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Dissertation Information for Thomas David Dubois

NAME:
- Thomas David Dubois

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2001)

ADVISORS:
- Philip C.C. Huang
- Kathryn Bernhardt

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Fred G. Notehelfer
- David Warren Sabean
- Yunxiang Yan

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The sacred world of Cang County: Religious belief, organization, and practice in rural North China during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Abstract: Since the late nineteenth century, the villages of Cang County, located in southern Hebei Province, have undergone enormous political, social, and economic change. Yet throughout this period, personal and public religious life have remained matters of highest importance. This dissertation combines traditional archival sources with the author's fieldwork to outline the religious needs and devotion of the individual, the history of local religious institutions and networks, and interaction between religious organization and local society in Cang County during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The dissertation begins with an analysis of personal religious mentality, asking how the individual comes to know the sacred and what he or she comes to expect of it. An analysis of religious vows ( yuan ) in the city of Tianjin and in rural Cang County demonstrates the place of morality and devotion in an overtly functional ritual regimen. The place of spirit healers ( xiangtou ) in Cang County, and their interaction with other healers, particularly village doctors, demonstrates both the contingency of belief and the characteristic manner by which religious knowledge is spread through the medium of miracle tales.

Religious institutions generally did not demand exclusive belief or affiliation, and popular religiosity freely drew upon different sects and teachings as sources of inspiration. Formal teachings such as Buddhism made a great impact on local belief, but by the twentieth century, monks were few and their teaching nearly indistinguishable from local religiosity. Sectarian groups, long characterized as subversive and secret, also left an important mark on local religious life. Each teaching had distinct doctrine, organization and social appeal; some were oriented towards personal morality (Zailijiao), others addressed millenarian longings (Yiguandao), while still others were grounded in everyday ritual practice (Tiandimen, Taishangmen).

Outside of religious networks, the organization of local society, and especially the village concentrated religious knowledge, which in turn, influenced the votive lives of individual peasants. However, although the village supported religious resources (such as temples and specialists) and expressed a sense of common welfare, the ritual use of these resources was primarily by the household.

MPACT Scores for Thomas David Dubois

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-09-10 23:10:40

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Students under Thomas David Dubois

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None