last updated: October 24, 2007

October 2007            Participant in the Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellows workshop, Portland, Maine

August 2007            “Strengthening Existing Identities or Building New Ethnic Boundaries? The Cultural Logic of Reservations in India and  Some Comparative Considerations for Nepal”, Presented at the conference Constitutionalism and Diversity in Nepal, Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

June 2007            “From Practice to Performance: Transforming Thangmi Cultural Production in Nepal and India”, Presented at the workshop Ritual, Heritage and Identity, Ruprecht-Karls University, Heidelberg, Germany

Dec. 2006            Organizer, chair and discussant for panel on “Multiple Locals: 'Urban' and 'Rural' in the Nepali Political Imagination”, Sociology and Anthropology Society of Nepal International Conference, Kathmandu, Nepal

August 2006            “Border-crossing identities: preliminary research on ethnicity at the Nepal-China (TAR) Friendship Bridge”, Presented at the 11th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Koënigswinter, Germany

June 2006            "Transnational Tribes? The cross-border politics of reservations, identity and cultural practice in India and Nepal", Presented at the European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands

Sept. 2005            “State policies and ethnic identities at Nepal’s borders: comparative perspectives from India and China”, Presented at the conference Negotiating Ethnicity in Nepal’s Past and Present, Social Science Baha, Kathmandu, Nepal

June 2005            “From Farmer to Communist to Maoist: An Ethno-historical Case Study of Politicization in Rural Nepal, 1980-2005”, Presented at the conference Trajectories of Socialism in Contemporary Asia: Anthropological Perspectives, Oxford University, Oxford, UK

June 2005            “Ethnic (p)reservations: comparing Thangmi ethnic activism in Nepal and India”, Presented at the Asia-Link Workshop on Activism and Civil Society in South Asia, Oxford University, Oxford, UK

May 2005            "Comparing Ethnic Identity in Nepal and India: A Case Study of the Thami of Dolakha and Darjeeling", Presented at Martin Chautari, Kathmandu, Nepal

May 2005            "Thami Culture and Religion", Presented at the Second National Thami Convention, Kathmandu, Nepal at the invitation of the Nepal Thami Samaj

Dec. 2004            "The Thami of Nepal and Darjeeling", Presented at the Gorkha Dukhi Niwas Samaj Hall, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India, at the invitation of the Bharatiya Thami Welfare Association

Dec. 2004            "Hybridity in the Himalayas: the Terminological Construction of Ethnic Categories", Presented at the Tenth Himalayan Languages Symposium, Thimphu, Bhutan

May 2004            "Hinduism and Maoism in Nepal: Competing Hegemonies?", Presented at the American Academy of Religion-Eastern International Regional Meeting

March 2004            "Migrating Identites: The Case of the Darjeeling Thangmi", Presented at the First Annual Graduate Student Conference on South Asia, Cornell University

Feb. 2004            "The Formation of Political Consciousness in Rural Nepal: Lessons from the Maoist Movement", South Asia Program Seminar Series, Cornell University

Dec. 2003            "Insurgency in Nepal: Who are the Maoists?", Asian Studies Organization, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Nov. 2003            "Women, Ideology and Agency in Nepal’s Maoist Movement" (with Judith Pettigrew), Presented at the American Anthropological Association Meetings, Chicago, Illinois

Sept. 2003            "Negotiating borderland identities: comparative concepts of ethnicity in Nepal and Tibet", Presented at the Tenth Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK

July 2003            "A Broader Look at Theories of Ethnicity and Nationalism", Presented at the Social Science Immersion Course, Social Science Bahal, Kathmandu, Nepal

June 2003            "Ethnicity in Nepal", Columbia University-University of Virginia Summer Intensive Tibetan Language Course, Center for Buddhist Studies, Kathmandu University, Kathmandu, Nepal

April 2003            "The Formation of Political Consciousness in Rural Nepal: Lessons from Local History", Presented at the conference Agenda for Transformation: Inclusion in Nepali Democracy, Social Science Baha, Kathmandu, Nepal

April 2003            "Visual Ethnography in Nepal: A Collaborative Photo Exhibition with the Thangmi" and "Living with the Maoists in Rural Nepal", Presented at Hampshire College, Amherst, MA

Oct. 2002            "Motivation, Memory and Resistance in Nepal’s Maoist Movement: A Case Study from Sindhupalcok District", Presented at a pre-conference entitled War on Terrorism, War as Terrorism sponsored by the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies at the 31st Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Sept. 2002            "Tibeto-Burman Ethnic Groups in the High Himalayan Borderlands", Namgyal Monastery, Ithaca, NY

Nov. 2001            "The Path to Janasarakar: An Anecdotal Account of the Maoist Movement in Dolakha District" (with Mark Turin) Presented at a Seminar on the Maoist Movement in Nepal: Causes, Contexts, Implications, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, UK

Oct. 2001            "Between Fluidity and Fixity: The Politics of Dharma, Gender, and Development in a Himalayan Village", Presented at the New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS), Cornell University

June 2000            "Thangmi Death Rituals in Comparative Context", Presented at the Ninth Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands

April 2000            "Living Among the Forgotten Thangmi of Nepal" (with Mark Turin), Presented for the Cultural Studies Group of Nepal, SAARC Secretariat Conference Hall, Kathmandu, Nepal

Feb. 2000            "Doing/Writing Dharma: A Look at Buddhist Women’s History in Mustang", Presented at the Sixth International Conference on Women and Buddhism, Lumbini, Nepal

Feb. 2000             "Discourses on Women and Buddhism", Trinity College, College Semester Abroad, Kathmandu, Nepal

March 1999            "Ethnicity in Nepal" (with Mark Turin), School for International Training, Kathmandu, Nepal

May 1997            "Doing/Writing Dharma: Feminist Journeys Through the Tibetan Buddhist Ethnoscape", Department of Religious Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI

Dec. 1995             "Women’s Changing Religious Roles in a Himalayan Village", School for International Training, Kathmandu, Nepal

Aug. 1995             "Appropriate Treasure: Reflections on Women, Buddhism, and Cross-Cultural Exchange" Presented at the Fourth International Conference on Women and Buddhism, Leh, Ladakh, India