Robert P. Weller

Robert P. Weller is Professor of Anthropology and Research Associate at the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University. His most recent book is Rethinking Pluralism: Ritual, Experience, and Ambiguity (with Adam Seligman, 2012), which focuses on ways in which we can live with the ambiguities that necessarily accompany our need to categorize, and on the implications of this for how we can live with difference. Earlier books include Discovering Nature: Globalization and Environmental Culture in China and Taiwan (2006) and Alternate Civilities: Chinese Culture and the Prospects for Democracy (1999). His present research examines the role of religion in creating public social benefits in Chinese communities in China, Malaysia, and Taiwan.