Publications

Together with Lukas Pokorny, Franz Winter has published a special issue of the renowned journal NUMEN. Journal for the History of Religions entitled "Euro-American Esoteric Readings of East Asia", which deals with aspects of the reception of China in modern Europe.

The issue is already available online. The article by Franz Winter deals with the reception of China by an important French occultist of the late 19th century.

Media industry is a vibrant element of East Asian popular culture that has become increasingly important on a global level in the last decades. Japanese, and recently South Korean and Chinese films or TV series have a growing and worldwide audience not least because of easier access through streaming services. The many film productions provide a multifaceted arena of highly diverse content that spans nearly all aspects of the cultural developments in the countries. Religion has always played a major role in these contexts in various ways and in accordance with the highly diversified religious landscape of East Asia. Consequently, this issue brings together contributions on Japanese, Chinese and Korean films, including one additional glimpse to South Asia, presenting portrayals of independent filmmakers, highly renowned classics, but also examples of manga and anime, the cyberpunk genre, or on most recent highly successful streaming series. The admittedly small sample we can provide is intended to pique curiosity and encourage readers to delve more deeply into the multifaceted and intriguing relationship between religion and media in Asia. If the presented contributions inspire academic discussions and further research, then this issue will have served its purpose.

Information about the work can be found here.