Résumé

K.E. Brashier

Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., Portland, OR 97202

(503) 771-1112 ext. 7377

ken.brashier@reed.edu

 

Education

1.      University of Missouri, Columbia (1983-85, 1986-87),

Bachelor of journalism (summa cum laude).

2.      Universität Regensburg, Germany (1985-86).

3.      University of Oxford (1987-90),

Bachelor of arts in Chinese studies.                                                                                  

4.      Harvard University (1991-93),

Master of arts: Regional studies – East Asia.                                                         

5.      University of Cambridge (1993-97),

Doctor of philosophy: Oriental studies.                                                                            

 

Positions (selective)

1.      Professor of religion (Chinese) and humanities (Chinese) – Reed College (1998-present).

2.      Chair of the Chinese humanities program: “Foundations of Chinese civilization” – Reed College (2002-03, 2004-06, 2008-09).

3.      State selector for the Oregon Rhodes Scholarship Committee (2003-04) and national selector for the Rhodes Trust (2008-09).

4.      Chair of Religion Department – Reed College (2004-05, 2008-09).

5.      Faculty coordinator and member of presidential search committee – Reed College (2011-12).

 

Academic awards (selective)

1.      Harry S. Truman scholar (1985-87, 1991-93).

2.      Rhodes scholar (1987-90).

3.      National endowment for the humanities fellowship recipient (2002-03).

4.      Arnold L. and Lois S. Graves award recipient (2002, postponed to 2004).

5.      Outstanding U.S. professor of the year (2006, Carnegie foundation for the advancement of teaching).

 

Current research interest

I have long collected 18th, 19th and 20th century Chinese scrolls depicting the imagery of hell because they are a rare example of text and image combining to communicate religious ideas to a broad audience.  Often in sets of ten, they portray the bureaucratic courts of the afterlife and their retributive tortures where sinners are punished and viewers are treated to a morality play.  Although their usage was once widespread, few have survived the cultural revolutions, modernizations and general disinterest in a religious art form that was never regarded as an aesthetic genre.  More than a hundred scrolls of this collection can be viewed on my website (http://academic.reed.edu/hellscrolls/) which was featured as the cover story of Reed Magazine:

 

http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/winter2009/features/to_hell_and_back/index.html

 

I study these scrolls because they simultaneously span the notions of cosmic structure, moral conduct and entertainment for the non-elite populace.


Publications and presentations (selective)

Books

·         Ancestral memory in early China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2011.

·         Public memory in early China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, forthcoming (2013).

 

Articles and chapters

·         “Longevity like metal and stone: the role of the mirror in Han burials.” T'oung Pao 81 (1995), 201-29.

·         “Han thanatology and the division of ‘souls’.” Early China 21 (1996), 125-58; also published as 《漢代的死亡學與靈魂划分》. In 遠方的時習: 古代中國精選集, edited by Edward L. Shaughnessy and Wang Bo, 218-49. Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2008.

·         “‘A poetic exposition on heaven and earth’ by Chenggong Sui (231-73).” Journal of Chinese Religions 24 (1996), 1-46.

·         “The Spirit Lord of Baishi Mountain: Feeding the deities or heeding the yinyang?” Early China 26-27 (2001-02), 159-231.

·         “Symbolic discourse in Eastern Han memorial art: The case of the birchleaf pear.” Harvard journal of Asiatic studies (2005), 281-310.

·         “Text and ritual in early Chinese stelae.” In Text and ritual in early China, edited by Martin Kern, 249-84. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005.

·         “Preface: Views of the First Emperor.” In The First Emperor: Selections from the Historical records, translated by Raymond Dawson, vii-xx. Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 2007.

·         “Eastern Han commemorative stelae: Laying the cornerstones of public memory.” In Early Chinese religion, edited by John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski, 1027-59. Leiden: Brill, 2009.

 

Presentations

·         “Death as controlled transformation in the Han.” Paper for Association for Asian Studies, Washington, DC, 1995.

·         “Classicist meditation and visualization in the Han ancestral cult.” Paper for "Religion and authority in early China," Harvard, 1999.

·         “Xiang in mortuary, oral and chirographic discourse: Still life with book.” Paper for Association for Asian Studies, Washington, DC, 2002.

·         “Thoughtful descendants & thought-full ancestors: How living minds prolong the existence of the dead in early China.” Paper for “New approaches to Chinese studies,” UCLA, 2003.

·         “Written texts in oral contexts: Memorization, performance and transmission in early China.” Panel organizer and paper for Association for Asian Studies, New York City, NY, 2003.

·         “Resolving linear and cyclic time via the early Chinese ancestral cult.” Paper for “Religion, poetry and memory in ancient China,” Princeton, 2004.

·         “Did Han stelae arise when ‘universal peerage’ (minjue 民爵) fell?”  Paper for Association for Asian Studies, Boston, MA, 2007.

·         “Marketplace morality – Chinese hell scrolls.” Public lecture (in conjunction with a special gallery dedicated to my scrolls at the “Buddhist visions” exhibition), Jordan Schnitzer Museum, University of Oregon, 2008.

·         “The practice of not reading in early and medieval China.” Paper for Association for Asian Studies, Honolulu, 2011.