Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae

Person-Related Identification Information

• Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, born 29. January 1974 in Ústí nad Labem

Department

• Department for the Study of Religions
  Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University
  Arna Novaka 1, Brno 602 00, Czech Republic
  

Employment - Position

• doctoral student

Education and Academic Qualifications

• since 2002: doctoral study, the Institute of Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University in Brno. Topic of research: xuanxue ("the Learning of the Dark") of the 3rd to 4th centuries.
• 1998-2007: study of sinology, the Institute of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, Master’s program.
• 2007: Master’s degree (Mgr.) Master’s thesis on the topic "Guo Xiang’s Commentary on the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi".
• 2003: Bachelor’s thesis on the topic "Shen Congwen’s stories ‘Eight steeds’, ‘Three men and one woman’ and ‘Quiet’: literary creation as a communication with ideal reader".
• 1992-2000: study of philosophy and religions, Faculty of Arts of Masaryk university in Brno, Czech Republic, Master’s program.
• 1999: Master’s degree (Mgr.) Master’s thesis on the topic "Taoism of the Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism".
• 1997: Bachelor’s thesis on the topic "The early taoism – Laozi and Zhuangzi".

Teaching Activities

• Chinese Religions
• Classical Chinese
• Daodejing and Its Interpretations

Scientific and Research Activities

• Religions of China
• Reception of ancient philosophical texts in the thought of early medieval China
• Projects:
• 2007: The name of the project: "Accreditation of Bachelor’s Study Program in Sinology – Preparation and Realization." Development project for the year 2007, Masaryk University, Brno. The aim of the project: preparation of establishing a new study program (in sinology) at Masaryk University in Brno.
• 2004: The name of the project: "Wang Bi, Xiang er and Heshang gong – three commentaries to the Daodejing". The aim of the project: research in these three texts, publication of the results, lecturing in the Institute of Religious Studies, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. Granted by the "Fund of development of higher education", Czech Republic.

Internship

• 2004-2005: study at Institute of Chinese Studies, Tamkang University in Danshui, Taiwan: one-year exchange program between Charles University and Tamkang University. The purpose of the study: research in the field of Chinese thought and religions.
• March-April 2002: "Literary – historical excursion to Shen Congwen’s West Hunan" in P. R. China. The excursion was a part of a project aimed at studying belletristic and critical oeuvre of Shen Congwen.
• 2000-2001: study of modern Chinese, the Institute of International Education, Zhejiang university, Hangzhou, P. R. China: one-year exchange program, scholarship granted by the Czech government and the government of P. R. China.

University Activities

• October 2006: "Religious Change." Ceres 2006. A conference held at Comenius University in Bratislava, Department of Comparative Religions. Paper presented: "The Laozi in Context: Intellectual, Religious, Political, and Social Change in the Late Warring States Period."
• September 2006: XVI. Biennial EACS Conference in Ljubljana. Paper presented: "The Action of Invisible Sage: Making Order in Wang Bi‘s and Guo Xiang’s Thought."
• November 2004 "Thought, Body, Culture: New Approaches to Chinese Historical Studies." International Junior Scholars’ Conference on Sinology, held at National Tsing-hua University, Hsin-chu, Taiwan. Paper presented: "Means to Transcendence: Negativity and Positivity in Wang Bi’s Commentary on the Laozi."
• October 2002: The International Student Workshop on Shen Congwen at Charles University in Prague. Paper presented: "The Paradox of ‘Man’ in Shen Congwen’s Thought and the Story ‘Eight steeds’ as Its Fictional Expression.
• April 1998: The 1st Conference of Students of Religions in Czech and Slovak Republics in Cikháj, Czech Republic. Paper presented: "The Type of Taoist Sage in the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi."

Activities Outside University

• 2002: "The 1st Students’ Competition in Translating Chinese Literary Texts", arranged by the Czech-Chinese society, Czech Republic.

Awards Related to Science and Research

• 2002: "The 1st Students’ Competition in Translating Chinese Literary Texts": awarded the 2nd prize for the translation of Shen Congwen’s short story “Sheng”.

Major Publications

• VÁVRA, Dušan. Motiv korektní linie v soudobém čínském myšlení (The Motif of the Correct Line in Contemporary Chinese Thought). In 15. výroční česko-slovenská sinologická konference, Masarykova univerzita, 12.-13. 11. 2022. 2022. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Correct naming in early medieval China. In The Power of Language: Correcting Names in Chinese Thought and Society Past and Present. 2022. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan and Jana VÁVROVÁ MAŠKOVÁ. 15. výroční česko-slovenská sinologická konference (15th annual Czech-Slovak sinological conference). 2022. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Self-loathing in contemporary Chinese science fiction. In East Asian Popular Culture Association 2nd Annual Conference, Fukuoka, Japan, 11.-12. 1. 2021. 2021. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Modernity, or monstrosity? Contemporary critical approaches to the problem of Chinese modernization. In 18th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions IAHR Regional Conference Pisa, 30 August – 3 September 2021. 2021. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. China's path to modernity as reflected in contemporary Chinese science fiction. In vyžádaná přednáška na Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies. 2021. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. The Meaning of Wu in Wang Bi’s Commentary on the Laozi. Studia Orientalia Slovaca. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, Katedra východoázijských štúdií, 2018, vol. 17, No 2, p. 139-150. ISSN 1336-3786. Web časopisu Studia Orientalia Slovaca. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Religion in Context of Chinese Modernization. In International Summer School: Convergence of Multiple Religions. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého, 11.-15. 6 2018. 2018. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Traditionalism in Modern China. In International Summer School: Convergence of Multiple Religions. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého, 11.-15. 6 2018. 2018. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Skilful Practice in the Zhuangzi : Putting the Narratives in Context. Asian Studies. Ljubljana: Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts, 2017, vol. 5, No 1, p. 195-219. ISSN 2232-5131. Web časopisu Asian Studies info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Politické myšlení ve starověké Číně (Political Thought in early China). In Beránek, Ondřej; Cermanová, Pavlína; Hrubý, Jakub. Jedno slunce na nebi, jeden vládce na zemi. Legitimita moci ve světě 14. století. Vydání první. Praha: Academia, 2017, p. 609-634. Strategie AV21. Špičkový výzkum ve veřejném zájmu. ISBN 978-80-200-2738-2. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Popular reception of the Zhuangzi and different options of reading. In Towards a New Paradigm of Subjectivity : On the Contemporary Significance of the Zhuangzi, 29.6.-2.7. 2017, Praha. 2017. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. The Zhuangzi chapters 8-16: patterns of coherence in a seemingly discontinuous text. In 2nd Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Philosophy: “Global Chinese Philosophy”. 2017. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. The approaches to Daoist texts in Czech society in the 20th Century: the problem of contextualization. In přednáška přednesená v Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature, National Taiwan Normal University, 1. 12. 2017. 2017. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Translating Early Chinese Texts and the Problem of Contextualization : The Example of Chapter 1 of the Laozi. Acta Universitatis Carolinae – Philologica. Praha: Nakladatelství Karolinum, 2017, vol. 2017, No 4, p. 63-84. ISSN 0567-8269. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan and Wei-lun LU. Teaching Chinese overseas: The case of Masaryk University. In Waiguo xuezhe yanjiang, Qufu (China), 16 11 2016. 2016. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan, Denisa HILBERTOVÁ and Jana VÁVROVÁ MAŠKOVÁ. 10. výroční česko-slovenská sinologická konference (10th annual Czech-Slovak sinological conference). 2016. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Příběhy o dokonalé obratnosti v knize Zhuangzi (Narratives on skilful action in the Zhuangzi). In 10. výroční česko-slovenská sinologická konference, Masarykova univerzita, 25.-26. 11. 2016. 2016. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Skillful practice in the Zhuangzi: putting the narratives in context. In “THINKING ACROSS THE BORDERS: PHILOSOPHY AND CHINA” - Inaugural Biennial Conference of European Association for Chinese Philosophy (EACP), Vilnius (Lithuania), 9.-11. 06 2016. 2016. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Heaven and Man in the Zhuangzi : Reading a Heterogeneous Text. Religio. Brno: Česká společnost pro religionistiku, 2016, vol. 24, No 2, p. 167-188. ISSN 1210-3640. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Cripples and Sages in the Zhuangzi : Contextualizing the Narratives. Studia Orientalia Slovaca. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, Katedra východoázijských štúdií, 2016, vol. 15, No 2, p. 91-116. ISSN 1336-3786. Web časopisu Studia Orientalia Slovaca. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Hanxue yanjiu yu huayuwen xuexi zai Jieke de fazhan ji qianjing (Sinology and Chinese language study in Czech Rep. - roots and contemporary development). In Invited lecture at Chinan University, Puli, Taiwan, 23th November 2015. 2015. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Kniha Laozi: Překlad s filologickým komentářem (The book Laozi: A translation with philological commentary) by David Sehnal (review) (The book Laozi: A translation with philological commentary). PHILOSOPHY EAST & WEST. UNIV HAWAII PRESS, 2015, vol. 65, No 3, p. 993-997. ISSN 0031-8221. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pew.2015.00705. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan and Jakub HRUBÝ. "Kronika dynastie Han": debaty o reformách státních kultů v době císaře Chenga (32-7 př. n. l.) (The "Book of Han": debates on reforms of the state cults during the reign of Chengdi (32-7 BC)). Religio : revue pro religionistiku. Brno: Česká společnost pro religionistiku, 2014, vol. 22, No 1, p. 89-110. ISSN 1210-3640. Digitální knihovna FF MU info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Coercion or spontaneity? Ideal government according to the Laozi and Hanfeizi. In Institute for Chinese Studies, University of Oxford (United Kingdom), February 7-28, 2014. 