Dear Buddhist Studies community and supporters,
First of all, a thousand congratulations to
Andrew Erlich, who successfully defended his doctoral dissertation just minutes ago! Entitled "Contextualizing Medicine and its Roles in Seventeenth-Century Tibet", the dissertation examines Tibetan medicine and its roles in Tibetan politics and culture. It explores the role of patronage of medical institutions, scholarship, and practice, and examines how modern scholars have approached the study of Tibetan medical history through a comparative approach with European medical history. In this beautifully written dissertation, Andrew Erlich suggests alternative approaches to the study of Tibetan medical history, including different ways to engage with Tibetan historiography and how we might begin to think about the roles of non-human actors, such as deities, in Tibetan history and medicine. We're so proud of you, Andrew!
In other news, you may be interested in some new posts to our YouTube channel, three new presentations on Buddhist art: “
Buddha Unbound: Contemporary Art of Tibet and the Tibetan Diaspora” by Dr Sarah Magnatta, Dr Karl Debreczeny on “
Tibetan Buddhist Art and Political Legitimation in the Ming Dynasty" and Dr Wen-shing Chou on “
Reimagining Tibet's India: Gift Exchange at the Qing Court".
Our summer has been busy. Incoming doctoral student
Rory Tasker has been working with HCBS faculty on
an initiative focused on student well-being, which is affiliated with our
Engaging Education in Buddhist Studies work. Rory is collaborating with the Student Flourishing Initiative at the Contemplative Sciences Centre at University of Virginia, on a project that aims to make a broad variety of resources related to flourishing and wellness available to a wide audience. Over the summer he has been collecting data and identifying "exemplary instances" of this work. Stay tuned for his profiles featuring instances of innovative pedagogy that centres student well-being at various universities.
A team of HCBS Buddhist Studies faculty and graduate students have also held several student focus group sessions this summer, where we've listened to students talk about experiences with accessibility, self-advocacy, course design, grading and assessment, and other issues that affect their performance in school. After the last year and a half, students say they need opportunities for connection more than ever.
Pedagogies of care and trauma-informed approaches to classroom work will be especially important in the coming year(s).
Looking ahead to the fall, stay tuned for the
Buddhism and Breath Summit, featuring pre-recorded presentations by scholars and practitioners plus supplementary educational resources, with a public launch and live (online) event in Fall 2021. We're also looking forward to a lecture series in 2021-22 on Buddhism and Posthumanism.
Finally, this will be my last update. My term as Director of the Ho Centre for Buddhist Studies ended on July 31. (I delayed this final message so I could congratulate Andrew on his dissertation defense!) In the first five years of the Centre, we've established new directions in Buddhist studies, combining support for academic research and language learning with new projects that respond to challenges locally and globally. The world has changed a lot over this period, and these changes have shaped the Ho Centre's work as we’ve used our research and teaching to confront social issues, expand access to learning, and transform the culture of Buddhist studies. I've shared a few of my own personal reflections on the experience of being Director in the video interview below.
