Program, Indian Roots of Global Buddhism, UCLA Saturday April 29 2017:
10:00 Welcome Remarks (Monica L. Smith, Professor, UCLA Department of Anthropology and Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Navin and Pratima Doshi Chair in Indian Studies)
10:10 Religious Studies at UCLA (Carol Bakhos, Professor, UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures; Director, UCLA Center for the Study of Religion)
10:20 Buddhist Scholarship In Los Angeles (Robert Brown, Professor, UCLA Department of Art History; Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art).
10:30 Robin A.E. Coningham (Professor and UNESCO Chair in Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage, Durham University)
“Archaeology, Pilgrimage and Tradition: Excavating Lumbini and the Natal Landscape of the Buddha”
11:15 Jason Neelis (Associate Professor, Department of Religion and Culture, Wilfred Laurier University)
“Endangered Signposts of Buddhist Transmission: Upper Indus Petroglyphs and Inscriptions"
12:00-1:15: Lunch
1:15 Robert D. DeCaroli (Professor, Department of History and Art History, George Mason University)
“Snakes and Gutters: Buddhist Rainmaking in Art and Text”
2:00 Shahnaj Husne Jahan (Professor and Director of the Center for Archaeological Studies, University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh)
“Re-visioning the Buddhist Landscape of Bangladesh”
2:45 Hannah Bloch (Digital Editor, National Public Radio)
“On the Journalistic Trail of Buddhist Heritage in Afghanistan: The Case of Mes Aynak”
3:30 M.B. Rajani (Assistant Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore)
“Buddhist sites in India: Geospatial Insights Into Their Past and Future”
4:15 Ross Davison (Production Lead, CyArk.org)
“Utilizing Reality Capture Technology for Rapid Damage Assessment: Recent Research on Buddhist Myanmar”
5:00 Closing Remarks (Gregory Schopen, Professor, UCLA Asian Languages and Cultures)
5:15 - 6:30 Reception