Jason ("Jake") Carbine first traveled to Asia as part of a high school student exchange with China. He earned his undergraduate B.A. degree with a major in Asian Studies from Bowdoin College (a small liberal arts college in Maine) in 1993. From there, he spent a year in Sri Lanka conducting field research on Buddhist healing rituals, after which he pursued a masters degree in method and theory in the study of religion, and then a doctoral degree in the discipline of the History of Religions, both at the University of Chicago. Focusing on a monastic community in Burma, he completed his doctoral dissertation in 2004. Teaching stints at College of the Holy Cross, Amherst College, and Franklin & Marshall College followed, and in 2007 he came to Whittier College where he has found a home in the Department of Religious Studies. His scholarly expertise focuses on the history and culture of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia, and he teaches courses dealing with a variety of Asian religions including Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shinto, and Islam. He also teaches thematic and topical oriented courses such as "Ways of Understanding Religion" and "Person, Cosmos, and Community." Jake is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys all things nature-oriented and serves as the faculty advisor to the surfing club. |