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Tibetan Studies

Tibetan History and Literature

The Tibetan Studies at Columbia is one of the leading such programs in the English-speaking world, and the first teaching program to focus on modern Tibet. Faculty include Gray Tuttle in early modern and modern Tibetan cultural history and the history of Tibetan and Chinese relations, Dominique Townsend (in Religion and affiliated faculty in EALAC) who teaches Tibetan Buddhism, including Tibetan Buddhist cultural production, poetry, aesthetics, dreams, gender, and translation, Sonam Tsering (Director of the Tibetan Language Program) who teaches three years of modern Tibetan, Sonam Tsering Ngulphu who teaches three years of classical Tibetan, Lauran Hartley (Director of the Modern Tibetan Studies in WEAI) who teaches courses on Tibetan literature, modern culture and film, and modern Tibetan infrastructure, and Kristina Dy Liacco (Tibetan Studies librarian at the Starr East Asian library), who occasionally teaches courses on Tibetan literature. Collectively they offer a broad temporal range and a rich variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives.

The C.V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia hosts the most comprehensive collection of Tibetological materials in the world, and is especially rich in modern journals, newspapers, and rare materials. The Modern Tibetan Studies Program based at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute plays a leading role in the study of Tibet and runs public programs aimed at the New York City area and beyond. By sponsoring lectures, workshops, films, concerts and other events on Tibet-related topics, the MTS Program works to advance academic knowledge and to deepen public understanding of Tibetan and associated issues. It also serves as a bridge between Tibetan Studies in North America and the most recent work of Tibetologists throughout the world as well as in Tibet and China through its sponsorship of visiting scholars, conferences and research.

Xiahe Labrang Monastery, 1991. Photo by Gray Tuttle.

Columbia’s Tibetan language program is among the best in North America, offering classes in first through third-year modern Tibetan language. Through the Department of Religion, Columbia also offers two years of classical Tibetan and advanced reading courses in classical Tibetan, mostly focused on religious texts. The Tibetan language program ranks alongside Columbia’s nationally recognized programs in Chinese, Japanese and Korean language, which together constitute one of the leading East Asian language programs in North America.

Tibetan studies courses at Columbia include those on the sources of modern Tibetan history – designed especially for graduate students in Tibetan Studies – as well as on the history of China-Tibetan relations, Tibetan material history, contemporary Tibetan culture, Chinese and Tibetan film and television, oral history and biography, and other aspects of Tibetan history, culture, religion and politics.

Our program encourages comparative and interdisciplinary studies and humanistic scholarship that focuses on more than a single country or a single linguistic tradition in Asia. Students frequently take seminars with professors in other programs and fields, often focusing on the history of China. For example, students combine their interest in history with material culture, gender studies, religion, or comparative literature through several joint programs. Specifically, there is an interdepartmental “History–East Asia” program, to which students may apply either through EALAC or the Department of History (applications through either department are reviewed as part of the same pool), a joint Concentration Program of the Institute of Comparative Literature and Society, and students of Tibetan Buddhism often study jointly in Religion and EALAC. In terms of temporal coverage, Tibetan Studies at Columbia University covers the early modern, modern and contemporary periods (17th to 21st centuries), though it is possible to study early periods in the Departments of Religion and Philosophy.

We emphasize a transnational approach to Tibetan studies, with a focus on the disciplines of history and religion. Students thus work with a range of faculty at Columbia. Our strong Chinese history program features Eugenia Lean in modern cultural history. We are just as rich in Chinese literature, with Lydia Liu in modern literature and theory and Shang Wei in Ming-Qing fiction and drama. We have leading faculty in East Asian religion in this country with Dominique Townsend in Tibetan Buddhism and Max Moerman and Michael Como in Japanese religions. We also have great depth on the Japan side, with David Lurie in history, Christina Yi, Tomi Suzuki, and Haruo Shirane in literature.

Columbia’s location in New York City, home to the largest Tibetan community outside of Asia, provides students with a wealth of Tibet-related academic and cultural activities. Students can take advantage of Tibet-related talks, film screenings, exhibitions, and other activities at the Rubin Museum of Art, Trace Foundation’s Latse Contemporary Tibetan Library, Tibet House, the Jacques Marchais Museum, and Asia Society, as well as at the Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, American Museum of Natural History and the New York Public Library.

