About

Kellogg Institute Faculty Fellow Lionel M. Jensen is Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Notre Dame.  His research is identified closely with the intellectual history of “Confucianism”; however, his interests and published work extend from ancient, through medieval, modern and even contemporary topics. He has conducted research into Chinese religion and thought, contemporary economy and politics, human rights, folklore, early Sino-western contact, popular cults, comparative mythology, and nationalism. Jensen has been a Kellogg Institute faculty fellow since 2001.

He is currently completing his latest book, Enchanting Texts: The Mythistories of Confucianism. For more than two decades, Jensen has taught courses in Chinese history, religion, philosophy, politics, and society at Notre Dame, the University of Colorado, and the University of Pennsylvania, and has been recognized for his achievements in teaching. In 2010 he received the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2010.

Thematic Interests

Official and unofficial Chinese religion; folklore and popular culture; new media and contemporary urban culture; US-China relations; Chinese nationalism

Current Research

“Fictions and Fractures of Time and Place,” a critical investigation into the mythic qualities of historical “fact” in China; “Webs of Rope,” examining the limits of political freedom in the explosive generation of cyber communities; a manuscript-length exploration of the ecumenical convergence of natural science, native religious traditions, and nationalism in the work of the political reformer, Tan Sitong (1866–1898).

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