The Body in Asia

The past few decades have seen growing interest in the study of the body, not least thanks to Michel Foucault's historical studies of medicine in the 1970s, which inspired the initial development of the contemporary study of the human body. However, the increasing number of exciting and influential publications has primarily, if not exclusively, focused on the body in Western cultures. The various works produced by Asian scholars remain largely unknown to Western academic debates even though Asia is home to a host of rich body cultures and religions. The peoples of Asia have experienced colonization, decolonization, and now globalization, all of which make the "body in Asia" a rewarding field of research. This volume is unique, as it brings together into a single volume a number of scholars who work on East, Southeast and South Asia and presents original and cutting-edge research on the body in various Asian cultures.

Bryan S. Turner was Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge and is currently Professor of Sociology in the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. He is the leading researcher of the cluster on religion and globalization, and is currently writing a three volume study of the sociology of religion for Cambridge University Press. He is the founding editor of the journal Body & Society (with Mike Featherstone), and his publications include the Dictionary of Sociology (CUP, 2006) and Vulnerability and Human Rights (Penn State University Press, 2006). Zheng Yangwen received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 2001. She taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the National University of Singapore before joining the University of Manchester as a Lecturer. She is the author of The Social Life of Opium in China (CUP, 2005), editor of Personal Names in Asia: History, Culture and Identity (with Charles J-H Macdonald, National University of Singapore Press, 2009) and of Negotiating Asymmetry: China's Place in Asia (with Anthony Reid, National University of Singapore Press, 2009).