Aaron K. Reich

Aaron K. Reich, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Saint Joseph's University within the College of Arts and Sciences. Since 2018, he has taught courses on religion in China and Taiwan and broader East Asian traditions, while actively researching the intersection of Daoism, material culture, and ritual practice.

Education

• PhD (2018), Chinese Literature and Culture — University of Wisconsin–Madison
• MA (2015), Art History — University of Wisconsin–Madison
• MA (2013), Chinese — University of Wisconsin–Madison
• MA (2012), Asian Religions — University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
• BA (2006), Religion and Psychology — University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Research Interests

Reich’s scholarship centers on the making, consecration, and use of religious images and objects in Chinese and Taiwanese contexts. He combines ethnographic fieldwork, visual and iconographical analysis, and close readings of ritual texts to illuminate how material culture mediates divine presence and ritual power. His work particularly highlights Daoist ritual traditions and their local adaptations in late-imperial China and contemporary Taiwan.

Current projects include a monograph titled Materiality and the Making of Ritual Power: Temples and Traditions of the Penghu Islands, as well as articles on spirit-medium consecrations, talismanic towers, and the ritual life of deity statues.

Scientific Awards & Grants

• Faculty Merit Award for Research (2024)
• Randall M. Miller, Ph.D. Fund Grant (2024)
• East and Inner Asia Council (EIAC) Research Grant (2023)
• Faculty Summer Research Grant (2023, 2019)
• Faculty Merit Award for Teaching (2022)
• Michael J. Morris Grant for Scholarly Research (2021)
• Teaching Innovation Grant (2020)

Advising & Collaborative Initiatives

Reich regularly mentors undergraduate research and has co-organized multiple conference panels for the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Association for Asian Studies (AAS). In 2023, he co-curated the exhibition When Heaven Meets Earth: Experiencing Taiwan’s Sacred Statues, bringing Taiwanese sculptors and sacred artifacts to campus for a two-week residency and public programming.

Labs, Teams & Future Work

While not affiliated with a formal lab, Reich collaborates with the Nealis Program in Asian Studies and the Department of Art and Art History at Saint Joseph’s University. Upcoming presentations include a paper on “Pacifying the Winter Winds: The Talismanic Towers of the Penghu Islands” at the 2024 AAR Annual Conference, and continued archival and ethnographic research on Penghu ritual traditions.