Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
Contact Information
Associate Professor
Department of Religion and East Asian Languages and Cultures
E-mail: meeks@email.usc.edu
Phone: (323) 719-0984
Office: ACB 234
Education
- Ph.D. East Asian Religions, Princeton University, 2003
- B.A. Religion, Columbia University, 1998
Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science , 2006-2007
- Stanford Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, 2003-2004
Description of Research
Summary Statement of Research Interests
I am interested in the social, cultural, and intellectual histories of Japanese Buddhism. Much of my work has focused, in particular, on clarifying the roles of women as consumers and practitioners of Buddhism in the Heian and Kamakura periods (roughly ninth through early fourteenth centuries). My research has also attempted to shed light on the ways in which gender is handled in Buddhist texts, on the roles that Buddhist texts played in the dissemination of gendered ideology, and on popular responses to doctrinal discussions of sex and gender. Other interests include the social history of monasticism and the role of the arts in Buddhist practice.
Research Specialties
Women, Gender, and Religion; Religious and Social History of Japan; Women’s History in East Asia; Buddhist Literature and Philosophy; Buddhist Monasticism; Japanese Literature and Culture
Funded Research
USC Funding
Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Gender, Buddhism, and Popular Culture in Late Medieval and Early Modern Japan: This work seeks to identify the social and historical processes by which certain aspects of Buddhist doctrine related to gender were transmitted to and popularized among ordinary people in Japan. , $25,000, 07/2008-07/2009
Publications
Book
- Meeks, L. R. (2010). Hokkeji and the Reemergence of Female Monastic Orders in Premodern Japan / / Reviews: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 37/2 (2010), Religious Studies Review 36/4 (2010), American Historical Review 116.2 (2011), Monumenta Nipponica 66.1 (2011), The Journal of Asian Studies 70.3 (2011), Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 54 (2011) //. Honolulu, HI: Kuroda Institute Studies in East Asian Buddhism (University of Hawai'i Press). Winner of the 2012 John Whitney Hall Prize
- James Benn, James Robson, and Lori Meeks (Ed.). (2009). Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia: Places of Practice. London: Routledge. Routledge Link
Book Chapter
- Meeks, L. R. (2015). "Survival and Salvation in the Tale of the Heike: Reassessing the Legacy of Kenreimon’in". Loveable Losers: The Taira in Action and Memory University of Hawaii Press.
- Meeks, L. R. (2014). "Nuns and Laywomen in East Asia". Blackwell Companion to East & Inner Asian Buddhism pp. 318-339. Wiley Blackwell.
- Meeks, L. R. (2013). The Priesthood as a Family Trade: Reconsidering Monastic Marriage in Premodern Japan. Family in Buddhism Albany, NY: SUNY Press. SUNY
- Meeks, L. R. (2010). "Amadera ni okeru seikatsu o saiko suru: Girei, shinko, shakai seikatsu no ba toshite no chusei no Hokkeji" (Reconsidering life in the nunnery: Ritual, devotion, and social life at medieval Hokkeji), trans. Tomoko Kitagawa, in Lucia Dolce and Matsumoto Ikuyo, eds., Girei no chikara (The power of ritual). pp. 207-228. Kyoto: Hozokan. on Amazon Japan
- Meeks, L. R. (2009). "Chuguji Imperial Convent" (with Monica Bethe) and "Hokkeji Imperial Convent," with Japanese trans. by the Center for Intercultural Communication. pp. 40-53. (Tokyo: Sankei Shinbunsha, 2009): Amamonzeki--A Hidden Heritage: Treasures of the Japanese Imperial Convents (exhibition catalogue). This book was recently mentioned in The New York Times.
