Buddhist Responses to Globalization

Edited by Leah Kalmanson and James Mark Shields - Contributions by Peter D. Hershock; Carolyn M. Jones Medine; Ugo Dessi; Melanie L. Harris; John W. M. Krummel and Erin McCarthy

This interdisciplinary collection of essays highlights the relevance of Buddhist doctrine and practice to issues of globalization. From various philosophical, religious, historical, and political perspectives, the authors show that Buddhism—arguably the world’s first transnational religion—is a rich resource for navigating today's interconnected world. Buddhist Responses to Globalization addresses globalization as a contemporary phenomenon, marked by economic, cultural, and political deterritorialization, and also proposes concrete strategies for improving global conditions in light of these facts. Topics include Buddhist analyses of both capitalist and materialist economies; Buddhist religious syncretism in highly multicultural areas such as Honolulu; the changing face of Buddhism through the work of public intellectuals such as Alice Walker; and Buddhist responses to a range of issues including reparations and restorative justice, economic inequality, spirituality and political activism, cultural homogenization and nihilism, and feminist critique. In short, the book looks to bring Buddhist ideas and practices into direct and meaningful, yet critical, engagement with both the facts and theories of globalization.

Lexington Books

Pages: 182 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-0-7391-8054-9 • Hardback • July 2014 • $121.00 • (£93.00)

978-0-7391-8055-6 • eBook • July 2014 • $115.00 • (£88.00)

Subjects: Philosophy / Eastern, Philosophy / Buddhist, Philosophy / Religious, Social Science / Gender Studies, Philosophy / Continental Philosophy, Philosophy / Gender Philosophy

Buddhist Responses to Globalization

Hardback

eBook

Summary

This interdisciplinary collection of essays highlights the relevance of Buddhist doctrine and practice to issues of globalization. From various philosophical, religious, historical, and political perspectives, the authors show that Buddhism—arguably the world’s first transnational religion—is a rich resource for navigating today's interconnected world. Buddhist Responses to Globalization addresses globalization as a contemporary phenomenon, marked by economic, cultural, and political deterritorialization, and also proposes concrete strategies for improving global conditions in light of these facts. Topics include Buddhist analyses of both capitalist and materialist economies; Buddhist religious syncretism in highly multicultural areas such as Honolulu; the changing face of Buddhism through the work of public intellectuals such as Alice Walker; and Buddhist responses to a range of issues including reparations and restorative justice, economic inequality, spirituality and political activism, cultural homogenization and nihilism, and feminist critique. In short, the book looks to bring Buddhist ideas and practices into direct and meaningful, yet critical, engagement with both the facts and theories of globalization.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 182 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-0-7391-8054-9 • Hardback • July 2014 • $121.00 • (£93.00)

978-0-7391-8055-6 • eBook • July 2014 • $115.00 • (£88.00)

Subjects: Philosophy / Eastern, Philosophy / Buddhist, Philosophy / Religious, Social Science / Gender Studies, Philosophy / Continental Philosophy, Philosophy / Gender Philosophy

Author

Leah Kalmanson is assistant professor of philosophy and religion at Drake University.

James Mark Shields is associate professor of comparative humanities and Asian thought at Bucknell University and Japan Foundation visiting research fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction, James Mark Shields and Leah Kalmanson
Part I: Globalization as Spatial, Cultural, and Economic Deterritorialization
1) Squaring Freedom with Equity: Challenging the Karma of the Globalization of Choice, Peter D. Hershock
2) Alice Walker, the Grand Mother, and a Buddhist-Womanist Response to Globalization, Carolyn M. Jones Medine
3) Religious Change as Glocalization: The Case of Shin Buddhism in Honolulu, Ugo Dessì
4) From Topos to Utopia: Critical Buddhism, Globalization, and Ideology Criticism, James MarkShields
Part II: Normative Responses to Globalization
5) An Inexhaustible Storehouse for an Insurmountable Debt: A Buddhist Reading of Reparations, Leah Kalmanson
6) Engaged Buddhism and Liberation Theologies: Fierce Compassion as a Mode of Justice, Melanie L. Harris
7) World, Nothing, and Globalization in Nishida and Nancy, John W. M. Krummel
8) A Zen Master Meets Contemporary Feminism: Reading Dōgen as a Resource for Feminist Philosophy, Erin McCarthy

Reviews

I feel the book is a coherent study that should be welcomed by those interested in socially engaged Buddhism and globalization.
— Journal of Global Buddhism

Buddhism’s millennia-long eastward journey has, especially over the course of the last century, reached all the way around the globe to the West. The question is, how can Buddhism contribute to resolving the problems and developing the possibilities of the globalizing world. It is this question that this volume boldly begins to answer, effectively addressing, from various Buddhist perspectives, critical contemporary issues such as economic inequality, racism, feminism and womanism, postcolonial reparations, and the very meaning of globalization and glocalization.
— Bret W. Davis, author of Zen Pathways: An Introduction to the Philosophy and Practice of Zen Buddhism

This volume offers groundbreaking treatment of the interaction between globalization and Buddhism. The authors explore a rich array of topics, including the “glocalization” of religious practices, “fierce compassion,” tension between expanding freedoms and deepened inequality, new forms of nonviolent engagement generated by Buddhist dialogue with Womanist thought, and other Buddhist resources for responding to the injustices of globalization. With both descriptive and constructive approaches, these interdisciplinary essays will pique the curiosity of a wide range of readers.
— Christopher Ives, Stonehill College

Historically, the various Buddhist traditions have proven adept at cultural transmigration, and this is abundantly evident today on a global scale. Nonetheless, the terms and conditions of the current regimes of globalization also pose profound challenges to Buddhist practice. In this timely, innovative, and groundbreaking collection of essays, voices within these traditions respond, articulating radical and philosophically provocative elements (cultural, womanist, post-colonial, economic, etc.) of a Buddhist critical engagement with globalization. This is a collection of genuine importance.
— Jason M. Wirth, Seattle University

The essays gathered in this volume will prove to be an essential resource for understanding the diverse ways in which Buddhists have sought to come to terms with the challenges of globalization and modernity.
— Eric Nelson, University of Massachusetts, Lowell