Students in the PhD program at Columbia engage in cutting-edge research on a wide array of topics. Please see the list of recent graduates and their dissertation topics as well as the current PhD student profiles. The PhD program provides full funding (covering both tuition and stipend) for five years. The Tibetan studies MA program has an excellent record of placing its graduates in PhD programs of high quality (including Harvard, Yale, Chicago) or in non-academic jobs related to East Asia; it is a good beginning to either an academic or a professional career. Please contact Tibetan studies faculty by email to learn more about the PhD and MA programs.

Japanese Literature and Cultural Studies

Japanese Literature and Cultural Studies

EALAC has long been known for its leadership in Japanese literature and culture, beginning with Donald Keene, Ivan Morris, and then Edward Seidensticker, who pioneered the field; today it continues to produce many leading scholars of Japanese literature and visual culture. The program is outstanding both in modern and in premodern studies, enabling students to receive extensive training both linguistically and across different periods and disciplines. The program is well known for teaching various levels and styles, from advanced modern Japanese to classical Japanese, kanbun, and calligraphic script, all of which is supplemented by strong programs in Chinese and Korean. The program promotes critical methodologies and interdisciplinary or comparative studies, combining, for example, literature with film, media culture, gender studies, cultural history, or religion, often working across one or more countries in Asia. Our PhD students also frequently work in Columbia’s transdepartmental, interdisciplinary programs in comparative literature and media: the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society and the Center for Comparative Media. EALAC often collaborates with these programs in organizing various events. 

A major characteristic of the program is the interface of the studies of literature, cultural history, and media. Haruo Shirane is an expert in classical, medieval and early modern Japanese literature and cultural history, with special interest in poetry and prose fiction, intermedial relations (oral storytelling, painting/print culture, dance, and theater in relationship to literary texts), and the role of popular culture in canon formation. David Lurie, teaching both literature and history, is a leading authority in ancient Japanese history and literature, script and writing systems, linguistic thought, and Japanese myths. In premodern studies, they are aided by Kou Lu, Lili Xia, and Wei Shang (premodern Chinese literature); Michael Como, Heather Blair, and Max Moerman (early and medieval Japanese religion); and Matthew McKelway (medieval and Edo painting).

Tomi Suzuki is an expert in 19th and 20th century fiction, literary and cultural criticism, and intellectual history. Christina Yi has conducted a wide range of research in modern and contemporary Japanese literature, with a particular focus on issues of postcoloniality, language politics, genre, and cultural studies. Takuya Tsunoda is a specialist in modern and contemporary Japanese film and media, whose research centers on media culture and the multifaceted relationship between cinema, science, and technology. They are complemented by Jonathan Reynolds (modern Japanese visual culture and architecture), and Marilyn Ivy (anthropology), not to mention those in other modern East Asian literatures and cultural studies, particularly Theodore Hughes (modern Korean literature), Lydia Liu (modern Chinese literature), and Ying Qian (Chinese film and media).

Tamakazura (Jewel Garland, no. 22 of Ukiyo-e Comparisons of the Cloudy Chapters of Genji), C. V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University

EALAC created almost the entire first generation of Japanese literature scholars after World War II. The Japanese literature and visual culture program at Columbia has continued its leadership role, training and placing, in just the last three decades, more than fifty PhD graduates in institutions of higher learning throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, more than any other program by far. Graduates of the program occupy positions of leadership both in the field and at many of the leading universities such as UCLA, Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, Washington University at St. Louis, Boston University, University of British Columbia, Oxford, SOAS, University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, and Waseda University, among others.

The Japanese literature and cultural studies program also has a MA double degree program with Waseda University which allows PhD students to study and train in Japan for a year, earning a MA as they work toward a PhD at Columbia. Visiting scholars from various Japanese universities also offer workshops and courses on a regular basis.

The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, affiliated with the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, regularly sponsors lectures, workshops, performances, and other events that bring prominent scholars, artists, musicians, and other cultural figures to campus from elsewhere in North America, Europe, Japan, and Asia.

