Courses

Fall 2022

UN1365: INTRODUCTION TO EAST ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS: TIBET
Faculty: Lauran Hartley
This course seeks to introduce the sweep of Tibetan civilization and its history from its earliest recorded origins to the present. The course examines what civilizational forces shaped Tibet, especially the contributions of Indian Buddhism, sciences and literature, but also Chinese statecraft and sciences. Alongside the chronological history of Tibet, we will explore aspects of social life and culture.

GU4312: TIBETAN SACRED SPACE IN COMPARATIVE CONTEXTS
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
Through interdisciplinary theoretical approaches (mostly in the fields of religion, anthropology, literature, and history), this course engages the genre of writing about sacred space in Tibetan Buddhist culture, addressing the micro (built environment) and macro (natural environment) levels of this important sphere of Tibetan literature. Through Tibetan pilgrimage accounts, place (monasteries, temples, etc) based guidebooks, geographically focused biographies, and pictorial representations of place, the class will consider questions about how place-writing overlaps with religious practice, politics, and history. For comparative purposes, we will read place based writing from Western and other Asian authors, for instance accounts of the guidebooks to and inscriptions at Christian churches, raising questions about the cultural relativity of what makes up sacred space.

GR6100: RULING INNER ASIA FROM BEIJING: LAMAS AND EMPERORS
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
Late imperial China was marked by a multi-ethnic tradition of rulership that built on the foundations of the so-called “conquest dynasties.” This course will survey the existing literature on the importance of Tibetan Buddhism as a religious ideology that was central to late imperial efforts at making China a multi-ethnic state. This ideology has served to link China with Tibetan and Mongolia regions of Inner Asia—through the imperial center at Beijing—for over seven hundred years. This tradition started with the Mongol Yuan empire and was adopted on and off during the Chinese Ming imperial period. The last emperors of China were ethnic Manchus who expanded the Qing empire to include Mongolia and Tibet. This class will also explore the connections between the imperial family and the Tibetan Buddhist lamas who were responsible for court rituals and diplomacy. There are no prerequisites to take the course.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills. Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2710: ADVANCED LITERARY TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This two-semester class is designed to assist students who already have the equivalent of at least two-years of Classical Tibetan language study. The course is intended to build on this foundation so that students gain greater proficiency in reading a variety of classical Tibetan writing styles and genres, including texts relevant to their research.
The course readings will focus primarily on texts written during the Ganden Phodrang period up through the 19th century.  Over the two semesters, the class will cover three sets of materials: 1) famous or otherwise influential classical works (mostly historical, some literary); 2) important historical texts that have come to light in recent years but are scarcely known in western scholarship; and 3) classical language texts that support the research needs of the enrolled students.  Classical Tibetan grammar and other conventions will be identified and discussed in the course of the readings.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Spring 2023

GR6905: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Faculty: Allison Aitken
Buddhist philosophers generally agree about what doesn’t exist: an enduring, unitary, and independent self. But there is surprisingly little consensus across Buddhist traditions about what does exist and what it’s like. In this course, we will examine several Buddhist theories about the nature and structure of reality and consider the epistemological and ethical implications of these radically different pictures of the world. We will analyze and evaluate arguments from some of the most influential Indian Buddhist philosophers from the second to the eleventh centuries, including Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu, Dignāga, Candrakīrti, Śāntarakṣita, Śāntideva, and Ratnakīrti. Topics will include the existence and nature of the external world, the mind, and the self; practical and epistemological implications of the Buddhist no-self principle; personal identity; the problem of other minds; and causal determinism and moral responsibility.

GU4615: TIBETAN RIVERS & ROADS: INFRASTRUCTURE, ENVIRONMENT, & URBAN LIVES
Faculty: Lauran Hartley
This course examines the transformation of natural environments, rural and urban landscapes on the Tibetan Plateau in the 20th and 21st centuries, with a special emphasis on the material and social lives of rivers, roads and infrastructure. We will draw on primary source readings (in English) and maps, as well as secondary readings in anthropology and human geography, to examine the processes of infrastructure creation, national integration, urbanization and adaptation in the Tibetan regions of China.

