Professor Palmer, David Alexander 宗樹人
Professor Palmer, David Alexander 宗樹人
| Year | Awarding Institution | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne, Paris) | PhD Anthropology of Religion |
| 1996 | University of Paris-VIII | MPhil Clinical Psychology / Medical Anthropology |
| 1992 | McGill University (Montreal, Canada) | BA Anthropology and East Asian Studies |
Dr David A Palmer is a Professor jointly appointed by the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong, which he joined in 2008. After completing his Ph.D. at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (School for Advanced Research, Université Paris PSL), he was the Eileen Barker Fellow in Religion and Contemporary Society in the Department of Sociology of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and, from 2004 to 2008, Director of the Hong Kong Centre of the French School of Asian Studies (Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient), located at the Institute for Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Palmer’s interdisciplinary research and teaching is situated at the intersection of sociology and anthropology, and is informed by scholarly traditions in history, religious studies and Sinology. He is best known for his award-winning books The Religious Question in Modern China (Joseph Levenson Award of the Association for Asian Studies and PROSE award of the American Publishers’ Association, co-authored with V. Goossaert) and Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China (Francis L.K. Hsu Award of the Society for East Asian Anthropology), both of which have become essential reading for studies on contemporary Chinese society and religion. His latest book Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality (Edward Bruner Prize for the best book in the Anthropology of Tourism by the American Anthropological Association and Oustanding Research Output Award of the HKU Faculty of Social Sciences; co-authored with E. Siegler) was published in 2017 by the University of Chicago Press. He has also published numerous articles, journal issues and edited volumes on Chinese religion, civil society, Daoism, the Bahá’í Faith, and modern and transnational religious movements. His writings have been published or are forthcoming in journals such as Current Anthropology, American Anthropologist, Economy and Society, The Journal of Asian Studies and Modern Asian Studies.
He leads the “Asian Religious Connections” research cluster at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, where he directs a GRF grant on “Daoism, Ethnic Identity and State Socialism: the Lanten Yao on the China-Vietnam-Laos Borderland” and a CRF grant on “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road.”
| Awardees | Award Date | Honours / Awards / Prizes | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-07-01 | Hua Yan Award for Excellence in the Academic Study of Religion, 2011 (for the book The Religious Question in Modern China): International Centre for Buddhist Studies, Renmin University of China | Research Achievement | |
| 2012-02-01 | 2011 PROSE Award (American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence) for best book on Religion, for the book The Religious Question in Modern China: American Publishers' Association | Research Achievement | |
| 2013-03-01 | 2013 Levenson Prize for the Best Book on Post-1900 China and Inner Asia , for the book The Religious Question in Modern China: Association for Asian Studies | Research Achievement | |
| 2018-11-01 | Edward Bruner Prize for the best book in the Anthropology of Tourism by the American Anthropological Association, for the book Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality.: American Anthropological Association, Anthropology of Tourism interest group | Research Achievement | |
| 2021-01-01 | RGC Research Fellow: RGC | Research Achievement | |
| 2018-12-01 | HKU Faculty of Social Sciences Outstanding Research Output award: HKU Faculty of Social Sciences | Research Achievement | |
| 2018-12-01 | Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship: RGC | Research Achievement | |
| 2008-11-01 | Francis L.K. Hsu Award for the Best Book in East Asian Anthropology.: Society for East Asian Anthropology, American Anthropological Association. | Research Achievement | |
| 2014-05-01 | Visiting Senior Research Fellow: Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore | Research Achievement | |
| 2017-05-01 | Visiting Research Fellow: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris | Research Achievement |
| Term Period | Position | Professional Societies |
|---|---|---|
| Member | East Asian Society for the Scientific Study of Religion | |
| Member | Association for Asian Studies | |
| Member | American Anthropological Association | |
| 01/2009-11/2012 | Francis Hsu Book Prize Committee Member | Society for East Asian Anthropology, American Anthropological Association |
| Member | American Academy of Religion | |
| Member | Hong Kong Sociological Association | |
| Member | Association for the Sociology of Religion |
| Area of Expertise (EN) | Area of Expertise (ZH) |
|---|---|
| State, society and traditional culture in modern China | 當代中國國家、社會與傳統文化 |
| Social and historical anthropology, ethnography, body, memory, moral discourse, globalization | 社會及歷史人類學、民族志、人體、記憶、道德論、全球化 |
| Religious and spiritual movements | 靈性及宗教運動 |
| Civil society, NGOs and development | 公民社會、民間團體、社會發展 |
| Spoken Language(s) (EN) | Spoken Language(s) (ZH) |
|---|---|
| English, Putonghua, French | 英語、普通話、法語 |
| Written Language(s) (EN) | Written Language(s) (ZH) |
|---|---|
| English, Chinese, French | 英文、中文、法文 |
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