In the first semster of the 2025/2026 acedemic year, GCBS postdoctoral fellow Dr. Paride Stortini, together with Dr. Akshara Ravishankar, is co-organizing the elective MA course “Contemporary Asian Academic Debates I” at Ghent University. Focusing on the theme of “Golden Ages” across different regions of Asia, the course invites students to critically explore how this idea is constructed and contested in various historical and cultural contexts. Several sessions are directly relevant to Buddhist Studies, including Massimiliano Portoghese’s lecture “Xuanzang’s Journey: Tang China and Its Cosmopolitan Golden Age”, which highlights the intersections between Buddhist history, travel, and the making of cultural memory.