GU4410: TIBETAN MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS
Faculty: Gray Tuttle 
Through interdisciplinary theoretical approaches (mostly in the fields of religion, anthropology, and history), this course examines THE key institution in Tibetan culture, namely monasteries. We will address the monastery from many different angles, from the physical infrastructure and soteriological justification to its governing documents as well as economic and educational roles.

GU4735: CLIMATE HISTORY OF THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
Faculty: Gray Tuttle and Hung Nguyen
This course on climatological historiography of Tibet employs an interdisciplinary approach to bring together research findings from “the archives of nature” (statistical reconstructions of past climate from physical and natural processes) with studies from “the archives of society” (physical and written sources left by humans) to examine how historical changes in climate have effected human development and society on the Tibetan plateau. The class explores how climatic conditions and events might have triggered and contributed to socioeconomic, political, and cultural developments in Tibet and the Himalayas.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills. Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2710: ADVANCED LITERARY TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This two-semester class is designed to assist students who already have the equivalent of at least two-years of Classical Tibetan language study. The course is intended to build on this foundation so that students gain greater proficiency in reading a variety of classical Tibetan writing styles and genres, including texts relevant to their research.
The course readings will focus primarily on texts written during the Ganden Phodrang period up through the 19th century.  Over the two semesters, the class will cover three sets of materials: 1) famous or otherwise influential classical works (mostly historical, some literary); 2) important historical texts that have come to light in recent years but are scarcely known in western scholarship; and 3) classical language texts that support the research needs of the enrolled students.  Classical Tibetan grammar and other conventions will be identified and discussed in the course of the readings.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Fall 2021

UN1365: Introduction to East Asian Civilizations: Tibet
Faculty: Anna Sehnalova        (See course on Vergil.)
This course seeks to introduce the sweep of Tibetan civilization and its history from its earliest recorded origins to the present. The course examines what civilizational forces shaped Tibet, especially the contributions of Indian Buddhism, sciences and literature, but also Chinese statecraft and sciences. Alongside the chronological history of Tibet, we will explore aspects of social life and culture.

S2205: Buddhism: Indo-Tibetan
Faculty: Thomas Yarnall      (See course on Vergil.)
The course introduces the history of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism throughout India, South and Southeast Asia, Tibet, and Central Asia, its essential primary textual source materials translated from Pali, Sanskrit, and Tibetan, and the philosophical insights of some of the traditions’ outstanding individuals.

GU4318: Interpreting Buddhist Yoga
Faculty: David Kittay            (See course on Vergil.)
A seminar exploring the meanings of Buddhist Tantra and being, time, space, gender, technology, and mysticism through traditional religious, modern, post-modern, digital, quantum, and Buddhist "hermeneutics," the science and art of interpretation. We will read ancient and modern classics on hermeneutics, by Schleiermacher, Gadamer, Heidegger, Barthes, and Ricouer; Indian and Tibetan works on their systems of interpretation, at least as sophisticated as anything from Europe; and contemporary works on how digital technology brings us into a world of new meaning for everything, including Buddhist yoga.  

