Area of Interest:

Architecture, Art and Aesthetics, Religious Landscapes, Japan

Education:

Research & Activities:

Research: Kamakura and Kyoto, Japan (1985-1986; 1998). Research on temple architecture and gardens in several Zen Buddhist temples. Research in the New Territories and southern China (1986) on the influence of Chinese feng shui on the spatial structure and symbolic form of temple gardens in Kamakura-period (1185-1333) Japan. Presently completing a monograph and a series of historically-oriented articles on Tenryu temple (Temple of the Celestial Dragon) and garden, in Kyoto, and Zuisen temple (Temple of the Abundant Flowing Spring) and garden, Kyoto.

Courses Taught: (fall) Anthropology 123 (old ANTH 23), Habitat and Humanity; Anthropology 438 (old ANTH 138), Religion, Nature, and Environment; (spring) Anthropology 434 (old ANTH 134/Folklore 134), Art and Culture; Anthropology 586 (old ANTH196/ASIA 196), The Gardens, Shrines, and Temples of Japan.

Recent Lectures:

2004: "Nature as Virtue: The Virtue of Nature."North Carolina society for Ethical Culture. Arts Center, Carrboro, NC. October 13th.

2003: "Dragons, Art, and Concepts of Nature." Pine, Plum and Bamboo: Seasonal and Spiritual Approaches to Japanese Art. Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. December 10th.

2003: "Cross-Cultural Approaches to Buddhist Aesthetics." Panel chair and discussant, Annual Meeting of the Southern Japan Seminar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. November 8th.

2003: "Japan: Religion and Nature." Japan Orientation Program, University of North Carolina at Wilmington. May 10th.

2002: "Religion and Nature in Japan." Carolina Environmental Program University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. January 15th.

2001: "The Gardens of Japan: A Photographic Journey." Blue Moon Bookstore, Penland, NC. August 10th

2001: "Touch and Experience: The Spirit of Art, Nature, and Gardens." Penland Craft School, Penland, NC. August 5th.

2001: "Japan: An Introduction." Kenan-Flagler School of Business, Executive Training Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

2001: "Mountain, Temple, and the Design of Movement: 13th Century Japanese Zen Buddhist Landscapes." Symposium on Landscape Design and the Experience of Motion Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C.

2000: "Art-Public and Private: A Cross-Cultural Perspective." Public Art - A Symposium, Department of Art, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Courses Taught:

Anth 123 ( Habitat and Humanity ) =
http://www.unc.edu/courses/2003fall/anth/023/001/

Anth 434 (Art, Myth, and Nature) =
http://www.unc.edu/courses/2005ss2/anth/134/001/"

Anth 438/HNRS 438H (Concepts of Nature) =
http://www.unc.edu/courses/2005spring/hnrs/027/001/

Anth 586 (Gardens, Shrines, and Temples of Japan) =
http://www.unc.edu/courses/2003spring/anth/196/001/

Selected Publications:

2006 "The Architecture of Peace in 13th Century Japan.” IN Peace, Power, and Conflicts. D.P. Dubey, editor.
Allahabad: Society of Pilgrimage Studies (in press).

2004 "The Spiral Designs of Nature, and Craft." IN The Nature of Craft and the Penland Experience. Pp. 74-82.
New York: Lark Books.

2003 "Mountain Temple, and the Design of Movement: 13th Century Japanese Zen Buddhist Landscapes."
In Landscape Design and the Experience of Motion.
Michel Conan, editor. Pp. 157-185. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks.

2001 "Gardens of the Heart." Parabola 26(1):29-35.

2000 "Indigenous Architecture in Borneo: Traditional Patterns and New Developments." American Ethnologist 27(2):554-556.

1999 "A Song of Secret Places. Pilgrimage 25:4-10

1994 "Buddhism and the Architectured Ethical Environment: Zuisen Temple and Garden, Kamakura, Japan."
Tradition and Ideology in Building: Temples and Rituals 64:1-31. Berkeley: University of California, Center for Environmental Design Research.

1993 "Cannibals and Culture: The Protoanthropology of Michel de Montaigne." Dialectical Anthropology 18:153-176.

1993 "Muso Kokushi and the Cave in Zuisen Temple, Kamakura, Japan: Buddhist Ethics, Environment, and Behavior." In Environmental Ethics: Discourses and Cultural Traditions. Rana P.B. Singh, editor. Pp. 123-140. Varanasi: The National Geographic Society of India. (concurrently printed as) "Muso Kokushi and the Cave in Zuisen Temple, Kamakura, Japan: Buddhist Ethics, Environment, and Behavior" The National Geographic Journal of India. 39:161-178.

1993 "Zen Buddhist Landscapes and the Idea of Temple: Muso Kokushi and Zuisen-ji, Kamakura, Japan."
Architecture and Behavior 9:213-226.

1992 "Tenryu Temple and Garden: The Evolution of a Religious Landscape in Medieval Japan." Temples in Traditional Environments 49:1-30. Berkeley: University of California. Center for Environmental Design Research.

1991 "Garden as Sacred Space." In The Power of Place. James Swan, editor. Pp. 167-187. Wheaton: Quest Books.

1991 "Primordial Image and the Archetypal Design of Art." Journal of Analytical Psychology. 36:371-392.

1991 "Zuisen Temple and Garden, Kamakura, Japan: Design Form and Phylogenetic Meaning." Journal of Garden History. 10:214-236.

1990 "Art and the Meaning of Things." Reviews in Anthropology. 17:221-234.