- Meeks, L. R. (2008). "Chuguji and Female Monasticism in the Age of Shotoku," in Dorothy Wong, ed., Horyuji Reconsidered. pp. 237-262. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Journal Article
- Meeks, L. R. (2016). "Imagining Rahula in Medieval Japan: The Raun Koshiki". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. Vol. 43 (1), pp. 131-151. http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/4475
- Meeks, L. R. (2011). "The Disappearing Medium: Reassessing the Place of Miko in the Religious Landscape of Premodern Japan". History of Religions (University of Chicago Press). Vol. 51 (1), pp. 208-260. Japanese Version available here
- Meeks, L. R. (2010). "Buddhist Renunciation and the Female Life Cycle: Understanding Nunhood in Heian and Kamakura Japan". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. Vol. 70.1 (June 2010), pp. 1-59. Available through Project Muse
- Meeks, L. R. (2009). "Vows for the Masses: Eison and the Popular Expansion of Precept-Conferral Ceremonies in Premodern Japan". Numen. Vol. 56 (1 (Jan. 2009)), pp. 1-43. Link to Numen
- Meeks, L. R. (2007). "In Her Likeness: Female Divinity and Leadership at Medieval Chuguji". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. Vol. 34 (34/2), pp. 351-392.. Link to PDF
- Meeks, L. R. (2007). "Amerika ni okeru Nihon Bukkyogaku no shomondai: Bukkyo to wa nanika" ("What Counts as ‘Buddhism’?: Problems in the Study of Japanese Buddhism in the United States") (in Japanese). Higashi Ajia hikaku bunka kenkyu (Journal of the International Association for Comparative Studies of East Asian Culture)/Kasamashoin. Vol. Vol. 6 (June 2007), pp. pp. 29-39.
- Meeks, L. R. (2006). "Reconfiguring Ritual Authenticity: The Ordination Traditions of Aristocratic Women in Premodern Japan". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies/Nanzan University. Vol. 33/1, pp. 51-74. Link to PDF
Other
- Meeks, L. R. (2012). Bibliographies for Oxford Bibliography Online (Buddhism Section): "Monasticism, East Asian"; "Feminism, Buddhism in"; and "Japan, Buddhism in.". Oxford Bibliographies Online. Link to OBO
Proceedings
- Meeks, L. R. (2009). "Comments on Panel No. 1, ‘Religion and Gender,’" a formal response to papers by Katsuura Noriko, Ushiyama Yoshiyuki, and Takagi Tadashi, presented at the Harvard Conference "Beyond Buddhology," with Japanese trans. by Ryuichi Abé. pp. 26-36. Kyoto. Yoshiko Oka, ed., Amadera monjo chosa no seika o kiban toshita Nihon no josei to Bukkyo no sogo kenkyu II, published by Kyowa Insatsu.
- Meeks, L. R. (2007). "Images of Women and Nuns in Chinkai's _Bodaishinshu_" (in Japanese). 113 (56.1). pp. 20-23. Tokyo. Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies. Link to PDF (in Japanese--click CiNii PDF box in upper right-hand corner)
- Meeks, L. R., Nishiguchi, J. (2006). "Bukkyo dento no sabetsu teki na joseikan o saketa chusei Shingon Ritsu-shu no bikuni o megutte". pp. p. 19-21. Kyowa Insatsu, Kyoto, Japan. Amadera monjo chosa no seika o kiban toshita Nihon no josei to bukkyo no sogo kenkyu/Yoshiko Oka (Otemae Daigaku), ed..
Honors and Awards
- Mellon Graduate Mentoring Award, 2015-2016
- USC EMSI (Early Modern Studies Institute) Faculty Fellowship, Fall 2013
- John Whitney Hall Book Prize (2012), 2011-2012
- American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship Recipient, "How Buddhist Views of the Female Body Entered Popular Discourse: Tracing Ideological Change in Late Medieval and Early Modern Japan", Spring 2011
- USC or School/Dept Award for Teaching, GE Teaching Award, 2005-2006
Featured Articles
October 20, 2024
October 20, 2024
Please join us for the Grad Mixer! Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC Annenberg. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so it is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with IR/foreign policy-related research topics and interests.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/1zer188RE9dCS6Ho6
Events
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - 3:00pm
Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow international students.
Thursday, November 7, 2024 - 4:00pm
Join us for an in-person conversation on Thursday, November 7th at 4pm with author David M. Lampton as he discusses his new book, Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. The book examines the history of U.S.-China relations across eight U.S. presidential administrations.