GU4553: Survey of Tibetan Literature
Faculty: Lauran Hartley       (See course on Vergil.)
Designed for both undergraduate and graduate students, this course introduces Tibetan belles-lettres and vernacular works (all in English translation) spanning from the imperial period to the present day. We will engage in close readings, together with discussion of the genre each text represents and its salience in current Tibetan intellectual discourse. In the final four weeks, we will read landmark works from the post-Mao period, with a view to the negotiation of traditional forms amidst the advent of new literary genres and the economics of cultural production.  Questions to address include: How have Tibetan literary forms and content developed throughout history? How has the very concept of "Tibetan literature" been conceived?  How have Tibetan writers and scholars—past and present—negotiated literary innovation?  Each session will consist of a brief lecture followed by discussion. Lectures will incrementally provide students with a general timeline of Tibetan literary and related historical developments, as well as biographical material regarding the authors assigned for that week.  Tibetan language students and heritage learners will be offered three optional sessions to read excerpts of selected texts in Tibetan.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills. Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN 2710: ADVANCED LITERARY TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This two-semester class is designed to assist students who already have the equivalent of at least two-years of Classical Tibetan language study. The course is intended to build on this foundation so that students gain greater proficiency in reading a variety of classical Tibetan writing styles and genres, including texts relevant to their research.
The course readings will focus primarily on texts written during the Ganden Phodrang period up through the 19th century.  Over the two semesters, the class will cover three sets of materials: 1) famous or otherwise influential classical works (mostly historical, some literary); 2) important historical texts that have come to light in recent years but are scarcely known in western scholarship; and 3) classical language texts that support the research needs of the enrolled students.  Classical Tibetan grammar and other conventions will be identified and discussed in the course of the readings.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN I
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Spring 2022

GU4310: LIFE WRITING IN TIBETAN BUDDHIST LITERATURE
Faculty: Gray Tuttle        (See course on Vergil.)
This course engages the genre of life writing in Tibetan Buddhist culture, addressing the permeable and fluid nature of this important sphere of Tibetan literature. Through Tibetan biographies, hagiographies, and autobiographies, the class will consider questions about how life-writing overlaps with religious doctrine, philosophy, and history. For comparative purposes, we will read life writing from Western (and Japanese or Chinese) authors, for instance accounts of the lives of Christian saints, raising questions about the cultural relativity of what makes up a life's story.  This course fulfills the undergraduate Global Core requirement.

GU4558: TIBETAN SCIENCE - MEDICINE, KNOWLEDGE AND THE STATE ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD
Faculty: Anna Sehnalova       (See course on Vergil.)
This course aims to pose the question of what ‘science’ can be in Tibetan and Himalayan cultures, and to examine these ‘sciences’ in their social, religious, political, transnational, and inter-cultural dimensions. Especially through the field of medicine, it explores the main developments of Tibetan knowledge mostly during the modern era from the 17th century onward, building on both ethnography and primary and secondary written sources. This course pays particular attention to the relation of this knowledge to various states, centralizing institutions, and policies and practices of legitimization, and further to the modernization and globalization of the production, application, and consumption of Tibetan medical knowledge, including during the current Covid-19 pandemic.

GU4565: CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE: TIBET IN THE WORLD
Faculty: Lauran Hartley        (See course on Vergil.)
This course explores the intersection of cultural production and national/global economies in the context of Tibet. We will focus not on colonial sources but on a wide range of representational and expressive practices -- film, literature, music, social media, art, performance, etc.-- engaged by Tibetans since the early 1980s in the multi-ethnic borderlands of China, South Asia, and more recently the diaspora, including New York City. We will explore the impact of settler colonialism and socioeconomic marginalization on the de-centering and re-centering of ethnicity and identity in education, publishing and the arts, with reference to secondary studies as well as conversations with area artists. This course fulfills the undergraduate Global Core requirement.

GU4720: 20th CENTURY TIBETAN HISTORY
Faculty: Gray Tuttle        (See course on Vergil.)

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills. Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN 2710: ADVANCED LITERARY TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
This two-semester class is designed to assist students who already have the equivalent of at least two-years of Classical Tibetan language study. The course is intended to build on this foundation so that students gain greater proficiency in reading a variety of classical Tibetan writing styles and genres, including texts relevant to their research.
The course readings will focus primarily on texts written during the Ganden Phodrang period up through the 19th century.  Over the two semesters, the class will cover three sets of materials: 1) famous or otherwise influential classical works (mostly historical, some literary); 2) important historical texts that have come to light in recent years but are scarcely known in western scholarship; and 3) classical language texts that support the research needs of the enrolled students.  Classical Tibetan grammar and other conventions will be identified and discussed in the course of the readings.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN II
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Fall 2020

GU4017: ETHNOGRAPHY AND REPRESENTATION IN TIBET
Faculty: Eveline Washul 
This course introduces contemporary Tibetan society through the lens of anthropology and how various representations have produced different understandings of Tibet within China and beyond.

