current-phd-students

Riga Shakya

Riga Shakya

Field: Sino-Tibetan History
Advisor: Gray Tuttle
Email: rts2131@columbia.edu

I am a Ph.D candidate in late Imperial Chinese and Tibetan history at the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALAC) at Columbia University. I am broadly interested in Tibetan social and intellectual history, and the history of Sino-Tibetan relations during the Qing dynasty.

My dissertation research probes the relationship between literary text, selfhood and the metropole/periphery relationship by exploring the role of Tibetan lay autobiographical practice and kavya literature in Qing imperial expansion into Inner Asia in the 18th century. Other projects include a longue durée history of the Ganden Podrang’s (1642-1959) management of environmental disaster and a study of Tibetan language standardization and print culture at PRC minority publishing houses (minzu chubanshe) between 1953 and 1966.

My writing can be found in the Asian Review of Books, Comparative Literature Studies at Penn State University and Himalaya: The Journal of the Association of Nepal and Himalayan Studies. I am founding editor of Waxing Moon: Journal for Tibetan and Himalayan Studies supported by the Centre for Digital Research and Scholarship, Columbia Libraries. I also have long running interests in contemporary Chinese and Tibetan film and literature. Film projects I have worked on have shown as part of the Busan, Toronto and Kavrlovy-Vary international film festivals.

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Komei Sakai

Komei Sakai

Field: Japanese Religion
Advisor: D. Max Moerman
Email: ks2602@columbia.edu

Komei Sakai is a doctoral student of pre-modern Japanese religion. He received his B.A. (2013) in East Asian Studies from New York University. His primary research interest is in the religious iconography of Japanese arms and armor from the Kamakura period, with an emphasis on the engraving on sword blades related to the worship of Fudō Myō-ō. He believes that his research will be able to provide a new perspective in the understanding of the samurais’ religious beliefs. He is also interested in the exchange of swords in pre-modern Japan and China.

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Alexis Rangell-Onwuegbuzia

 

Alexis Rangell-Onwuegbuzia

Field: Japanese Film and Media
Advisor: Takuya Tsunoda
Email: aar2195@columbia.edu

Alexis Rangell-Onwuegbuzia is a doctoral candidate studying contemporary Japanese film and media; they are also pursuing a graduate certificate through the Center for Comparative Media. Their research focuses on representations of Otherness in anime, particularly Black and queer representation, as well as audience engagement. Alexis’ scholarship is an active effort to bridge the gaps between academic, industry, and fan analyses of contemporary anime. They are especially interested in examining the historical influence of both Japanese and non-Japanese fans of anime. Prior entering the Ph.D. program, Alexis received a B.A. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University, where they completed a senior thesis focusing on Black representation in, and engagement with, Japanese anime produced in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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