Jacob F. Tischer (田雅各) is an anthropologist of religion specializing in Taiwanese popular religion. His PhD dissertation, “Sound Affects: Remaking Taiwan Through Traditional Practices” (Boston University, Department of Anthropology, 2024), is based on nineteen months of ethnographic fieldwork with religious performers—such as a troupe of Pak-koan (北管) musicians and bearers of the bodies of Taiwan’s two famous divine generals, Lord Seven (七爺) and Lord Eight (八爺). Learning to play Pak-koan instruments and to carry Lord Seven, Jacob discusses religious sounds and sights as affective signs, engaging religious tradition as a form of chronotopical mediation that emplaces current practitioners and ensures them of their social belonging. While much of contemporary Taiwanese society has ambiguous feelings for traditional religious practices (as outdated or noisy), Jacob’s interlocutors see continuing traditional practices as a vital component of what it means to be Taiwanese through place and time.
Besides highly dedicated religious volunteers, Jacob also worked with Taiwanese who participate regularly but less often in religious activities, like participants of the large annual Mazu pilgrimages. Thanks to the kind-hearted efforts of his Taiwanese friends, Jacob feels a strong connection with the goddess Mazu that goes back to his MA fieldwork in 2009-10 and has resulted in the publication of a monograph and a couple of articles. His MA was awarded in 2013 by the University of Leipzig in Chinese Studies and Religious Studies.
Impacted by Covid-19 during his fieldwork in 2019-20, Jacob became interested in the politics of official communication during the pandemic. He got fascinated by the outsize role played by “memeified” actors—animals or humans in animalistic form, cuteified avatars of government ministers, and so on. Why did memes turn into the medium of choice during that challenging time, and were they effective at guiding public discourse? How did the government manage to control a discourse through memes, when memes are all about replication, change, and satire? In the future, Jacob hopes to continue to “think with” memes. Jacob joined the department in January 2025.
Publications:
Book:
Tischer, J.F. 2014. Mazus neue Heimat: Institutionen und Interpretationen einer chinesischen Göttin in Taiwan (in German), Berlin: Regiospectra.
Peer-reviewed journal articles:
Under revision: “Experience and Experiment: Making Taiwan Through Walking Pilgrimages.” For publication in the International Journal of Taiwan Studies.
Tischer, J.F. 2022. “Panmemic Inoculation: How Taiwan is Nerfing the Pandemic with Cute Humour.” East Asian Journal of Popular Culture 8 (2): 183-204. https://doi.org/10.1386/eapc_00073_1.
Tischer, J.F. 2021. “The Invisible Hand of the Temple (Manager): Gangsters, Political Power, and Transfers of Spiritual Capital in Taiwan’s Mazu Pilgrimages.” Review of Religion and Chinese Society, 8 (1): 61-91. https://doi.org/10.1163/22143955-20200001.
Tischer, J.F. 2018. “Mazu Nation: Pilgrimages, Political Practice, and the Ritual Construction of National Space in Taiwan.” Global Politics Review 4(2), 6-28. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1481631.
Book chapters:
Tischer, J.F. 2024. “Spirit Money.” In Chinese Religious Culture in 100 Objects, edited by Adam Yuet Chau. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tischer, J.F. 2024. “Religion and Taiwanese Identity.” In Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies, edited by Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, to be published online by Brill.
Tischer, J.F. 2024. “Masked Presence: COVID-19 and Remembering SARS in Taiwan.” In Media Narratives and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Asian Experience, edited by Shubhda Arora and Keval J. Kumar, 75-86. London: Routledge.
Tischer, J.F. 2010. “‘Einst suchte ich in der Welt das Glück’: Buddhisten in Leipzig 1903-1921.“ In Von Aposteln bis Zionisten: Religiöse Kultur im Leipzig des Kaiserreichs (in German), edited by Iris Edenheiser and re.form leipzig e.V., 205-215. Marburg: Diagonal.
Publications in Chinese:
as Tian Yage 田雅各. 2021. “Taiwan Nüshen zou xiang shijie 台灣女神走向世界” [“Taiwanese Goddess Walks into the World”], Baishatun Ma 白沙屯媽: Beigang Tubu Jinxiang Wenhua Niankan 北港徒步進香文化年刊 7: 34-36. https://online.flipbuilder.com/ssjl/deuq/.
as Fu Xinyue 符心悅, ed. 2009. Bolin Weiqiang – ling yibian de shengyin 柏林圍牆 – 另一邊的聲音 [1989/2009: 20 Years Fall of the Berlin Wall and Re-unification in Retrospect], Think Salon Series No. 1 Sishalong xilie san zhi yi 思沙龍系列三之一. Taipei, Taiwan, 16 pp. https://civictaipei.org/event/20091114.