GU4312: TIBETAN SACRED SPACE IN COMPARATIVE CONTEXTS
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
Through interdisciplinary theoretical approaches (mostly in the fields of religion, anthropology, literature, and history), this course engages the genre of writing about sacred space in Tibetan Buddhist culture, addressing the micro (built environment) and macro (natural environment) levels of this important sphere of Tibetan literature. Through Tibetan pilgrimage accounts, place (monasteries, temples, etc) based guidebooks, geographically focused biographies, and pictorial representations of place, the class will consider questions about how place-writing overlaps with religious practice, politics, and history. For comparative purposes, we will read place based writing from Western and other Asian authors, for instance accounts of the guidebooks to and inscriptions at Christian churches, raising questions about the cultural relativity of what makes up sacred space.

GU4410: TIBETAN MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS
Faculty: Gray Tuttle 
Through interdisciplinary theoretical approaches (mostly in the fields of religion, anthropology, and history), this course examines THE key institution in Tibetan culture, namely monasteries. We will address the monastery from many different angles, from the physical infrastructure and soteriological justification to its governing documents as well as economic and educational roles.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills. Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing
basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan. Students are
also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Konchog Tseten 
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN 2710: ADVANCED LITERARY TIBETAN
Faculty: Pema Bhum
This two-semester class is designed to assist students who already have the equivalent of at least two-years of Classical Tibetan language study. The course is intended to build on this foundation so that students gain greater proficiency in reading a variety of classical Tibetan writing styles and genres, including texts relevant to their research.
The course readings will focus primarily on texts written during the Ganden Phodrang period up through the 19th century.  Over the two semesters, the class will cover three sets of materials: 1) famous or otherwise influential classical works (mostly historical, some literary); 2) important historical texts that have come to light in recent years but are scarcely known in western scholarship; and 3) classical language texts that support the research needs of the enrolled students.  Classical Tibetan grammar and other conventions will be identified and discussed in the course of the readings.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Spring 2021

UN1365: INTRODUCTION TO EAST ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS: TIBET
Faculty: Patrick Booz             (See course on Vergil.)
This course seeks to introduce the sweep of Tibetan civilization and its history from its earliest recorded origins to the present. The course examines what civilizational forces shaped Tibet, especially the contributions of Indian Buddhism, sciences and literature, but also Chinese statecraft and sciences. Alongside the chronological history of Tibet, we will explore aspects of social life and culture.

GU4700: THE RISE OF MODERN TIBET: 1600-1913
Faculty: Gray Tuttle             (See course on Vergil.)
Designed for students interested in gaining a broad view of Tibetan history from the 1600 to 1913, class cover the institutional history of major Tibetan state structures and their rivals in the Tibetan borderlands. The three main themes we will examine are the cosmopolitan aspects of Tibetan culture, the central role of Buddhist religion in Tibet, and the social and economic world.

GU4712: LOCAL HISTORY IN TIBET
Faculty: Gray Tuttle             (See course on Vergil.)
Tibetan culture covers an area roughly the size of Western Europe, yet most regions have not been the subject of sustained historical study. This course is designed for students interested in studying approaches to local history that attempt to ask large questions of relatively small places. Historiographic works from Tibetan studies (where they exist) will be examined in comparison with approaches drawn mainly from European and Chinese studies, as well as theories drawn from North/South American and Southeast Asian contexts. Given the centrality of Buddhist monasteries to Tibetan history (as “urban” centers, banks, governments, educational institutions, etc.) much of the course will deal with these.

