Nicole Willock

Nicole Willock is Professor and Chair of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She was a 2017 Research Fellow through the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist studies for her book project, Lineages of the Literary: Tibetan Buddhist Scholars Making Modern China. This project analyzes the writings of three Tibetan Buddhist intellectuals (Tseten Zhabdrung, Dungkar Rinpoche, and Muge Samten) through the lens of postcolonial and poststructuralist theories to challenge normative assumptions on religious subjects, state-driven secularization, and moral agency in China. Her publications include "The Revival of the Tulku Institution in Modern China: Narratives and Practices" (Revue d'Etudes Tibetaines, 2017) and "Dorje Tarchin, the Melong, and the Tibet Mirror Press: Negotiating Discourse on the Religious and the Secular in Tibet" (Himalaya Journal, 2016). Since 2011, she has served as a Tibet and Himalaya Panel Steering Committee member for the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and as an Academic Advisory Board member for the Treasury of Lives: Biographical Encyclopedia digital project. (Source: A Gathering of Brilliant Moons, 331)

Selected Publications

Articles

Willock, N. (2016). Dorjé Tarchin, the Mélong, and the Tibet Mirror Press: Negotiating Discourse on the Religious and the Secular in Tibet. Himalaya, the Journal of the Association of Nepal and Himalayan Studies 36 (1) , pp. 143-162.
Willock, N. and Gayley, H. (2016). Theorizing the Secular in Tibetan Cultural Worlds. Himalaya, the Journal of the Association of Nepal and Himalayan Studies 36 (1) , pp. 12-21.
Willock, N. (2009). Rekindling Ashes of the Dharma and the Formation of Modern Tibetan Studies: The Busy Life of Alak Tseten Zhabdrung. Trace Foundation (6).

Books

Willock, N. (2021). Lineages of the Literary: Tibetan Buddhist Polymaths of Socialist China. Columbia University Press.

Book Chapters

Willock, N. (2020). “Tibetan Buddhist Scholars and the Cultural Revolution: Narratives of Spiritual Achievement and Supporting Tibetan Culture.” Conflicting Memories: Retellings of Tibetan History under Mao (pp. 485-505) Leiden: Brill .
Willock, N. (2017). The Revival of the Tulku Institution in Modern China: Narratives and Practices The Tulku (sprul sku) Institution in Tibetan Buddhism (pp. 183-201) Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines.
Willock, N. (2016). Maps and Territory in the 1950s: The Writing of the Dan tig dkar chag - A Guide to Dan tig Monastery Trans Himalayan Tibet: History, Language and Literature, Traditional & Contemporary (pp. 239-252) London, UK: Manakin Press.
Willock, N. (2014). Thu’u bkwan’s Literary Adaptations of the Life of Dgongs pa rab gsal Trails of the Tibetan Tradition: Papers for Elliot Sperling (pp. 577-592) Dharamsala, India: Amnye Machen Institute.