Jack Meng-Tat Chia

Jack Meng-Tat Chia is a historian of religion whose research has focused on Buddhism and Chinese popular religion. He specializes in Buddhism in maritime Southeast Asia and has broader research interests in migration, diasporas, transnationalism, pilgrimage, and religious diplomacy. His first book, Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea (Oxford, 2020), explores the connected history of Buddhist communities in China and Southeast Asia in the twentieth century. It is the first study to offer a history of what he terms “South China Sea Buddhism,” referring to a Buddhism that emerged from a swirl of correspondence networks, forced exiles, voluntary visits, evangelizing missions, institution-building campaigns, and the organizational efforts of countless Chinese and Chinese diasporic Buddhist monks. Monks in Motion won the 2021 EuroSEAS Humanities Book Prize. He is currently working on two book projects: Beyond the Borobudur: Buddhism in Postcolonial Indonesia and Diplomatic Dharma: Buddhist Diplomacy in Modern Asia.

Chia is an associate of the Religion and Globalization Cluster at the Asia Research Institute and a steering committee member of the Belt and Road Initiative Cluster at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He is an editor of Asian Culture, and serves on the editorial boards of Contemporary Buddhism, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Reading Religion, and Studies on Humanistic Buddhism.

Born and raised in Singapore, Chia received his PhD in History at Cornell University, where his dissertation won the Lauriston Sharp Prize. He earned his BA (Hons) and MA from the National University of Singapore and his second MA from Harvard University, where he was a Harvard-Yenching Fellow. Before teaching at NUS, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Buddhist Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

For more information on his research, visit www.jackchia.com

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

• Buddhism in Maritime Southeast Asia
• Buddhist Diaspora
• Buddhist Diplomacy
• Chinese Popular Religion
• South China Sea

TEACHING AREAS:

• Asia and the Modern World
• Buddhism in World History
• Buddhism in Southeast Asian History
• Approaches to the Study of Southeast Asian History

GRADUATE SUPERVISION:

Dr. Chia is happy to supervise research students in the areas of Buddhism and Chinese popular religion. Applicants interested to work on Buddhism should indicate their interest in being considered for the FASS Scholarship in Buddhist Studies.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Books:

• Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.
• Living with Myths in Singapore. Singapore: Ethos Books, 2017. (Co-edited)

Journal Articles & Book Chapters:

• “Diaspora’s Dharma: Buddhist Connections across the South China Sea, 1900-1949.” Contemporary Buddhism 21, no. 1, forthcoming 2021.
• “The Road Less Travelled: From Landways to Seaways in the Study of Theravāda Buddhism.” Journal of Global Buddhism 22, no. 1 (2021): 211–218.
• “Singing to Buddha: The Case of a Buddhist Rock Band in Contemporary Indonesia.” Archipel 100 (2020): 175–197.
• “Neither Mahayana Nor Theravada: Ashin Jinarakkhita and the Indonesian Buddhayana Movement.” History of Religions 58, no. 1 (August 2018): 24-63
• “Who is Tua Pek Kong? The Cult of Grand Uncle in Malaysia and Singapore.” Archiv Orientální 85, no. 3 (December 2017): 439-460.
• “Prolific Writer, Cool Blogger: Shravasti Dhammika.” In Figures of Buddhist Modernity in Asia, edited by Jeffrey Samuels, Justin Thomas McDaniel, and Mark Michael Rowe, 176-178. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2016.
• “Defending the Dharma: Buddhist Activism in a Global City-State.” In Singapore: Negotiating State and Society, 1965-2015, edited by Jason Lim and Terence Lee, 143-158. New York: Routledge, 2016.
• “Toward a Modern Buddhist Hagiography: Telling the Life of Hsing Yun in Popular Media.” Asian Ethnology 74, no. 1 (2015): 141-165.
• “A Recent Quest for Religious Roots: The Revival of the Guangze Zunwang Cult and its Sino-Southeast Asian Networks, 1978-2009.” Journal of Chinese Religions 41, no. 2 (November 2013): 91-123.
• “Managing The Tortoise Island: Tua Pek Kong Temple, Pilgrimage, and Social Change in Pulau Kusu, 1965-2007.” New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 11, no. 2 (December 2009): 72-95.
• “Buddhism in Singapore: A State of the Field Review.” Asian Culture 33 (June 2009): 81-93.
• “Teaching Dharma, Grooming Sangha: The Buddhist College of Singapore.” SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 24, no. 1 (April 2009): 122-138.
• “Buddhism in Singapore-China Relations: Venerable Hong Choon and his Visits, 1982-1990.” The China Quarterly 196 (December 2008): 864-883.