Robert Barnett

Robert Barnett works on nationality issues in China, focusing on modern Tibetan history, politics, and culture. He is a Professor, Research Associate and Senior Research Fellow at SOAS, and an Affiliate Lecturer at the Lau China Institute, Kings College London. From 1999 to 2018 he taught at Columbia University in New York, where he founded and directed the Modern Tibetan Studies Program. He has also taught at Princeton, INALCO (Paris), Tibet University (Lhasa) and IACER (Kathmandu). Recent books and edited volumes include Forceful Diplomacy (Turquoise Roof, 2024), Forbidden Memory: Tibet During the Cultural Revolution by Tsering Woeser (Nebraska, 2020) and Conflicting Memories - Tibetan History under Mao Retold with Benno Weiner and Françoise Robin (Brill, 2019). His writing includes studies of Tibetan politics, cinema, television, religious regulations, social management, women politicians, and contemporary exorcism rituals.