Mapping Memory via Ancestral Tablets ​
K.E. Brashier, PhD
Thomas Lamb Eliot Professor of Religion (emeritus), Reed College
2 May, 2026
9:30 - 11 am 
Lest they slip into oblivion with nothing to rely upon, ancestors have long needed tangible tools in the here-and-now to locate them, their descendants creating a “You are here” pin to stand atop the altar. Unlike crosses, statues, relics or other sacred objects, inscribed ancestral tablets mapped their ancestors genealogically and socially, spatially and temporally, both securing their existence and making them relevant to the present. Tablets are maps, but are they also “the mapped,” sacred in their own right? First Saturday PDX invites you and all descendants and ancestors to this talk with K.E. Brashier who shares his new research about the prescriptions and practices that inform this iconic tradition, amply illustrating his talk with as-yet-unpublished images of numerous ancestral tablets and paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries.  
*REGISTER HERE by 1 May
About the speaker:  
K.E. Brashier received his BA from Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, his MA from Harvard, and his PhD from Cambridge, after which he taught Chinese religions (eventually as the Thomas Lamb Eliot Professor of Religion and Humanities) at Reed College from 1998 until his retirement in 2021. Author of Ancestral Memory in Early China (Harvard University Asia Center, 2011) and Public Memory in Early China (Harvard University Asia Center, 2014), et al, he is currently studying the idea of hell in late imperial China. In 2006, he was recognized as the national "Outstanding Baccalaureate Colleges Professor of the Year" by the CASE/Carnegie Foundation, but his chief goal in life remains a futile attempt to get his two cats to respect him.
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​For those interested in continuing the conversation, there will be a no host lunch family style with the speaker at a Chinese restaurant afterwards.  Please let us know if you are joining when you register for the program so that we can make the proper arrangements.
Check-in begins promptly at 9:15am
Please meet at the SOUTH SIDE entrance doors
north side doors are to the Physics side of the building
(building entrance doors locked after 9:30am)
Registration required 
​**This is an on-site presentation. 
Reed College, Biology Building, B19 Auditorium, downstairs
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR 97202
The large East Parking Lot (free) is conveniently located nearby to the Biology Building, adjacent to the neighboring ETC (Educational Technology Center) , see campus map here
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Public transportation is available, plan your TriMet trip HERE.  
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​We recommend that attendees be vaccinated and boosted, and follow CDC guidelines regarding masking.
Our program series is supported by Reed College, Northwest China Council, Lan Su Chinese Garden, PSU's IAS, and Portland Chinatown Museum.   
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​All our programs are free and open to the public.  ​