Bryson Awarded Lindsay Young Professorship
Megan Bryson, associate professor in the UT Department of Religious Studies, has been awarded a Lindsay Young Professorship.
Bryson is an established scholar of the themes of gender and ethnicity within Chinese religion. Her research focuses specifically on the religions of the Dali region of Yunnan Province, examining how religion has shaped Chinese identity. In this, she deciphers the limitations of the terms “Chinese” and “non-Chinese” in the traditions of East Asia.
Her monograph, Goddess on the Frontier: Religion, Ethnicity, and Gender, was published in 2016, exploring the worship of a local deity in Dali beginning in the 12th century. She has also published numerous journal articles in academic journals on the subjects of religion and gender in East Asian regions, including “Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society”.
Along with teaching classes on East Asian religions, she is working on another monograph studying Buddhist transmission along the Silk Road. Bryson also contributed to creating the new religion and nonprofit leadership major concentration and minor for the Department of Religious Studies.
Established in 1980 by Knoxville lawyer Lindsay Young, these endowed professorships reward faculty who are outstanding teachers, researchers, and public servants. Ten awards are made each year: one in law, one in veterinary medicine, and eight in the humanities.
by Sloan Docekal