BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Date iCal//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.2//
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Toronto
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20251102T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20260308T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:calendar.4000.events_uoft_date.0@www.religion.utoronto.ca
CREATED:20260226T161330Z
DESCRIPTION:\nWhen and Where: \nMonday, March 23, 2026 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
  \n Zoom / SS 2106 \n Sidney Smith Hall \n 100 St George Street, Toronto 
 ON M5S 3G3 \n\nSpeakers \nMayfair Yang (University of California, Santa B
 arbara) \n\nDescription: \nOnce common across Nepal and northern India, S
 arus Cranes (Grus Antigone) are an endangered species today. 690 Sarus cra
 nes remain in Nepal, over 90% of whom choose to reside in the Lumbini are
 a of southern subtropical Nepal, the birthplace of Buddha Gautama. Why is
  Lumbini so attractive to the cranes?To answer this question, I assemble 
 together disparate elements, features, actors, and conditions in the li
 ves of these largest flying birds of the world, through what Bruno Latour
  calls Actor-Network-Theory (ANT). In the course of fieldwork in Lumbini a
 nd textual study of Hindu and Buddhist texts, I try to give agency to the
  cranes by imagining and ascertaining what might be attractive about this 
 place to the cranes. What is it about Lumbini that is to the cranes’ likin
 g? Is it the abundance of rivers and lakes? Or the local climate, which i
 s hot and moist, fronting onto the Gangetic plain? Perhaps it is the wet 
 rice paddies and other agricultural products of the local people, which p
 rovide the cranes with food and a watery habitat and protection from preda
 tors for their nests? Or is it the Buddho-Hindu religious culture of the l
 ocal human inhabitants?Too often, secular environmentalism neglects to ex
 amine ancient and living religious cultures, whose teachings may be more 
 effective in environmental protection than scientific arguments, because 
 these cultures tap into deep-seated emotions and religious ethics. Similar
 ly, Anthropology has remained steadfastly anthropocentric, in contrast t
 o the rich multispecies narratives of the religious cultures they study, 
 where humans interact and communicate with animals, plants, and diviniti
 es, and deploy them in ethics that extend to more than-humans. About the 
 Speaker Mayfair Yang 楊美惠 is a professor in the Departments of Religious St
 udies and East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies, University of Californ
 ia, Santa Barbara. She specializes in the Anthropology of Religion, Mode
 rnity, and the State; Environmental Humanities; China Studies; and Gen
 der and Media Studies. She was elected President of the Society for the An
 thropology of Religion (2023-2025), a division of the American Anthropolo
 gical Association. She was Director of Asian Studies at the University of 
 Sydney, Australia (2007-2009). She has also served as Director of the Eas
 t Asia Center at UCSB (2005-2006, 2009-2013). She was also Director of th
 e UCSB Confucius Institute, organizing conferences, events, and visitin
 g lecturers to UCSB.She is the author of two monographs: 1) Re-enchanting 
 Modernity: Ritual Economy and Society in Wenzhou, China (2020), which wo
 n an Honorable Mention for the Clifford Geertz Book Prize, and 2) Gifts,
  Favors, & Banquets: The Art of Social Relationships in China (1994), wh
 ich won an American Ethnological Society Prize. The latter is published in
  Chinese. She also edited the following four books: Anthropology of Ascend
 ant China (2024); Chinese Environmental Ethics: Religion, Ontology, and
  Social Practices (2021); Chinese Religiosities: Afflictions of Modernity
  & State Formation (2008); and Spaces of Their Own: Women’s Public Sphere
  in Transnational China (1999). She produced, wrote, and directed two vi
 deo documentaries: Through Chinese Women’s Eyes (distributed by Women Make
  Movies) and Public and Private Realms in Rural Wenzhou, China. She is cu
 rrently writing a monograph: “Religious Environmentalism in the Age of the
  Anthropocene: Potentialities and Actualities in China, Taiwan, and Nepa
 l.”This talk is part of the ongoing Posthumanism and Buddhism Series. Orga
 nized by DSR faculty members Frances Garrett and Rory Lindsay.  Hybrid. Pl
 ease register to attend either in-person (in SS 2106) or virtually on Zoom
 . If you choose to attend virtually, the join meeting link will be sent t
 o you several hours before the event begins. \n\nSponsors \nThe Robert H. 
 N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies \n100 St George Street
 , Toronto ON M5S 3G3 \n\nCategories \n Lecture \n\nAudiences \n U of T Co
 mmunityGraduate StudentsUndergraduate Students
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20260323T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20260323T170000
LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T161542Z
LOCATION:100 St George Street, Toronto ON M5S 3G3
SUMMARY:“Chasing the Sarus Cranes: Hindu and Buddhist Multispecies Assembla
 ges in Lumbini, Nepal”
URL;TYPE=URI:https://www.religion.utoronto.ca/events/%E2%80%9Cchasing-sarus
 -cranes%E2%80%AFhindu-and-buddhist-multispecies-assemblages-lumbini-nepal%
 E2%80%9D
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR