Lecturer and Director, Contemporary Tibetan Studies Initiative

Fields: Political and Legal Anthropology, Comparative Chinese Law, Tibet

Cross-disciplinary research on Tibet draws on critical perspectives in anthropology as well as contemporary political and legal thought. Comparative approach to the ethnographic study of concepts such as sovereignty and autonomy.  Research conducted also on legal recognition and the effects of liberal multiculturalism in post-martial law Taiwan.  Doctoral work examines the effects of Chinese constitutionalism and minority laws and policies in mediating modes of citizenship and exclusion in the Sino-Tibetan encounter. Studied law at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and holds LL.M. from the University of Cambridge where she specialized in critical international legal theory.  Further year of advanced studies in comparative Chinese law at the Center for Asian Legal Studies at the University of British Columbia before undertaking a Ph.D. in anthropology and Tibetan studies at Harvard University.  Recipient of numerous academic awards and fellowships, including the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) IDRF Doctoral Research Fellowship and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Canada Doctoral Fellowship. Current research focus on law and governance on the Tibetan plateau, with an emphasis on rural education and language protection; conservation, land-use and resource management; and the protection of biological and cultural diversity.