Buddhism, Business and Believers

The objective of this collaborative research project is to inquire into contemporary relations between business and Buddhism through bridging language-based area studies, religious studies, anthropology and economics. The aim is to gain novel insights into the manner that Buddhism mediates value within the exchanges of materiality and spirituality.

The aim of the collaborative research project Buddhism, Business and Believers is to explore how Buddhism as an emic concept is employed within the various contexts in which religious goods and services are bought and sold while paying attention to possible contradictions, contentions and contentment with Buddhist economic activity. 

We focus on how Buddhism mediates distinctions between virtue and value, spirituality and materiality, gifts and commodities – and therefore also subscribes meaning to objects, actions and human relations: How does ‘Buddhism’ mediate value and meaning through economic exchanges? In other words: When are economic practices deemed ‘Buddhist’ and how does this contribute to the legitimacy and value of the people involved, the objects traded and the spiritual spaces where economic activities take place?

Researchers

• Trine Brox (PI)
• Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg
• Jørn Borup
• Marianne Viftrup Hedegaard
• Alexander Horstmann