Session 1
Doctrinal and Historical Underpinnings

Christian Lammerts
Associate Professor of Religion, Rutgers University
Buddhism and Constitition(alism) in Precolonial Southeast Asia

Commentator:

Fernanda Pirie 
Professor of the Anthropology of Law, University of Oxford

TIME (Session 1)

Thursday
January 14, 2021
1 p.m. Chicago
2 p.m. New York
7 p.m. London
8 p.m. Leipzig

Friday
January 15, 2021
8 a.m New Zealand

Session 2
Buddhism and Constitutional Change in Thailand

Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang
Lecturer in Law, Chulalongkorn University
Tracing the Buddhist Root of Thailand’s Authoritarian Constitutional Design

Eugénie Mérieau
Postdoctoral Scholar at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University  of Singapore
Buddhist doctrines of Kingship and Modern Constitutionalism: Shifting narratives of the “Mahasammata” and the “Ten Virtues of a Righteous Ruler” from Siam to Thailand

Commentator:

David Engel
Professor of Law, University at Buffalo, State University of New York

TIME (Session 2)

Wednesday
January 27, 2021
7 p.m. Chicago
8 p.m. New York

Thursday
January 28, 2021
8 a.m. Bangkok
9 a.m. Singapore
2 p.m. New Zealand

Session 3
Buddhism and Constitutional Politics in Myanmar and Sri Lanka

Iselin Frydenlund
Professor of Religion, MF Norwegian School of Theology
The Return of Buddhist Constitutionalism in Myanmar

Krishantha Fredricks
Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, University of Texas-Austin
Guardians of Law: Buddhist Legal Activism in Post-War Sri Lanka

Commentators:

Matthew Walton
Assistant Professor of Politics, University of Toronto

Roshan de Silva Wijeyeratne
Adjunct Lecturer in Law, Griffith Law School,
Member, Advisory Board, Centre on Human Rights in Conflict, University of East London

TIME (Session 3)

Thursday,
February 11, 2021
11 a.m. Chicago
12 p.m. Toronto
5 p.m. London
6 p.m. Oslo

Friday
February 12, 2021
6 a.m. New Zealand

Session 4
Himalayan Southern Asia

Martin A. Mills
Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Aberdeen
Buddhist Visions of Kingly Law: Interpreting Tibet’s Early Imperial Law

Richard Whitecross,
Professor of Law, Edinburgh Napier University
The Zhabdrung’s Legacy: Buddhism and constitutional transformation in Bhutan 

Berthe Jansen
Professor of Theology, Universität Leipzig
Buddhist Monastic 'Constitutional' Law and State 'Constitutional' Law: Mutual Influences?

Commentator:

Rebecca French
Professor of Law, University at Buffalo, State University of New York

TIME (Session 4)

Thursday,
February 25, 2021
1 p.m. Chicago
2 p.m. New York
7 p.m. Scotland

Friday,
February 26, 2021
8 a.m. New Zealand

Session 5
Keynote

André Laliberté
Professor of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
Keynote speaker: The Buddhist Association of China and Constitutional Law

TIME (Session 5)

Friday
March 5, 2021
4 p.m. Ottawa
3 p.m. Chicago

Saturday
March 6, 2021
10 a.m. New Zealand

Session 6
East Asian Reflections

Levi McLaughlin
Associate Professor of Religion, North Carolina State University
Buddhism and Constitutional Law in Japan: Soka Gakkai and Komeito in Historical Perspective and Contemporary Politics

Mark A. Nathan
Associate Professor, University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Buddhist Constitutional Battlegrounds: Using the Courts to Litigate Monastic Celibacy in South Korea, 1955-1970

Commentator:

Jessica Main
Associate Professor of Buddhism, University of British Columbia

TIME (Session 6)

Thursday
March 11, 2021

2 p.m. Chicago
12 p.m. Vancouver
3 p.m. New York

Friday
March 12, 2021
9 a.m. New Zealand

Session 7
China and Mongolia

Cuilan Liu
Assistant Professor of Religion, University of Pittsburg
Buddhist Monastic Law and Inheritance Law in China

Daigengna Duoer
Ph.D. Student in Religion, University of California, Santa Barbara
Governing Buddhism in the Modern: Buddhist Monasticism and the Constitutional Laws of Competing Regimes in Early 20th Century Inner Mongolia (1931-1945)

Commentator:

Vesna Wallace
Professor of Religion, University of California, Santa Barbara

TIME (Session 7)

Thursday
March 25, 2021
1 p.m. St. Barbara
3 p.m. Chicago
4 p.m. Pittsburgh

Friday
March 26, 2021
9 a.m. New Zealand

Session 8
Roundtable 1: Comparative Perspectives I  

Ran Hirschl
Professor of Political Science and Law, University of Toronto
Perspective: religion and comparative constitution law

Asanga Welikala
Lecturer in Public Law, University of Edinburgh
Perspective: religion and constitutional history in Commonwealth contexts

Deepa Das Acevedo
Assistant Professor of Law, University of Alabama School of Law
Perspective: religion and law in South(ern) Asia

TIME (Roundtable 1)

Thursday
April 15, 2021
2:30 p.m. Austin
2:30 p.m. Chicago
2:30 p.m. Alabama

Friday
April 16, 2021
7:30 a.m. New Zealand

Session 8
Roundtable 2: Comparative Perspectives II

Mark McClish
Associate Professor in Religious Studies, Northwestern University
Perspective: Hindu law

Richard. H. Helmholz 
Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
Perspective: Canon law

Clark Lombardi
Professor of Law and Islamic Legal Studies, University of Washington 
Perspective: Islamic law

Winnifred Sullivan
Professor of Religious Studies and Affiliate Professor of Law, Indiana University at Bloomington
Perspective: Disestablishment

TIME (Roundtable 2)

Thursday
April 29, 2021

4 p.m. Chicago
2 p.m. Seattle

Friday
April 30, 2021
9 a.m. New Zealand