Carolyn Pang

Field: Japanese Religion
Advisor: Michael Como
Email: cp2596@columbia.edu

Carol is a Ph.D. candidate in Japanese Religion. Her research interests focus on East Asian religious practices and folk beliefs, and extend to the study of traditional ritual performances in Japan, specifically kagura. Carol is currently in Japan doing her dissertation fieldwork on the Izanagi-ryū, a folk religion that is still practiced in contemporary Kōchi, Shikoku. Through a study of the scriptures and ritual practices of the Izanagi-ryū, Carol’s research investigates how peripheral regions in Japan used local cultic practices to position themselves in relation to the capital center, and how religion functioned in these distant provinces’ construction of their local identities. She received her B.A. (2005) and M.A. (2010) in Japanese Studies from the National University of Singapore. During this period, she participated in research programs at Waseda University and Rikkyo University in Tokyo.