DeBernardi, Jean
Professor
Contact Information:
Office: 14-18 Tory Bldg.
Office phone: 492-0131
E-mail: jean.debernardi@ualberta.ca
www.arts.ualberta.ca/~jdeberna/
Mailing address: 13-15 HM Tory
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6G 2H4
Degrees:
PhD, University of Chicago
MA, University of Chicago
Diploma in Social Anthropology, Oxford University
BA, Stanford University
Research Interests:
Most recent research is a three-year project funded by SSHRC and the Wenner-Gren Foundation on "Chinese Christian Syncretism in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia." The first stage in the project explored the syncretic and anti-syncretic dimensions of Chinese Christian practice in Singapore, focusing on oratory, narrative, and ritual performance. Future plans include continuation of this project with further fieldwork in Singapore and Malaysia in 1998-2000. Has conducted field research with Chinese communities in Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan, as well as archival research with colonial records dealing with the Chinese in British Malaya and the Straits Settlements.
Teaching Areas:
Courses:
Fall 2009:
Anthr 415: History of Anthropological Theory
Anthr 485/585: Urban Anthropology
Winter 2010:
Anthr 320: Anthropology of Religion
Anthr 417/517: Anthropology of Modernity
Other Courses:
Religion and Politics
Religions of China in Practice
Language, Ethnicity, and Nationalism
Anthropology of Christianity
Honors Seminar
Selected Recent Publications:
(1997) "Ritual, Language, and Social Memory in a Nineteenth Century Chinese Secret Sworn Brotherhood," forthcoming in a special issue of Michigan Discussions in Anthropology on "Linguistic Form and Social Action" Vol. 13, 34 ms. pp.;
"Time in Chinese Thought," in the Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, ed. Helaine Selin, Netherlands: Kluwer Press. (1996)
"Teachings of a Spirit Medium," in Religions of China in Practice, edited by Donald Lopez. Princeton: Princeton University Press;
"Language in Society," in The Teaching of Anthropology: Problems, Issues and Decisions, ed. Conrad Kottak, Jane White, Richard Furlow and Patricia Rice, Mayfield Publishing Company and the American Anthropological Association. (1995)
"Managing Multicultural Societies: The Status of Minority Groups in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand." Coauthored with Christopher Tarnowski, in New Policy Challenges for ASEAN, ed. Amitav Acharya and Richard Stubbs, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press;
"Tasting the Water," in The Dialogic Emergence of Culture, ed. Dennis Tedlock and Bruce Mannheim, Urbana: The University of Illinois Press;
"Lim Boon Keng and the Invention of Cosmopolitanism in the Straits Settlements," in Managing Change in Southeast Asia: Local Identities, Global Connections, ed. Jean DeBernardi, Gregory Forth, and Sandra Niessen, Edmonton: CCSEAS. (1994)
"Social Aspects of Language Use," in Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology, ed. Tim Ingold, London: Routledge.