Department of Religion

Assistant Professor, Buddhism and East Asian Religions

Daigengna Duoer is a historian specializing in religion in modern East and Inner Asia, with a particular focus on transnational Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism in the twentieth century. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University and teaches classes on Buddhism and Asian religions. She earned her Ph.D. in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and M.A. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Toronto.

Her forthcoming book, “Buddhism Beyond the Nation and the Empire: Transnational Buddhists in Modern East and Inner Asia,” investigates Buddhism’s roles within and beyond the competing nation and empire-building projects that took place in early 20th century Inner Mongolia and Manchuria, regions sandwiched between the expansionist ambitions of Republican China, the Japanese Empire, and the Soviet Union. Her research has been supported by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Zeit-Stiftung Bucerius, the Mongolia Foundation, the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, amongst others.

Daigengna is a host for the New Books in East Asian Studies Channel, a channel on the New Books Network. In addition to the study of religion, Daigengna is also interested in the study of religion in game media. She is one of the founders of the GAMING+ Project, an online resource for game studies, along with Kaitlyn Ugoretz and Keita Moore.”

Fall 2024 Courses:

RN 452: “Topics in Religious Thought” Topic: Zen Thought and Practice

Description: Explores Zen thought and practice across various Asian and global Buddhist traditions through texts and material culture, focusing on debates on metaphysics, the mind, and knowledge as applied to meditation, ethics, aesthetics, militarism, environmentalism, and aspects of daily life.

RN 210: “Buddhism”

Description: A historical and critical introduction to the major themes of Buddhist thought and practice in India and Southeast Asia, with special attention to the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet and the modern West. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.