With the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University has one of the strongest library collections in the world for Japanese literature and culture. It has particularly extensive holdings of books and journals in premodern and modern literature, history, and religion. Its Makino Mamoru Collection on the History of East Asian Film is an important resource for scholarship not only on cinema and popular culture, but also on many other aspects of modern Japanese history.

Our location in New York City also creates close connections to the Japan Society, Asia Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and New York Public Library, as well as providing exposure to a wide variety of Japan-related film screenings, gallery shows, talks by writers, and live performances by both traditional and contemporary artists throughout the year.

East Asian Religion

East Asian Religion

The East Asian Religion subfield in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Columbia University boasts one of the largest and strongest faculty cohorts in North America. EALAC faculty specializing in East Asian Religions include Bernard Faure (Japanese Buddhism), Michael Como (Shintō and Japanese Religions), Max Moerman (Japanese Buddhism), and Yang Zhaohua (Chinese Buddhism and Daoism). Students in the program are expected to work closely with each of these professors during their time at Columbia.

Professor Michael Como, Bernard Faure, and Max Moerman at annual EALAC faculty dinner.

Students trained in the program are given extensive training in two principal areas, each of which draws upon the unusually deep resources provided by the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures as well as the Department of Religion at Columbia. First, students are given extensive training in the cultural, linguistic and textual traditions relevant to their areas of research. Students are expected to develop proficiency in both classical and modern forms of at least two Asian languages. Thus students of Japanese religious traditions frequently work not only with instructors in Columbia’s language training programs, but also with such specialists in early Japanese literature and culture as Haruo Shirane and David Lurie. Students of Chinese religious traditions, similarly, often work with such specialists in Chinese literature and history as Robert Hymes, Shang Wei and Guo Jue. Students are also welcome to pursue studies in Columbia’s pre-eminent language programs in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Korean.

Equally importantly, students are also expected to develop a firm methodological grounding in the Study of Religion. All students in the East Asian Religion subfield are required to take the Religion Department’s Theory and Methods seminar, and they are encouraged to work closely with such Professors as Robert Thurman (Indo-Tibetan Buddhism), Mark Taylor (Philosophy of Religion) and Courtney Bender (Sociology of Religion).

In addition to the above resources, there are also a number of institutions at Columbia that directly support the study of East Asian Religions. Among the most important of these is the Center for Buddhism and East Asian Religions (C-BEAR), which has in recent years hosted a number of international conferences on such topics as the Medicine Buddha in East Asia, Medieval Shintō, Buddhism and the Visual Arts, Onmyōdō, and Shūgendō. These conferences afford students a special opportunity to meet leading scholars from around the world who are working on cutting-edge topics in the study of East Asian Religions. Often these meetings have led to ongoing academic relationships with specialists in the student’s chosen field of specialization. Where appropriate, advanced Columbia graduate students are also eligible to present papers at these conferences and publish their work together with leading scholars in their field in subsequent conference volumes.

Further support for the study of East Asian Religions at Columbia is provided by the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, which regularly sponsors lectures, workshops, performances and other events that bring prominent scholars, artists and other cultural figures from elsewhere in North America, Europe and Asia to the Columbia campus. Students are also invited to meet with leading scholars brought in by the Buddhist Studies Seminar at Columbia as well researchers invited by the Early China Seminar. The C.V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia also provides students with daily access to one of the strongest library collections in the world in Japanese and Chinese literature, history and religion.

Beyond the confines of Columbia, students also benefit from the University’s close connections with such institutions as the Japan Society, the Asia Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library, all of which provide a wide variety of Asia-related film screenings, gallery shows, talks by writers and live performances by both traditional and contemporary artists throughout the year.

The graduate program in East Asian Religions at Columbia brings together students and faculty from across the globe to their interests and areas of expertise in a dynamic intellectual setting. The Ph.D. program provides full funding (covering both tuition and stipend) for five years. The thriving M.A. program has trained many students to go on to Ph.D. programs and professional careers. Please contact the faculty by e-mail to learn more about the program.