Faculty

Sonam Tsering Ngulphu

Sonam Tsering Ngulphu

Lecturer in Tibetan

Office: 502-G Kent Hall

Office Hours: By appointment
Email: st2855@columbia.edu

Educational Background

PhD: Columbia University
MTS: Harvard University
MA: Central University for Tibetan Studies

Research Interests

Tibetan Studies, Religion, and Buddhist Studies

Sonam Tsering Ngulphu has taught topics on religion, Buddhist philosophy, and Tibetan language and literature at monasteries and modern educational institutions in India and the US. He had previously worked as the managing editor of Tibet Journal, an academic quarterly on Tibetan studies, where he also co-edited thematic series on Tibet and British Raj, Tibetan monuments, and a fourteen-issue history of Tibetan art.

Sonam’s doctoral dissertation examined the eighteen-volume Collected Works of Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) to assess the role of the texts in the formation of Geluk School in Tibet during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It studied the significant roles that Je Tsongkhapa’s writings have played in establishing doctrinal authority, defining philosophical boundaries, postulating intellectual identity, and reorienting monastic education for Tibet’s largest school of thought and philosophy.

Trained in several languages, Sonam specializes in translation and interpretation with a focus on classical Tibetan Buddhist texts.

Selected Publications

Precious Garland: Buddhist Polity on Life and Liberation (Rājaparikathāratnāvali, Trans & Annot. LTWA, 2014)

Verses of Naga King Drum (Nāgarājabherīgāthā, Trans. 8400, 2020)

“The Sixth Ling Rinpoche Thupten Lungtok Namgyal Trinlé (1903–1983),” “Emchi Khyenrab Norbu (1883–1962),” “Tuksé Tubten Lhundrub (1906–1955),” and other biographies under National Endowment of Humanities (NEH) Grant (Biographical Encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalaya, http://www.treasuryoflives.org/) 

Tibet Journal (Managing Editor, 2001–2004)

Tshan rig dus deb (Assistant Editor, 2001–2003)

Fumiko Nazikian

Fumiko Nazikian

Senior Lecturer in Japanese, Director of External Relations (Japanese Language Program)

Office: 516 Kent Hall
Office Hours: M/R 3:00-4:00, or by appointment
Phone: (212) 854-5502
Email: fn2108@columbia.edu

Educational Background

PhD: Japanese Linguistics, University of Sydney
MA: Japanese Linguistics and Japanese Language Pedagogy, Australian National University

Classes Taught

JPN UN1001 Introductory Japanese A
JPNS UN1101 & UN1102 First Year Japanese
JPNS UN2201 & UN2202 Second Year Japanese
JPNS UN3005 & UN3006 Third Year Japanese
JPNS GU4017 & GU4018 Fourth Year Japanese
JPNS G4010 & G4214 Japanese Language Pedagogy

Research Interests

Japanese Linguistics (pragmatics)
Language Pedagogy

Fumiko Nazikian joined Columbia University in 2004, serving as the Director of the Japanese Language Program until the Spring of 2015. In addition to teaching regular language courses, she is a regular instructor in the Columbia Summer M.A. Program in Japanese Pedagogy. Prior to her time at Columbia, she spent 16 years as a Senior Lecturer at Princeton University. She has also taught at the Australian National University, the University of Sydney, and the University of New South Wales.

Her research interests lie in linguistic pragmatics, with a focus on discourse analysis and the connections between linguistics and language pedagogy. She has served as a reviewer for the AP Japanese Language and Culture Course and has been a committee member for the Japanese SAT.

She has also reviewed for publications such as AATJ Journal, Japanese Language and Literature, Journal of Japanese Linguistics (JJL), Pragmatics, and Journal of Pragmatics. From 2008 to 2012, she was a board member of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) and co-directed the AATJ Spring Conference from 2020 to 2022.

Publications

A Practical Guide for Scholarly Reading in Japanese (co-editor, Routledge, 2023)

Social Networking Approach to Japanese Language Teaching: The Intersection of Language and Culture in the Digital Age (co-editor, Routledge, 2021)

“Sentence final particle, yone as an ‘involvement’ marker” in Natural Conversation Analysis in Japanese: Elucidating human communication through the BTSJ Natural Conversation Corpus (ed. M. Usami, Kuroshio Press, 2020)

“Yone as a Discourse-Pragmatic Marker in Blog Messages: An Epistemic and Evaluative Stance” in the Journal of Communication and Media Studies, Vol. 5 (2019)

“How to Develop ’21st Century Skills’ in Foreign Language Education” in Japanese Language and Literature Vol. 50 (co-author, AATJ, 2016)

“Robots can talk—but can they teach?” (Walter de Gruyter, 2015)

Modern Japanese Grammar: A Practical Guide & Modern Japanese Workbook (co-author, Routledge, 2014)

Hiyaku: An Intermediate Japanese Course (co-author, Routledge, 2011)

“The Role of Style-Shifting in the Functions and Purposes of Storytelling: Detective Stories in Anime” (Georgetown University Press, 2010)

“Bringing learners’ perspectives into assessments: Self and peer Assessments in a Blog project” in the AATJ Special Issue of Japanese Language and Literature: Japanese Pedagogy  (co-author, AATJ, 2008)

“Danwa ni okeru jootai no kinoo nitsuite[On discourse functions of da detached style in Japanese]” (Kuroshio Press, 2007)

“Developing Learners’ Communication Skills through Story-Writing in Japanese Language Teaching” (co-author, Princeton University, 2007)

Genkokyoiku no Shintenkai [New Perspectives on Language Teaching]  (co-editor, Hitsuji-shobo, 2005)

David Max Moerman

moermanD. Max Moerman

Professor, Chair of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College

Office: 303 Milbank
Office Hours: T 4:30-5:30, W 1:00-2:00 and by appointment.
Phone: (212) 854-5540
Email: dm438@columbia.edu

Educational Background

AB: Columbia College (’86)
PhD: Stanford University (’99)

Classes Taught

AHUM UN1400 Colloquium on Major Texts: East Asia
RELI GU4611 The Lotus Sutra

Research Interests

East Asian Buddhism, Visual and Material Culture of Japanese Religions

D. Max Moerman is Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures. He is Co-Chair of the Columbia University Seminar in Buddhist Studies and an Associate Director of the Columbia Center for Buddhism and Asian Religions. He holds an A.B. from Columbia College and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. His research interests are in the visual and material culture of Japanese religions. His current book project, Geographies of the Imagination: Buddhism and the Japanese World Map, is under contract with the Harvard University Asia Center.

Selected Publications

“The Buddha and the Bathwater: Defilement and Enlightenment in the Arima Engi,”
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies (2015)

“Demonology and Eroticism: Islands of Women in the Japanese Buddhist Imagination,” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies (2009)

Localizing Paradise: Kumano Pilgrimage and the Religious Landscape of Premodern Japan (Harvard University Asia Center, 2005)