POUL ANDERSEN
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Department of Religion
Curriculum Vitae
DEGREES
Ph.D. from the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen, with the dissertation, Taoist Ritual Texts and Traditions, With Special Reference to Bugang, the Cosmic Dance, December 1991.
M.A. in Chinese Language and Culture, University of Copenhagen, with the thesis, The Method of Holding the Three Ones. A Taoist Manual of Meditation of the Fourth Century A.D., 1976.
B.A. in Danish Language and Literature, University of Copenhagen, 1973.
POSITIONS
2002-2013: Assistant/Associate Professor and Graduate Chair at the Department of Religion, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
1995-2001: Wissenschaftlicher Assistent (Assistant Professor) at the Seminar für Sinologie, Humboldt Universität, Berlin.
1994-95: Visiting Professor at the Arbeitsstelle für Geschichte und Philosophie der chinesischen Wissenschaft und Technik, Technische Universität, Berlin.
1992-93: Visiting Lecturer at the Department of East Asian Languages, University of California at Berkeley.
1987-88: Research Fellow, East Asian Institute, University of Copenhagen.
1977-84: Research Fellow, East Asian Institute, University of Copenhagen. Participant in the European Daozang Project, an “additional activity” of the European Science Foundation.
Research Fellowships and Grants
June-August 1977: Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen, travel grant for three months of fieldwork in Taiwan.
August 1977-January 1980: East Asian Institute, University of Copenhagen, Research Fellowship, including travel grant for one year of fieldwork in Tainan, Taiwan.
August 1980-January 1984: Danish Research Council for the Humanities, Research Fellowship to participate in the European Daozang Project, an “additional activity” of the European Science Foundation, including travel grants to do research in Paris, under the direction of Professor K. M. Schipper, coordinator of the Daozang Project.
August 1980-January 1984: European Science Foundation, numerous travel grants to attend workshops in Paris, Oxford, and Würzburg, and to study for one month in Oxford with Professor Piet van der Loon, June 1982.
April 1986-March 1988: Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark, Research Fellowship to work on dissertation, including travel grant for one year of fieldwork in Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China.
June 1990: Nordic Council, travel grant to teach at the Scandinavian Summer Course: Research Methods in Pre-Modern Chinese History, University of Oslo, 19-27 June.
April-May 1991: Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark, travel grant for lecture tour and research in the United States.
February-March 1996: Humboldt Universität, Berlin, travel grant for research at the Harvard-Yenching library, Harvard University.
April-May 1998: Humboldt Universität, Berlin, travel grant for fieldwork in Anhui, China.
July 2004: University of Hawaii, University Research Council, Research Relations Fund, travel grant for research in Denmark on “The Religious Iconography of Chinese Daoism” ($ 4,872).
August 2005: Grant from the E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation for development of the Daoist Iconography Project ($ 60,000).
November 2006: Grant from the Chung-Fong and Grace Ning Fund for Chinese Studies for acquisition of images from the Tenri Central Library, Nara, Japan ($ 1000).
August 2008-January 2009: Visiting Scholar at the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University.
February-May 2009: Center for Chinese Studies, Taipei, Research Grant for Foreign Scholars in Chinese Studies (travel expenses plus NT$50,000 per month in four months).
Research Abroad
June-August 1977: fieldwork in Taiwan.
March 1978-February 1979: fieldwork in Tainan, Taiwan.
April 1986-March 1987: fieldwork in Tainan, Taiwan.
July-September 1986: travels in the People’s Republic of China, including Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shanghai, and Beijing.
September 1989: fieldwork in Fujian and visits to Daoist mountains in West and South China.
April-May 1998: fieldwork in Anhui, China.
February-May 2009: fieldwork and research in Tainan and Taipei, Taiwan.
Research Interests and Projects
Chinese religion and philosophy, especially the history of Daoist ritual traditions; Daoist iconogra phy; visual studies; theory of symbols; theory of ritual; philosophy of existence; philosophy of truth.
Initiator and Director of the Daoist Iconography Project, an international collaborative project with the purpose of creating a web-based electronic resource for research into Daoist iconography, developed at the Department of Religion, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Website: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/daoist-iconography/index.htm.
Publications
I. Books
1. The Method of Holding the Three Ones. A Taoist Manual of Meditation of the Fourth Century A.D. (Studies on Asian Topics, no. 1). Copenhagen: Curzon Press, 1980 (reprinted 1989).
2. Kinesiske religioner og livsformer (Chinese Religions and Customs), with Simon Heilesen and Birthe Mølhave. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1990.
3. Taoist Ritual Texts and Traditions, With Special Reference to Bugang, the Cosmic Dance, Ph.D. dissertation. Copenhagen, 1991.
