James Robson is Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

EALC

In American universities, EALC refers to East Asian Languages and Civilizations , and is the term for the department of East Asian studies, which studies this region of the world....

 at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and the President of the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions. He specializes in the history of Medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism, and is particularly interested in issues of sacred geography, local religious history, talismans, religious art, and the historical development of Chan (Zen) Buddhism. He is presently engaged in a long-term collaborative research project with the École française d'Extrême-Orient

École française d'Extrême-Orient

The École française d'Extrême-Orient is a French institute dedicated to the study of Asian societies. Translated into English, it approximately means the French School of the Far East. It was founded in 1900 with headquarters in Hanoi in what was then French Indochina. After independence, its...

 studying a large collection of local religious statuary from Hunan

Hunan

' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...

 province.

Biography

James Robson received his BA in religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...

 in 1987, and thereafter studied in China, Japan, and Taiwan for several years before pursuing his PhD at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

. After completing his doctorate in 2002, he worked at Williams College

Williams College

Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

 from 2002–2004, and University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 from 2004–2008, where he received tenure in 2008. Robson became a Harvard faculty in 2008. His recent book Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue 南嶽

Mount Heng (Hunan)

Mount Heng , also known as Nan Yue , is located in Hunan Province, People's Republic of China and is one of the Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism in China. Heng Shan is a mountain range long with 72 peaks and lies at 27.254798°N and 112.655743°E...

) in Medieval China (Harvard University Asia Center, 2009) received the Stanislas Julien Prize

Prix Stanislas Julien

The Prix Stanislas Julien is a prize for a sinological work published in the previous year. It is named after the French sinologist, Stanislas Julien, and is awarded by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. The prize was established in 1872 and first awarded in 1875.- Prize winners :...

 for 2010 by the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres [Prix Stanislas Julien by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres is a French learned society devoted to the humanities, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France.-History:...

 (Institut de France)] and the 2010 Toshihide Numata Book Prize in Buddhism.

Major publications

• "Faith in Museums: On the Confluence of Museums and Religious Sites in Asia." PMLA, 125, 1 (January 2010): 121–128.
• Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia: Places of Practice. London: Routledge, 2010. (Co-edited with James A. Benn and Lori Meeks)
• The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue 南嶽) in Medieval China. Harvard University Asia Center, 2009.

Winner of the 2010 Stanislas Julien Prize

Prix Stanislas Julien

The Prix Stanislas Julien is a prize for a sinological work published in the previous year. It is named after the French sinologist, Stanislas Julien, and is awarded by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. The prize was established in 1872 and first awarded in 1875.- Prize winners :...

and 2010 Toshihide Numata Book Prize in Buddhism.

• "Signs of Power: Talismanic Writing in Chinese Buddhism." History of Religions, 48, 2 (November 2008): 130–169.
• "Buddhism and the Chinese Marchmount System [Wuyue]: Excavating the Strata of Mt. Nanyue’s Religious History." In John Lagerwey, ed., Religion and Chinese Society: Volume 1 Ancient and Medieval China. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2004.
• "A Tang Dynasty Chan Mummy [roushen] and a Modern Case of Furta Sacra? Investigating the Contested Bones of Shitou Xiqian." Bernard Faure, ed. Chan Buddhism in Ritual Context. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003.
• "The Polymorphous Space of the Southern Marchmount [Nanyue]: An Introduction to Nanyue's Religious History and Preliminary Notes on Buddhist and Daoist Interaction." Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 8 (1995): 221–64.