Robert Weller

Robert Weller

Professor and Chair of Anthropology, Research Associate at the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, Boston University

Robert Weller is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Boston University and Research Associate at the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs there. His present research is concerned with the development of the environmental movement and nature tourism in China and Taiwan in the context of economic growth. He is also looking at the role of local voluntary organizations as mediators between state and society in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, and he has consulted on poverty and unemployment relief in western China. He has written numerous books and articles on Chinese political, social, and cultural change, often with a focus on the relations between religion and civic life. His latest book, Ritual and Its Consequences: an Essay on the Limits of Sincerity (co-authored with A. Seligman, M. Puett, and B. Simon; Oxford, 2008) has just appeared. His current research focuses on the role of religion in creating public social benefits in Chinese communities in China, Malaysia, and Taiwan.