This event is in collaboration with th e Interdisciplinary Histories R esearch Cluster\, the \, and the Departm ent of Asian Studies.
The state of Bihar ( the “land of vihara”) is frequently lauded by Indian political leaders and Buddhist teachers as the “land of origins” and/or homeland of Buddhism that has given rise to a pan-Asian\, if not\, global religious movement. Outsid e of the obvious economic benefits generated by Buddhist pilgrimage and rel igious tourism in Bodh Gaya\, there remains a deep disconnect and cultural divide among efforts to rebuild an Indian Buddhist sangha\, and the sacred power inscribed on the landscape by extra-national Buddhist communities and diasporic groups\, like the Tibetans. Drawing on ethnographic research thi s paper will examine how some of the Dalit villages located a short distanc e from the Mahabodhi Temple encapsulate the diverse expressions\, meanings and contradictions of Indian Buddhism in the early twenty-first century.
David Geary is Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Community\, Culture and Global Studies Department at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan). He has held research and teaching positions a t IIAS (Leiden)\, the Antioch University Buddhist Studies Program in Bodh G aya\, India\, and at the University of Oxford. His research interests inclu de pilgrimage\, tourism and diaspora\, the spatial politics of UNESCO World Heritage\, Buddhism\, modernity and the transnational politics of revival in contemporary India. He is the author of The Rebirth of Bodh Gaya: Buddhi sm and the Making of a World Heritage Site (Global South Asia Series\, Univ ersity of Washington Press\, 2017).