Elisabetta Porcu is an associate professor of Asian religions in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town. Before coming to South Africa, she worked in Japan (2004-2010) and Germany (2010-2014). She is the Director of the Center for Asian Religions at the University of Cape Town, the founding editor of the Journal of Religion in Japan (Brill), and the Vice-President of the Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa. Among her publications are the monograph Pure Land Buddhism in Modern Japanese Culture (Brill, 2008), and numerous articles and book chapters, including “Sacred Spaces Reloaded: New Trends in Shintō” (2013); “Pop Religion in Japan: Buddhist Temples, Icons and Branding” (2014); and “Religion, Second Modernity and Individualization in Japan” (2018). She is currently working on two monographs, one focusing on the Gion Matsuri in Kyoto and one exploring Japanese religions and popular culture.
Elisabetta Porcu