Tudi Gong Temples
The Tudi Gong Temple project has been ongoing since 2015 as a documentation project focused on temples, shrines, and altars dedicated to the earth deity Tudi Gong in Taiwan and elsewhere in the maritime Han sphere. This includes Taiwan’s outlying islands, Hong Kong, and Macau. This project served as the basis for my PhD dissertation and has resulted in the creation of several datasets. This project is ongoing.
Sites of Chthonic Power
This is an expanded version of the Tudi Gong Temples project, exploring various ways in which communities interface with sites of sacred chthonic power, following the themes addressed by Paul Mus’ India Seen from the East (1975) as well as the Holly High’s edited volume Stone Masters (2022). This project is not limited in its geography, and explores autochthonic tutelary sacred sites as a global phenomenon, observing commonalities in geographical features and veneration as well as localized and cultural expressions of interfacing with these sites. This project is ongoing.
Tombs and Tombstones from the Han Sphere
This is a documentation project of tomb, tombstone, mortuary epigraphy, and memorialization of the deceased practices from the perspective of Chinese (specifically ethnic Han) diaspora. Begun in 2015, this research observes Chinese mortuary practices in Taiwan and its outlying islands, Hong Kong, Macau, and the United States. This project is ongoing.
Xindian First Public Cemetery
This was a documentation project of the defunct and now demolished Xindian First Public Cemetery in Xindian District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Documentation occurred between 2015 and 2019 as the site was prepared for demolition, demolished, and the land prepared for new use. Publications related to this project have appeared in both The Diplomat and the international version of The News Lens. This project has also been featured by other outlets, including an interview with New Bloom Magazine and a spot on Radio Taiwan International. Further publications, including a book, are forthcoming. The project is completed.
South Penghu Marine National Park Geomantic Ritual Landscape Survey
This 2017 project funded by the South Penghu Marine National Park enabled the documentation of the environmental features, built landscape, folkloristics, folk tales, and geomantic qualities of these island environments. The intent was to better understand the interfacing of the lived environments with sacred sites and geomantic attributes of the landscapes. Publications included a final report to the park (2017), a photo essay in The Diplomat (2018), and a peer-reviewed article in Shima (2023). This project is ongoing analysis.
Primaryland
Primaryland is a reflection on my experiences during the 2008 and 2012 New Hampshire Primary. In both years I was in the State of New Hampshire, operating as a participant-observer of the Republican and Democratic primary elections. A publication, Primaryland: A Trip Through the 2012 New Hampshire Primary (2015) was written as a first-hand documentation, written in a travel narrative format, for anybody interested in the New Hampshire primary system. This project is completed.