Zu, Jessica

Contact Information
Assistant Professor
USC School of Religion
College of Letters Arts and Sciences
E-mail: xzu@usc.edu

Links
USC School of Religion

Education

• Ph.D. Religion, Princeton University, 2020
• Ph.D. Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, 2003

Description of Research

Professor Zu is a scholar of Buddhism. Her research focuses on the intellectual history and the socio-religious change in modern Asia from the overlooked perspectives of religious practitioners. More specifically, she uncovers unknown episodes and understudied historical actors that had paved the way to the modern afterlives of ancient Buddhist spiritual inclusiveness as collective quest for social equality. Her research also illustrates how Asian intellectuals retooled Buddhist spiritual exercises into powerful critiques of scientism, social Darwinism, colonialism, and capitalism. More broadly, by showcasing the vibrant cultural productions and meaning-making circulated between the margins of the colonial empire, her research decodes the appeal of Buddhism in an era of globalized inequality.

Publications and research

• From the Scientific Buddha to the Engaged Buddha: The Unknown History of Buddhist Social Consciousness in Modern China
• Tagore’s Buddhological project
• Professor Zu is also working with Dr. Susanne Kerekes at Williams College on a much broader collaborative project—“Buddhism of the 99%.” 

Service to the Profession

• Editorships and Editorial Boards
• Review Editor, H-Buddhism (China), 05/2020-05/2022