Research

Jens Reinke's research explores the emergence of modern and contemporary ethnic Chinese Buddhist religiosities from a spatial perspective. Applying an ethnographic as well as a historical lens allows him to identify the global entanglements of modern and contemporary Buddhism, but also shows how dynamics that span multiple localities are shaped by specific national and regional histories. Jens Reinke's research thereby adds to the study of religion in the global sinosphere, while also contributing to a broader understanding of how religious border-crossings and transnational mobilities shape the conditions of religions in the era of global modernity.

PhD Research Project

Jens Reinke's doctoral dissertation presents a multi-sited ethnography of the global spread of the modernist Buddhist order Fo Guang Shan, supported by the Leipzig University Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 1199) on “Processes of Spatialization under the Global Condition.” In the view of fieldwork data collected in Germany, Taiwan, South Africa, the USA, and the PRC, the dissertation explores the transnational border-crossings and linkages that facilitated the emergence of renjian Buddhism and continue to shape Fo Guang Shan’s global development to this day. His research is situated at the crossroads of three academic discussions: First, by placing Fo Guang Shan’s global trajectory in the context of transnationalism and ethnic Chinese migration, it provides a fresh angle to the study of Chinese religions. Second, by examining how one particular modern Buddhist religiosity that developed in a specific place moves into a global context, it contributes to ongoing debates of what constitutes modern and contemporary Buddhism. Finally, as a multi-sited field study on a religious globalization project that has originated from Taiwan, this book explores the social, cultural, and religious fabrics that underlie the spatial configurations of globalization. Jens Reinke's dissertation-turned-book, Mapping Modern Mahayana: Chinese Buddhism and Migration in the Age of Global Modernity is published by De Gruyter.

Current Research Project

Taiwanese Buddhist organizations have developed over many parts of the globe. Jens Reinke's current research project continues to explore the transnationalism of Taiwanese Buddhist religiosities, yet it does so by focusing on Southeast Asia. His second book project, Buddhist Bricolages in the Southern Sinosphere: The Southbound Transnationalism of Taiwanese Buddhists, aims to explore transnational Buddhist entanglements between Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Today as in the past, the South China Sea region constitutes an important contact zone for the development of Buddhism in Asia. Modern and contemporary Buddhist encounters within this contact zone are shaped by the history of European and Japanese colonialism, processes of Asian nation state building, Chinese state policies towards diaspora communities, inner Asian trade and migration, monastic and lay Buddhist networks, and tourism. All of which have shape the various entanglements Taiwanese Buddhists uphold with the region today. By studying the multifaceted linkages between Buddhists in both regions, he challenges an understanding of Buddhism as being comprised of clearly distinct meta-traditions such as Theravada or Mahayana or traditions that are linked to a particular ethnicity or nation-state. Instead his research shifts the attention to the role of junctures, mobilities, hybridity, and exchanges for the development of modern and contemporary Buddhist religiosities in Asia.