4. Daode Jing: Bogen om Vejen og Magten. Mystik og praktisk visdom i det gamle Kina (Daode Jing: The Book of the Way and Its Power. Mysticism and Practical Wisdom in Ancient China) (Verdensreligionernes Hovedværker). Copenhagen: Spektrum Forlag, 1999.
5. The Demon Chained under Turtle Mountain. The History and Mythology of the Chinese River Spirit Wuzhiqi. Berlin: G + H Verlag, 2001.
6. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang (collective work), ed. by K. M. Schipper and Franciscus Verellen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
7. Scriptures, Schools, and Forms of Practice in Daoism. A Berlin Symposium, ed. with Florian C. Reiter. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005.
8. The Encyclopedia of Taoism (collective work), ed. by Fabrizio Pregadio. London: Routledge, 2008.
9. The Paradox of Being: Truth, Identity, and Images in Daoism. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2019.
II. Articles
1. Review of Hou Ching-Lang: Monnaies d’offrande et la notion de trésorerie dans la religion chinoise, Paris 1975, Acta Orientalia 38 (1977), pp. 433-435.
2. “Taoismen,” in Gads religionshistoriske tekster (Texts of the History of Religions). Copenhagen: Gads Forlag, 1984, pp. 185-210.
3. Review of Ute Engelhardt: Die klassische Tradition der Qi-übungen, Stuttgart 1987, Acta Orientalia 50 (1989), pp. 271-279.
4. “The Practice of Bugang,” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 5 (1989-1990), pp. 15-53.
5. “A Visit to Huashan,” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 5 (1989-1990), pp. 343-348.
6. “Guideline of the Eight Trigrams,” East Asian Institute, Occasional Papers 6 (Copenhagen 1990), pp. 13-30.
7. “The Study of the Daozang,” Studies in Central and East Asian Religions 3 (Copenhagen 1990), pp. 81-94.
8. “Før lukketid—om humanistisk videnskab” (“Before Closing-Time—On Humanistic Science”), feature article in Information, October 16, 1991.
9. “Kinas religioner,” in Gyldendals religionshistorie (Gyldendal’s History of Religions). Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1994, pp. 430-460.
10. “Talking to the Gods: Visionary Divination in Early Taoism (the Sanhuang Tradition),” Taoist Resources 5, 1 (1994), pp. 1-24.
11. “The Transformation of the Body in Taoist Ritual,” in Religious Reflections on the Human Body, ed. by Jane Marie Law. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995, pp. 181-202.
12. “Cults and Liturgical Frameworks: Religious Revival in Southern Fujian,” Review of Kenneth Dean: Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China, Princeton 1993, Acta Orientalia 56 (1995), pp. 165-175.
13. “Taoist Talismans and the History of the Tianxin Tradition,” Review of Monica Drexler: Daoistische Schriftmagie. Interpretationen zu den Schriftamuletten Fu im Daozang, Stuttgart 1994, Acta Orientalia 57 (1996), pp. 141-152.
14. Review of D. E. Mungello (ed.): The Chinese Rites Controversy: Its History and Meaning (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series, vol. 33), Nettetal 1994, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 147, 1 (1997), pp. 240-245.
15. Ca. 80 articles on Chinese Religions, Dao, Dao De Jing, Dao Zang, Daoism, etc. for Den Store Danske Encyklopædi (The Great Danish Encyclopedia). Copenhagen: Gyldendal, published continuously from 1994.
16. “En informationsk gåde” (“An Informational Mystery”), feature article in Information, April 10, 2000.
18. “Concepts of Meaning in Chinese Ritual,” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 12 (2001), pp. 155-183.
19. “Taoist Ritual in the Shanghai Area,” in Ethnography in China Today. A Critical Assessment of Methods and Results, ed. by Daniel L. Overmyer. Taibei: Yuan-liou Publishing Co., 2002, pp. 263-283.
20. Review of Louis Komjathy, Title Index to Daoist Collections, Cambridge: Three Pines Press, 2002, Philosophy East and West 54, 3 (2004), pp. 407-411.
21. “Scriptural Traditions West and East: Foundation of Belief versus Frameworks for the Transmission of Methods,” in Scriptures, Schools, and Forms of Practice in Daoism. A Berlin Symposium, ed. by Poul Andersen and Florian C. Reiter. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005, pp. 13-32.
22. “The Life of Images in Daoist Ritual,” in Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual, vol. 1, general editor, Axel Michaels. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010, pp. 535-55.
23. “Kinas religioner,” in Gyldendals religionshistorie (Gyldendal’s History of Religions). Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2011.
