I obtained my master’s degree in education at National Taiwan Normal University. In my MA thesis, I tackle the issues of career choice among Taiwan’s Indigenous college students by referring to the cultural model theory put forward by Professor John Ogbu, an American anthropologist and a specialist in education. I point out a number of limitations with applying concepts in Ogbu's model to Indigenous students' lives in Taiwan, and suggest taking into account other perspectives for further research.
I obtained my PhD in social anthropology at the University of Bristol in 2013. In my thesis, entitled “Tenrikyo: A Study of a Japanese New Religious Movement Overseas,” I conducted an ethnography of the Tenrikyo movement and its development in Taiwan. I provide an illustration of how the emergence and spread of such a contemporary religious phenomenon, following a pattern of Japanese religious globalization, relates to the complex interplay of historical, social, and cultural forces between Japan and Taiwan, as well as within Taiwan society. My research shows that Japanese religious movements such as Tenrikyo began to embark on overseas missionary activities as early as the Meiji period (1868-1912), and that the rise of Japan’s economy in the 1960s has encouraged those missionaries to embark on overseas activities in far-flung regions such as Latin America, North America, Western Europe, Australia and so forth.
Ⅰ. Research Interest
(Ⅰ) The study of Japanese new religious movements
I obtained my PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of Bristol in 2013. My academic training gives me a broad and open mind, helping me to recognize how distinctive a certain type of society is, be it a small-scale society such as the Atayal (one Austronesian people to which I belong in Taiwan), or a large society in East Asia such as Taiwan, Japan, the UK or South Korea. For instance, in my PhD thesis, entitled Tenrikyo, A Study of A Japanese New Religious Movement Overseas, I conducted an ethnography of a Japanese new religious movement (Tenrikyo) and its development in Taiwan. I provided an illustration of how the emergence and spread of such a contemporary religious phenomenon, following a pattern of Japanese religious globalization, is related to the complex interplay of historical, social and cultural forces between, as well as within Taiwan’s society.
I have also published a Chinese article entitled The New Religious Movements in Contemporary Japan in a peer-reviewed journal in Taiwan, showing that the rise of Japanese new religious movements in Japan is linked to several factors, such as millennialism, charismatic authority and leadership, shamanism, healing, modernization and so forth (Huang, 2014: 154-171). Japan’s globalized society reached full-scale development during the period of growth after the Second World War and since then mass media has developed rapidly. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, a wave of active new religious movements with an educated membership came to prominence in Japan. These movements recruited effectively and triggered a good deal of public attention because they emerged in the midst of a technologically advancing, modernizing and globalizing society.
Another two peer-reviewed articles, “Colonial encounter and inculturation: the birth and development of Tenrikyo in Taiwan”(Nova Religio – Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (AHCI), 19, no. 3, February 2016)” and “Embracing Ritual Healing: The Case of Sazuke in Tenrikyo in Contemporary Taiwan”(Journal of Religion and Health(SSCI & AHCI), 2017, 56(4))”, are now in publication. The former focuses on Tenrikyo in Taiwan and asking why it has done comparatively well (the main reasons including the presence of Japanese political-economic influence, colonial encounter and inculturation). The latter shows that ritual healing (sazuke) plays an important role in facilitating the Tenrikyo organization in contemporary Taiwan.
(Ⅱ) Anthropology and education
I worked as a primary teacher at an Atayal-dominated school in Taiwan for 10 years (1991-2001), and since then have been interested in the educational issues concerning indigenous peoples in Taiwan. I obtained my master’s degree in education at National Taiwan Normal University (Huang 1999). In my MA thesis, I tackle the issues of career choices among the indigenous college students in Taiwan by referring to the cultural model theory put forward by Professor John Ogbu, an American anthropologist and a specialist in education. I also point out a number of limitations concerning the application of theoretical concepts of Ogbu's cultural model to indigenous college students' life in Taiwan, and suggest to take into account other perspectives for further research.
Ⅱ. Future Research Plan
I conducted a fieldwork study concerning the expansion of Tenrikyo from Japan to overseas countries such as Taiwan, England and South Korea. My research showed that Japanese new religious movements such as Tenrikyo, Soka Gakkai, Mahikari, Gedatsukai, Seicho-no-Ie and so forth begin to embark on overseas missionary activities from as early as the Meiji period (1868-1912), and that the rise of Japan’s economy in the 1960s encourages Japanese new religious movements to embark on their overseas activities in foreign continents such as Latin America, North America, Western Europe, Australia and so forth.
In the English materials, although research into Japanese new religious movements overseas has become accumulated and extensive, academic sources pertinent to Japanese new religious movements in Taiwan remain limited. The absence of English accounts of Japan’s new religions in Taiwan demands much attention and effort in this field of study.