GU4729: AMDO: THE TIBETAN, CHINESE, MONGOLIAN, AND MUSLIM INTERFACE
Faculty: Marnyi Gyatso             (See course on Vergil.)
This course examines the social and political changes of Tibetan, Chinese, Mongolian and Muslim groups in the northern and eastern Tibetan Plateau from the 13th century to the 20th century. It also provides an overview of the complex interactions between the ethnically diverse regional powers in Amdo and the China-based states.

GU4813: TIBET'S RELATIONS WITH CHINA
Faculty: Eveline Washul             (See course on Vergil.)
From the 7th to 9th centuries A.D., the Tibetan Empire rose and fell as a major power vying with the Turks, Arabs, and Chinese for control over strategic routes between Asia and Europe known as the Silk Road. This course is an introduction to this early period of Tibetan history, covering its religion, politics, and administration, with an emphasis on its relations with China.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering              (See course on Vergil.)
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills.Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1601: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering              (See course on Vergil.)
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills. Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2413: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Konchog Tseten              (See course on Vergil.)
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2604: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering              (See course on Vergil.)
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN 2711: ADVANCED LITERARY TIBETAN
Faculty: Pema Bhum             (See course on Vergil.)This two-semester class is designed to assist students who already have the equivalent of at least two-years of Classical Tibetan language study. The course is intended to build on this foundation so that students gain greater proficiency in reading a variety of classical Tibetan writing styles and genres, including texts relevant to their research.
The course readings will focus primarily on texts written during the Ganden Phodrang period up through the 19th century.  Over the two semesters, the class will cover three sets of materials: 1) famous or otherwise influential classical works (mostly historical, some literary); 2) important historical texts that have come to light in recent years but are scarcely known in western scholarship; and 3) classical language texts that support the research needs of the enrolled students.  Classical Tibetan grammar and other conventions will be identified and discussed in the course of the readings.

UN3612: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering              (See course on Vergil.)
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Note: Course offerings and any sample syllabi are subject to change.  For full course meeting and registration information, please see Columbia Vergil.

Fall 2019

ASCE UN1365: INTRO TO EAST ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS: TIBET
Faculty: Patrick Booz
This course introduces contemporary Tibetan society through the lens of anthropology and how various representations have produced different understandings of Tibet within China and beyond.

HSEA GU4814: SPACE AND PLACE IN URBANIZING TIBET
Faculty: Eveline Washul
Seminar engaging anthropology, geography, and indigenous studies to understand how space and place are socially produced and analyze contemporary urban transitions on the Tibetan Plateau.

HSEA GU4815: FAITH & EMPIRE: ART & POLITICS IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM
Faculty: Karl Debreczany 
Explores Tibetan Buddhist claims to political power in the courts of China and Inner Asia. Images were a means of political propagation, integral to magical tantric rites, and embodiments of power.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Konchog Tseten 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills.Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan, Lhasa dialect. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Pema Bhum
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Spring 2020

EARL GU4310: LIFE-WRITING IN TIBETAN BUDDHIST LITERATURE
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
Through Tibetan biographies (read alongside those of other cultures), the class will consider questions about how life-writing overlaps with religious doctrine, philosophy, and history.

HSEA GU4816: COMPARING INDIGENEITIES
Faculty: Eveline Washul
Using anthropology and indigenous studies, examines concept of indigeneity as categories of difference, political relationships, and lived experiences in Americas, Australia, Tibetan communities in China.

HSEA GR9300: SEMINAR IN THE SOURCES FOR MODERN TIBETAN HISTORY
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
This course is designed for graduate students in the EALAC department's Tibetan Studies graduate program who are preparing to engage in research. The course will serve to introduce these students to many of the major sources for modern Tibetan history, as well as the primary reference works. Students will also generate two annotated bibliographies of material relevant to their own research: the first a Western language bibliography of relevant materials & the second a Tibetan and Chinese language bibliography of relevant materials. These will serve as the basis for the students' final paper, which will survey the state of the field on their selected research topic. 

