Education
Ph.D., Anthropology and History, University of Michigan, 2001
M.A., Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1999
B.A., Anthropology, Cognate University, 1991 (with honors)
CAS Speaker Bureau Topic(s)
Tibet;聽Nepal;聽Tibetan refugees;聽colonialism and empire;聽history and memory;聽power and politics; refugees and citizenship; nationalism; senses of belonging; gender; war; and anthropology as theoretical storytelling
Regional and Thematic Interests
South Asia
History
Profile
I am a cultural anthropologist and historian specializing in contemporary Tibet. My research focuses on issues of colonialism and empire, history and memory, power and politics, refugees and citizenship, nationalism, senses of belonging, gender, war, and anthropology as theoretical storytelling. Since 1994, I have conducted research in Tibetan refugee communities in India and Nepal on the history and politics of the guerilla army聽Chushi Gangdrug, culminating in my book聽Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Histories of a Forgotten War聽(Duke University Press, 2010). Thinking of 20th-21st century Tibetan histories and experiences as imperial in a global sense is a key part of my work in relation to the CIA, British India, and the People's Republic of China. My work on Tibet as 鈥渙ut-of-bounds鈥� empire can be found in聽Imperial Formations, an SAR volume I co-edited with Ann Stoler and Peter Perdue. Currently, I am working on two new projects: a Wenner-Gren funded project with John Collins on 鈥淓thnographies of U.S. Empire,鈥� and a new solo research project with Tibetans in India, Nepal, New York City, and Toronto titled 鈥淩efugee Citizenship: Tibetan Practices of Political Subjectivity in Diaspora.鈥