The inclusive story of Tzu Chi
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
- Venue
- Senate House (Paul Webley Wing)
- Room
- SWLT
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
In collaboration with the SOAS Centre of Buddhist Studies, the Centre of Taiwan Studies is delighted to welcome Dr Stefania Travagnin to give a talk on the Taiwanese Buddhist charity Tzu Chi.
Dr Travagnin will explore how Tzu Chi adapts, integrates, and finds recognition across diverse cultural and religious contexts worldwide. Tzu Chi Foundation is a transnational Taiwanese Buddhist charity active on all continents, with missions in nearly 140 countries. Its work in regions with Christian or Muslim majorities, and in cultural contexts far removed from Chinese/Asian (and specifically Buddhist) frameworks, has required the organization to adapt and translate religious—especially Buddhist—vocabularies to make them understandable to non-Buddhist populations. At the same time, local residents and non-Buddhists—from the Middle East to Africa and the Americas—have joined Tzu Chi, embracing an inclusive Buddhist philosophy while retaining their original beliefs.
Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Tzu Chi communities in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, this presentation explores how the Taiwanese story of Tzu Chi has changed as it has moved 'far from home'. Dr Travagnin conceptualises the cross-cultural dialogue and interaction between Taiwanese Buddhist Tzu Chi and non-Taiwanese, non-Buddhist volunteers through three interrelated processes: negotiation (Tzu Chi’s adaptation to local cultures, including greater flexibility in rules and procedures); integration (the translation and exchanges of Tzu Chi into local cultural contexts); and recognition (the identification of parallels and resonances between Tzu Chi’s philosophy and local belief systems).
About the speaker
Stefania Travagnin is Reader in Chinese Buddhism at SOAS, where she also serves as Chair of the Centre for Buddhist Studies. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on Buddhism and Buddhists in modern China and Taiwan, from the late 19th century to the present. She is co-director of the research project 'Mapping Religious Diversity in Modern Sichuan'. Her current research project on Tzu Chi humanitarianism outside Asia has been supported by the British Academy (2024–2025). Travagnin has edited and co-edited several volumes, including Religion and Media in China: Insights and Case Studies from the Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong (Routledge, 2016); the three-volume series Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions (De Gruyter, 2019–2020); and Buddhism and International Humanitarian Law (Routledge, 2023). She is editor-in-chief of the journal Review of Religion and Chinese Society.
