CO-SPONSORSHIP: East Asian Self-Cultivation Practices in Transnational Perspective

East Asian Self-Cultivation Practices in Transnational Perspective 

Organizer: Justin Stein: (justin.stein@kpu.ca) 

Practices of self-cultivation 修養 (xiuyang, suyang, shūyō) / 修身 (xiushen, susin, shūshin) have a long history within East Asian religion, medicine, education, and arts (especially martial arts), as a means to foster perfection of the self, physical health, moral development, and social harmony. These practices often emphasize qi / ki  氣 — the basic “stuff” of existence, often understood as a life force — as a vehicle for harmonizing the individual body-mind with universal principles and cosmic forces. While these self-cultivation practices evoke and invoke East Asian homelands, and have long circulated across intra-regional borders, they also circulate in wide-reaching transnational currents, including in Asian diasporas and in the so-called New Age movement, interacting with forces like race, orientalism, and empire. This panel invites scholars who are interested in a conversation regarding the use of the concept of “self-cultivation” in dialogue with the categories of “religion,” “(East) Asia,” and/or “Asian American” to discuss its utility for the field of religious studies, and explore its potential evolution as a concept and discipline.