Faculty & Staff
Gwendolyn Gillson
Associate Professor of Asian Studies
Kirby Hall, Room 208
217.245.3158
Research Interests
Anthropology of religion, Buddhism, women in religion, contemporary Japanese culture
Education
Gustavus Adolphus College | B.A. | Religion
University of Oklahoma | M.L.I.S. | Archives
University of Iowa | Ph.D. | Religious Studies
University of Iowa | M.A. | Religious Studies
Link
Bio
Dr. Gwendolyn Gillson researches at the intersection of anthropology of religion, East Asian studies, and gender studies. Her work broadly examines how women craft their experiences of Buddhism to deal with the loneliness endemic to the dissolution of traditional Japanese social structures brought about by urbanization and globalization. She is the Section Editor for _The Basics: Buddhism_ (Bloomsbury Academic) and is currently working on her manuscript _Feeling Buddhism_ based on extensive fieldwork in Japan sponsored by the Japan-United States Fulbright Commission.