Jon Keune, associate professor of religious studies at Michigan State University, received a Fulbright Global Scholar Award for the 2022-23 academic year that will support his research on the effects of migration on the religious identities of Buddhists. 

As a Fulbright Scholar, Keune will travel to the University of Tokyo, University of Oxford, National Taiwan University and a Buddhist school in central India to conduct ethnographic research on individuals from different countries who identify as Buddhists.

Keune’s project, titled “Transnational Buddhism and Dalit Migration,” will explore the idea of how a shared religious identity, specifically Buddhism, brings diverse people together and, as they communicate, promotes navigation through major differences.

“My goal is to learn how migration and changed contexts shape people’s religious identities, especially when the migrating group is responding to a history of persecution and trauma in their homeland,” Keune said. “I’m interested to see what Buddhism means to them as they move to different countries, describe themselves to new kinds of neighbors, and relate to other kinds of Buddhists who have no knowledge of caste and Indian history.”

Keune’s research stems from the work of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a Dalit, which is an Indian term for an “untouchable,” a historically stigmatized and persecuted group of people who were regarded as the lowest rank in the caste system. Ambedkar was an attorney, author, political advocate, and social reformer of the 20th century who spoke out against the caste system and the practice of untouchability.

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