Prof. Dr. Marta Sernesi
Guest Professor
Tibetology and Buddhist Studies
Office address:
Schellingstraße 9
Room 206
80799 München
Office hours:
By appointment
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Main Research and Teaching Interests
- Tibetan Buddhism
- Buddhist Tantric Literature and Praxis
- Cultural History of Tibet and the Himalayas
- Historical and Hagiographical Literature
- Tibetan book history
Curriculum Vitae
I studied Tibetan and Buddhist studies in Rome (La Sapienza University) and Paris (École Pratique des Hautes Études) and I hold a PhD in Indian and Tibetan Studies from the University of Turin (2007). I obtained my Habilitation from the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in 2019. I held research and teaching positions at LMU Munich (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin 2009–2015), at SOAS University of London (Senior Lector in Tibetan 2015-2018), and at the University of Oxford (Departmental Lecturer in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies 2018-2019). I joined the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE–PSL, Paris) as Professor of Tibetan Religions in 2019.
My research focuses on the cultural and religious history of Tibet and the Himalayas. In particular, I study early contemplative traditions and instructional literature, biographical and narrative sources, and the institutional landscape of Tibetan Buddhism. I also work on Tibetan book culture, investigating modes of textual production and circulation, and early xylographic book printing.
Publications
Re-enacting the Past: The Cultural History of the School of gTsang smyon Heruka. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag (Contributions to Tibetan Studies Series, n° 13), 2021.
- (with Vincent Tournier and Vincent Eltschinger) Archaeologies of the Written: Indian, Tibetan, and Buddhist Studies in Honour of Cristina Scherrer-Schaub. Naples: Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale” (Series Minor, LXXXIX), 2020.
- (with Volker Caumanns and Nikolai Solmsdorf) Unearthing Himalayan Treasures: Festschrift for Franz-Karl Ehrhard. Marburg: Indica et Tibetica Verlag (Indica et Tibetica, n° 59), 2019.
- (with Volker Caumanns) Fifteenth Century Tibet: Cultural Blossoming and Political Unrest. Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute, 2017.
- (with Federico Squarcini) Il buddhismo contemporaneo. Rappresentazioni, istituzioni, modernità. Firenze: Società Editrice Fiorentina, 2006 (2nd ed. 2008).
For articles, reviews, and reference works, please see here.