerism
and environmentalism. These strands of contemporary religions in Taiwan will be viewed
in terms of daily experiences manifest in society.
Selected Readings:
Blundell, David
1984 Stone and water. Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan
University, 44:71-78.
______. 1990 Psychological discernment on the Tachia pilgrimage. Chinese Journal of
Psychology (Acta Psychological Taiwanic), National Taiwan University. Pp. 635-644.
______. 1996 Aesthetic ethos. Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology, National
Taiwan University, 51:43-58.
Clart, Philip, Charles B. Jones
2003 Religion in Modern Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Douglas, Mary
1966 Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Durkheim, Émile
1995 The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Trans. Karen E. Fields. New York:
The Free Press.
Eliade, Mircea
1959 The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Trans. W. Trask. London:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Frazer, James
2002 The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. New York: Dover. (1st
ed.1890)
2
Geertz, Clifford
1973 The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Hoskins, Janet
1998 Biographical Objects: How Things Tell the Stories of People’s Lives. New York:
Routledge.
Jones, Charles Brewer
1999 Buddhism in Taiwan: Religion and the State, 1660-1990. Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press.
Jordan, David K.
1999 Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors: Folk Religion in a Taiwanese Village. Third edition.
San Diego, CA: Department of Anthropology, University of California
http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan or directly at
http://hops.ucsd.edu/~jordan/scriptorium/gga/ggacover.html)
Katz, Paul R.
2003 Identity politics and the study of popular religion in postwar Taiwan. Paul R. Katz
and Murray A. Rubinstein, eds. Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese Identities. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp.157-180.
Kilborne, Benjamin, and L.L. Langness, eds.
1987 Culture and Human Nature: Theoretical Papers of Melford E. Spiro. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Leach, Edmund
1966 Rethinking Anthropology. Oxford: Berg Publishers.
Lin, Wei-ping
2009 Local history through popular religion: Place, people and their narratives in Taiwan.
Asian Anthropology 8: 1-30.
Lopez, Donald S., Jr. ed.
1996 Religions of China in Practice. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Maquet, Jacques
1964 Objectivity in Anthropology. Current Anthropology, 5(1): 47-55.
1983 The Aesthetic Experience. New York: Yale University Press.
Needham, Rodney
1974 Belief, language, and experience. American Anthropologist, 76: 861-866.
1978 Primordial Characters. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Nadeau, Randall, and Chang Hsun
2003 Gods, ghosts, and ancestors: Religious studies and the question of ‘Taiwanese
3
identity’. Philip Clart and Charles B. Jones, eds. Religion in Modern Taiwan: Tradition
and Innovation in a Changing Society. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 280299.
Prattis, Ian J.
1997 Anthropology at the Edge. Essays on Culture, Symbol, and Consciousness.
Millburn, NJ: University Press of America.
Sangren, P. Steven
2003 Anthropology and identity politics in Taiwan: The relevance of local religion. Paul
R. Katz and Murray A. Rubinstein, eds. Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese
Identities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp.253-287.
Sutton, Donald
2003 Steps of Perfection: Exorcistic Performers and Chinese Religion in TwentiethCentury Taiwan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Tao, Hung-Lin and Powen Yeh
2007 Religion as an investment: Comparing the contributions and volunteer frequency
among Christians, Buddhists, and folk religionists. Southern Economic Journal 73(3):
770-790.
Trubshaw, Bob
2007 Sacred Places: Prehistory and Popular Imagination. Wymeswold, Loughborough,
UK: Heart of Albion.
Tsai, Wen-hui
1997 Folk religion and traditional Chinese social order. Phylis Lan Lin and David Decker
eds. China (the Mainland and Taiwan) in Transition: Selected Essays. Indianapolis:
University of Indianapolis Press. Pp.51-63.
Tylor, George
1871 Primitive Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4