'Qi,' in Critical Terms for Chinese Religious Studies: An International Conference

Paper from Conference Proceedings. Attempts to describe qi in English-language literature have inevitably been thin, focussing primarily on the ways in which it speaks to perceived mind-body dualism in Anglophone culture. The following discussion touches upon the broad diversity of epistemes in which qi has been entangled, and a few ways in which it has acted as a touch-stone for comparing Chinese culture with Western modernity. It then considers three different ways for approaching qi as a topic-rather than attempting to define qi itself as a critical term, or attempting to define it, I experiment with three different modes of reading about and thinking with qi. Beginning with palaeography, I introduce an uncommon narrative about qi and fire. I then discuss genealogical/period-based approach versus one of epistemological comparison. Finally, the paper takes a departure from textual based studies to consider an informal discussion of the constraints of individualist notions of subject formation, and how qi plays an important role in informing intersubjectivity, mourning rites and social continuity. The paper then concludes by suggesting two terms as useful for thinking about qi: coherence, and consubstantiality.