Namgyal (Nanjie) Tsepak

Overview

Originally from northeastern Tibet, Namgyal graduated from Duke University (Durham, NC) with a B.A. in Anthropology. He spent a research and service-learning year at Seva Foundation (Berkeley, CA) as a Research Associate in from 2010-11.

Namgyal had managed community development grants including from the Canada Fund, the Davis Projects for Peace, and DukeEngage to implement solar energy projects in Tibetan and other ethnic minority areas in Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu provinces in western China. 

For his dissertation research, Namgyal works with the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation in northern Wisconsin to investigate the ways in which the Mohican people today reconnect with their ancestral homelands in the Northeast, and explore how lands/places intersect with Native identity, sociocultural (re)production and political belonging within the context of settler colonialism.

In addition to his dissertation research, Namgyal periodically translates writings by prominent Tibetan writers and social activists. He has contributed articles to journals such as Central Asiatic Journal, Cultural Survival Quarterly, and Asian Highlands Perspectives.

Research Focus