Scarlett Jiali He

Field: Modern History of Tibet
Advisors: Gray Tuttle
Email: jh4729@columbia.edu

Scarlett He is a PhD student in the EALAC-History program. Her research interest is the modern history in Tibet, the decolonization of artworks, and the critical approach to disclose and decentralize the socio-political bias on non-indigenous art objects exposed in foreign contexts. She gained an MA in East Asian Art History and European Art History at Heidelberg University. Her thesis studies the Ming-commissioned Tibetan Buddhist art in Amdo and discusses the roles of Tibetan monks in the Ming court. Before coming to New York, Scarlett lived in Europe and worked as an independent researcher in German and French museums, conducting provenance research on Tibetan objects. Her current research is on the history of art collecting undertaken by European and American expeditors in 20th-century Tibet and the later trace of the objects in Western Europe and the US.

Tenggeer Hao

Field: Chinese Literature and Cinema
Advisor: Ying Qian
Email: t.hao@columbia.edu

Tenggeer Hao is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees respectively from the School of Chinese Language and Literature of Beijing Normal University and the Critical Asian Humanities Program at Duke University. He focuses on Chinese film studies, film and media theory, and comparative philosophy between the Yijing philosophy, Kantian-Hegelian idealism, and contemporary philosophy of mind. His dissertation, “The Heart-Mind Medium: Towards A Yin-Yang Philosophy of Media,” aims to construct a philosophy of media using concepts of the Yijing philosophy and articulate the philosophical foundation of its methodology.

Palden Gyal

Field: Tibetan Buddhism and Sino-Tibetan History
Advisor: Gray Tuttle
Email: palden.gyal@columbia.edu

Palden Gyal is a doctoral student in Sino-Tibetan history and Tibetan Buddhism. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Duke University (NC) and an M.A. in philosophy of religion and Buddhist studies from Harvard Divinity School (MA). Palden’s research interests lie broadly at the intersections of religion, ethics, and political philosophy. His dissertation project focuses on the practices of governance, the political and institutional history of Tibetan communities in the Sino-Tibetan borderlands from the 18th to the 20th century.

Personal website:  https://pal-den-gyal.com/