David Ownby

David Ownby (born 1958 ) is an American‑Canadian historian of Chinese religion and a specialist in modern Chinese popular movements. He is professor emeritus of history at the Université de Montréal and research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Ownby's scholarship has contributed to Western understanding of Qing‑period secret societies, Falun Gong and contemporary Chinese intellectual landscape.

Early life and education Ownby is a native of the United States. He earned his B.A. in history from Vanderbilt University and his master's degree in East Asian Studies and a Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University.

Academic career Ownby taught at University of Montreal from 1994 until his retirement in July 2023, as a professor of the Center of East Asian Studies and the history department. He then became a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany.

His research centers on the history of religion in modern and contemporary China. He conducts fieldwork on popular religious groups in China, Taiwan and North America, analyzing their development in relation to state policy, institutional religion and the post‑Mao religious revival. He also co‑leads an SSHRC Insight‑funded project on contemporary Chinese intellectual life, which examines how increased intellectual freedom, the search for a modern yet distinctly Chinese identity and the government’s pursuit of new ideological legitimacy intersect.

Research Secret societies and popular religion Ownby’s early work examined Qing‑period secret societies. His monograph Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in Early and Mid‑Qing China (1996) argues that these organizations were founded as popular "brotherhood association" to foster "mutual aid" and "community cohesion" rather than political upheavals, and that the Qing dynasty's harsh repression inadvertently accelerated the Tiandihui’s expansion and consolidation throughout southern China.

Falun Gong

Beginning in the late 1990s, Ownby turned to Falun Gong. His fieldwork in North America and textual analysis culminated in Falun Gong and the Future of China, the first academic monograph to contextualize the movement historically and sociologically.

Scott Pacey of the Australian National University described the book as "a comprehensive overview of Falun Gong both as a set of religious beliefs and as an organized group of devotees." Pacey stated "Scholars and students interested in Chinese religion will find much to profit from this book." Hong You, a scholar of contemporary Chinese religion, considered Ownby's treatment "an objective appraisal". According to Hong You the average public and academics in Chinese and religious studies would appreciate the book, so would Falun Gong members as it contains "constructive criticism coming from an academic work." Michael L. Mickler, an American church historian, described it as "a major contribution toward our understanding of" the Falun Gong. Both Hong You and Mickler pointed that the book deals little with the "Future of China" despite its title. James R. Lewis, a scholar of new religious movement and professor at Wuhan University, argued that Ownby's book was too sympathetic to the Falun Gong, and was unfairly biased against the People's Republic of China.

Contemporary Chinese intellectual life Since 2018, Ownby's work has focused on translating writings by Chinese Liberal, New Left and New Confucian thinkers. The project led to public presentation at the Collège de France in 2022 and their publication as L’essor de la Chine et les intellectuels publics chinois (2023).

Selected works