Subject: UChicago Buddhist Studies Club

Description: The purpose of the Buddhist Studies Club seeks to fill a current campus lacuna: an interdisciplinary communal and academic space for students to come together outside the classroom in order to meet peers, build community, and further investigate questions in our field through more transdisciplinary lenses. The group aims to facilitate further learning according to the groups’ current interests as well as to investigate, question, and remedy the field’s challenges, such as forms of under-representation and potentially problematic historical norms and new practices. We hope to foster a responsible academic community in our field on and beyond campus.

We host a few sorts of events including:
(1) a bi/tri-weekly reading group to discuss a seminal chapter or article decided on collectively to build upon the integrity of our scholarship;
(2) social events, ranging from pub nights for looser discussions and connecting students in the field, on one hand, and on the other, relevant ‘field-trips’ to view Buddhist-focused exhibitions, such as at the Art Institute, which can be further sources for reflection;
(3) academic colloquia on new and upcoming under-explored areas in Buddhist Studies, including by student and faculty members, in order to create some official space for practicing presentation skills, promoting interdisciplinarity, and for ensuring under-covered topics enter broader consciousness.