Welcome.

I’m an anthropologist whose research expertise is on religion and spirituality, and on transformations of Chinese society and culture.

MEET DAVID

Dr David A. Palmer is a Professor jointly appointed by the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong, which he joined in 2008. After completing his Ph.D. at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (School for Advanced Research, Université Paris PSL), he was the Eileen Barker Fellow in Religion and Contemporary Society in the Department of Sociology of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and, from 2004 to 2008, director of the Hong Kong Centre of the French School of Asian Studies (Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient), located at the Institute for Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Palmer’s interdisciplinary research and teaching is situated at the intersection of anthropology and sociology, and is informed by scholarly traditions in history, religious studies and Sinology. He is best known for his award-winning books The Religious Question in Modern China (Joseph Levenson Award of the Association for Asian Studies and PROSE award of the American Publishers’ Association, co-authored with V. Goossaert) and Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China (Francis L.K. Hsu Award of the Society for East Asian Anthropology), both of which have become essential reading for studies on contemporary Chinese society and religion. His latest book Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality (co-authored with E. Siegler) was published in 2017 by the University of Chicago Press, and in Chinese by HKU Press. He has also published numerous articles, journal issues and edited volumes on Chinese religion, civil society, Daoism, the Bahá’í Faith, and modern and transnational religious movements. His writings have been published in journals such as Current Anthropology, American Anthropologist, Economy and Society, American Journal of Cultural Sociology, the Journal of Asian Studies and Modern Asian Studies.

He leads the “Asian Religious Connections” research cluster at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences; is co-convenor of the “Culture, Community and Social Equity” research cluster in the HKU Faculty of Social Sciences; and is co-convenor of the HKU Anthropology Research Network. He is currently the President of the East Asian Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Academic Bio at the Department of Sociology, University of Hong Kong

Academic Bio at Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Academic Bios

Academia.com + https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David-Palmer-16

Awards

HK Research Grants Council RGC Research Fellowship, 2021-2025.

HK Research Grants Council Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship, 2019

Edward Bruner Prize for the best book in the Anthropology of Tourism by the American Anthropological Association (Anthropology of Tourism Interest Group); HKU Faculty of Social Sciences Outstanding Research Output Award – Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality.

Levenson Award for the best book on Modern China by the Association for Asian Studies; PROSE Award for the best academic book on religion by the American Publishers’ Association – The Religious Question in Modern China

Francis L. K. Hsu award for best book on East Asian Anthropology by the American Anthropological Association (Society for East Asian Anthropology) – Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China

Documentary

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