Introduction to the AAR Buddhism Section
The Buddhism Section of the American Academy of Religion began as a group in 1981 and was enlarged to a section in 1986. Since that time, it has grown into the largest, most stable and most diverse forum for Buddhist Studies in North America. The Buddhism section embraces the full historical range of the Buddhist tradition from its inception some two and a half millenia ago to the present and spans its entire geographical sweep: the Indian sub-continent, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan, and--increasingly--the West. In addition to being historically and geographically inclusive, we make efforts to encourage methodological plurality. Papers presented in recent years reflect, in addition to the philological and textual approaches of classic Buddhology, the methods of intellectual history, institutional history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, gender and cultural studies, art history, literary theory, and post-colonial studies. This diversity within the section has enabled scholars with different specialities and foci to see their work in comparative perspective; while providing diversity, the section thus contributes to maintaining cohesion and cross-fertilization within the field. The Buddhism section also maintains regular contact with AAR unit chairs in other fields to coordinate and co-sponsor panels of cross-cultural or cross-disciplinary interest.