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About Ben
Professor Benjamin Schonthal is Professor of Buddhist Studies and Asian Religions and Head of the Religion Programme at the University of Otago, where he also serves as Affiliate Professor in the Law School and Co-Director of the Otago Centre for Law and Society. He earned his BA from Bowdoin College, MA from the University of Sydney, and MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. His doctoral dissertation received the 2013 Law & Society Association Dissertation Award. Schonthal has held visiting fellowships at Northwestern University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Bielefeld, Germany, and served as Visiting Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. He is President of the New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions and holds editorial roles as Associate Editor for South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies and Buddhism, Law & Society, as well as board memberships with the Indian Law Review, Australian Association of Buddhist Studies, and MF Center for the Advanced Study of Religion in Norway.
Schonthal's research examines the intersections of religion, law, and politics in late-colonial and contemporary South and Southeast Asia, with a focus on Buddhist law. His current project, Law's Karma, supported by the Royal Society of New Zealand, explores the politics and practice of Buddhist law in the region. Key publications include his monograph Buddhism, Politics and the Limits of Law (Cambridge University Press, 2016), co-edited volume Buddhism and Comparative Constitutional Law with Tom Ginsburg (Cambridge University Press, 2023), and forthcoming book Law's Karma (Cambridge University Press). He has published over 40 scholarly chapters and articles in leading journals such as Modern Asian Studies, The Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, American Journal of Comparative Law, and International Journal of Constitutional Law. Schonthal has received the 2016 Otago University Award for Distinction in Research (Early Career), 2021 Rowheath Trust Award, 2021 Carl Smith Medal, Division of Humanities Teaching Excellence Award, and 2019 University of Otago Excellence in Teaching Award, along with several student-nominated teaching and supervision honors.
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