2014. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Usefulness of being useless: reading the narratives in the Zhuangzi. In 20th Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies, Braga and Coimbra, Portugal, 22. 7.-26. 7. 2014. 2014. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan and Oliver WEINGARTEN. Reading the "Masters": Contexts, Textual Structures, and Hermeneutic Strategies, Brno 5.-6. 2014. 2014. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Perfect Action in the Zhuangzi – Reading a Heterogeneous Text. In Reading the "Masters": Contexts, Textual Structures, and Hermeneutic Strategies, Masaryk University (Brno), 5th–6th September 2014. 2014. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. 'Doing nothing' in early Chinese political thought. In Ostasiatisches Institut, Universität Leipzig (Germany), 6.-10. 5. 2013. 2013. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Religion and philosophy in early China. 2013. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. The Zhuangzi on Life and Death: Constructing Meaning out of the Text. In International Conference - Cultural Heritage: Modernity in Dialogue with Tradition. 2013. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Salvation in ancient Chinese thought: the perfect action of the sage-ruler. In Ends and beginnings. Annual conference of the EASR. 2012. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Taoismus v období Válčících států (Daoism in the Warring States Period). In přednáška na Ústavu Dálného východu, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, 27. 11. 2012. 2012. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan and Pavel ŠINDELÁŘ. Náboženství Číny a Japonska : sborník statí (Chinese and Japanese religions : collection of essays). 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2011, 332 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-5456-1. URL info
• DLUHOŠOVÁ, Táňa, Dušan VÁVRA and Pavel ŠINDELÁŘ. 5. výroční česko-slovenská sinologická konference, Brno 4.-5. 11. 2011 (5. Annual Czech and Slovak Sinological Conference, Brno 4.-5. 11. 2011). 2011. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Čítanka klasické čínštiny (Classical Chinese reader). Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2011, 221 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-5457-8. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Antologie textů k náboženství Číny (Chinese religions - anthology). 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2011, 299 pp. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Authorship in early China. 2011. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. "Vládnutí nekonáním“ ve filozofických textech období Válčících států ("Ruling by non-interference" in philosophical texts of the Warring States period). In 5. výroční česko-slovenská sinologická konference, Brno FF MU, 4.-5. 11. 2011. 2011. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. "Usefulness of being useless" - constructing meaning in the Zhuangzi. In Joint Conference of the Association for Asian Studies and the International Convention of Asia Scholars. 2011. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Náboženské představy a praktiky v čínském starověku (Religious ideas and practices in early China). In Dušan Vávra, Pavel Šindelář. Náboženství Číny a Japonska – sborník statí. 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2011, p. 10-27. ISBN 978-80-210-5456-1. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Reinterpretace tradičních náboženských představ a praktik ve filozofickém myšlení čínského starověku (Reinterpretations of traditional religious ideas and practices in philosophical thought in early China). In Dušan Vávra, Pavel Šindelář. Náboženství Číny a Japonska – sborník statí. 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2011, p. 28-53, 27 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-5456-1. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Laozi, Zhuangzi - úvod do problematiky taoismu (Laozi, Zhuangzi - introduction to taoism). In Myšlení Dálného východu (cyklus přednášek), Ústav Dálného východu, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy. 2011. URL info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Života smrt v díle Zhuangzi : jak číst starověký čínský text (How to read an ancient Chinese text : the Zhuangzi on life and death). Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Praha: Universita Karlova, 2011, Neuveden, č. 2, p. 33-46. ISSN 0474-6635. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Problematika nadřazenosti Konfucia nad Laoziem a Zhuangziem v kontextu hanské exegeze kanonických knih (The issue of the Confucius' superiority over Laozi and Zhuangzi in the context of Han dynasty exegetics). Studia Orientalia Slovaca. Bratislava: FiF UK Bratislava, 2007, 6/2007, No 1, p. 81-103, 22 pp. ISSN 1336-3786. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Wang Bi, Heshang gong, Xiang er: Různá čtení jednoho textu v tradičních komentářích k dílu Laozi. (Wang Bi, Heshang gong, Xiang er: Different Readings of the Same Text in Traditional Commentaries on the Laozi). Religio : revue pro religionistiku. Brno: Česká společnost pro studium náboženství, 2006, vol. 14, No 1, p. 41-68. ISSN 1210-3640. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Wang Bi Laoxue zhong xiaojixing yu jijixing de maodun (The paradox of positivity and negativity in Wang Bi's interpretation of the Laozi). In ZHU, Pingci and Rubin YANG. Tianti, shenti, yu guoti: Hui xiang shijie de hanxue. Taibei: Taiwan daxue chuban zhongxin, 2005, p. 73-104. ISBN 986-00-2408-1. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Shen Congwen - posvátná oblast krásy. Literární noviny. 2003, vol. 31, XIV. ISSN 1210-0021. info
• VÁVRA, Dušan. Typ taoistického mistra ve Vnitřních kapitolách díla Čuang-c'. In LUŽNÝ, Dušan. 1. konference studentů religionistiky České a Slovenské republiky. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 1998. info

2007/11/01

Another Variant: Czech(1)