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Konchog Tseten 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills.Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan, Lhasa dialect. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Pema Bhum
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Fall 2018

ASCE UN1365: INTRO TO EAST ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS: TIBET
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
This course introduces contemporary Tibetan society through the lens of anthropology and how various representations have produced different understandings of Tibet within China and beyond.

EAAS: ETHNOGRAPHIC TIBET
Faculty: Eveline Washul
This course introduces contemporary Tibetan society through the lens of anthropology and how various representations have produced different understandings of Tibet within China and beyond.

HSEA GU4725: TIBETAN VISUAL & MATERIAL CULTURE
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
This course examines the painting, sculpture, architecture, and performing arts of the Tibet in the context of local religious beliefs, ritual practices, and literary canons.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Konchog Tseten 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills.Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan, Lhasa dialect. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Pema Bhum
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Spring 2019

HSEA GU4700: RISE OF MODERN TIBET: HISTORY & SOCIETY, 1600-1913
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
Deals with the institutional history of major Tibetan state structures and their rivals in the Tibetan borderlands; cosmopolitan, religious and economic aspects of Tibetan culture.

HSEA GU4712: LOCAL HISTORY IN TIBET
Faculty: Gray Tuttle 
This course is designed to ask large questions of relatively small places in Tibet, in comparison with approaches drawn mainly from European and Chinese studies.

HSEA GR9300: EARLY TIBETAN HISTORY AND ITS RELATIONS WITH CHINA
Faculty: Eveline Washul 
This course is an introduction to early Tibetan history focusing on the Tibetan Empire (7th-9th c.) with an emphasis on its relations with China.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Konchog Tseten 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills.Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan, Lhasa dialect. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Pema Bhum
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Fall 2017

ASCE UN1365: INTRO TO EAST ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS: TIBET
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
This course introduces contemporary Tibetan society through the lens of anthropology and how various representations have produced different understandings of Tibet within China and beyond.

EAAS GU4553: SURVEY OF TIBETAN LITERATURE
Faculty: Lauran Hartley
This course introduces contemporary Tibetan society through the lens of anthropology and how various representations have produced different understandings of Tibet within China and beyond.

EAAS GU4557: FILM & TELEVISION IN TIBET & INNER ASIA
Faculty: Robert Barnett
This course uses films and television dramas to study the history and underlying conflicts over state, nationality, culture and politics in Tibet and Inner Asia since the 1920s.

HSEA GU4725: LIFE-WRITING IN TIBETAN BUDDHIST LITERATURE
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
This course examines the painting, sculpture, architecture, and performing arts of the Tibet in the context of local religious beliefs, ritual practices, and literary canons.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Konchog Tseten 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills.Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan, Lhasa dialect. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Pema Bhum
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Spring 2018

HSEA GU4700: TIBETAN SACRED SPACE (IN COMPARATIVE CONTEXT)
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
This course engages the genre of writing about sacred space in Tibetan Buddhist culture, addressing the built and natural environments through interdisciplinary and comparative approaches.

HSEA GR9300: BIOGRAPHY & ORAL HISTORY IN MODERN TIBET
Faculty: Gray Tuttle
The seminar studies how life-stories were told by 20th century Tibetans, whether religious leaders, officials, aristocrats, or guerillas, and teaches oral history techniques in the Tibetan context.

UN1410: FIRST YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Konchog Tseten 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic reading and translation skills.Students are also introduced to classical Tibetan through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN 1600: FIRST YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan, Lhasa dialect. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

UN2412: SECOND YEAR CLASSICAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Pema Bhum
This is the second year in the Classical Tibetan language progression.  Students will work with faculty to read classical Tibetan texts from various genres and learn to read a variety of classical Tibetan scripts and seals.  Prior completion of UN1410: First Year Classical Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN2603: SECOND YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
Completion of UN 1600: First Year Modern Colloquial Tibetan or the equivalent required.

UN3611: THIRD YEAR MODERN COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN
Faculty: Sonam Tsering 
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.