Publications
Book Manuscript
In Preparation:
Dangerous Friends: Buddhism and the Dutch East India Company in the 18th Century Bay of Bengal
Journal Articles
In Preparation:
“Joost Schouten’s ‘Unspeakable Sins’: Sodomy and Punishment in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Asia”
2022:
“Dangerous Friendships in Eighteenth-Century Buddhist Laṅkā and Siam,” Itinerario: Journal of Imperial and Global Interactions 46, no. 3 (2022): 397–416, doi: 10.1017/S0165115322000213
2019:
“Mobilizing Gendered Piety in Sri Lanka’s Contemporary Bhikkhunī Ordination Dispute,” Buddhist Studies Review 36, no. 1 (2019): 99–121, doi: 10.1558/bsrv.35050
Chapters in Edited Volumes
Under Review:
“Shadows of an ‘Alien King’: A 1760 Plot and the Politics of Buddhist Memory in Modern and Contemporary Sri Lanka,” in Post-War Buddhism in Sri Lanka, ed. Anushka Kahandagamage, Ben Schonthal, and Prabhath Sirisena
Invited Contributions
2022:
“Traveling Monks and the Troublesome Prince: On the Aftermath of the Dutch VOC’s Mediation of Buddhist Connection Between Kandy and Ayutthaya,” Kelaniya University (Sri Lanka) Journal of Social Sciences (New Series), 1, no. 1 (2022): 35–53
2021:
With Bruno M. Shirley: “A ‘Linguist’s’ Archive? Cursory Reflections on Some Pali Manuscripts Collected by James W. Gair,” Cornell University South Asia Program Bulletin, 2021
Book Reviews
Forthcoming:
Anne M. Blackburn, Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties across the Indian Ocean: The Pali Arena, 1200–1550 (University of Hawaii Press, 2024), for Asian Ethnology (2026)
Alexander McKinley, Mountain at a Center of the World: Pilgrimage and Pluralism in Sri Lanka (Columbia University Press, 2024), for The Journal of Religion (2026)
2024:
Bardwell L. Smith, Precarious Balance: Sinhala Buddhism and the Forces of Pluralism (University of Virginia Press, 2022), for Reading Religion (2024; Online)
2020:
R. Michael Feener & Anne M. Blackburn eds., Buddhist and Islamic Orders in Southern Asia: Comparative Perspectives (University of Hawai’i Press, 2019), for Asian Ethnology 79, no. 2 (2020): 413–415
2018:
Benjamin Schonthal, Buddhism, Politics, and the Limits of Law: The Pyrrhic Constitutionalism of Sri Lanka (Cambridge University Press, 2018), for Asian Ethnology 77, nos. 1 & 2 (2018): 470–472
Encyclopedia Articles
2018:
“Women in Mahayana Buddhism” (1500 words), and “Women’s Buddhist Networks” (750 words), in Susan de Gaia, ed., Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions: Faith and Culture Across History (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018)
Invited Lectures, Public Presentations, and Podcasts
2025:
“Wanderers and Would-Be Kings: A Siamese Prince, A Portuguese Priest, and the Fall of Ayutthaya, Page to Podium Lecture Series, Virginia Wesleyan University Library
“Friendship, Danger, and the Dutch Company: Buddhist Maritime Diplomacy in the 18th C. Bay of Bengal,” SASLI Lecture Series, University of Wisconsin–Madison
2024:
“Buddhist Monks at Sea in 18th Century Southern Asia,” Nalika Gajaweera’s ASIAN 163: Buddhism Beyond Borders class, University of California Los Angeles
With Dipak Pinjari: “Crafting Compelling Fulbright Personal and Research Statements,” Bahujan Scholars Network, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“A Portuguese Priest and a Siamese Prince: Wanderers in the Eighteenth-Century Bay of Bengal and the Fall of Ayutthaya,” Center for Southeast Asian Studies Friday Forum, UW–Madison
2022:
“The Siamese Prince and the Portuguese Priest: Monks, Kings, and Dutch East India Company Schemes in Eighteenth Century Kandy and Ayutthaya,” American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies History and Historiography Series
“Initiating Doctoral Research in the Social Sciences: Research Experiences and Constraints,” Faculty of Social Sciences Lecture Series for Early Career Academics, Kelaniya University (Sri Lanka)
2020:
Producer, Editor, and Guest Host: “Florence Robinson, Gerda Lerner, and Women’s History at UW-Madison,” special episode of the UW–Madison History Department’s Ask a Historian podcast
“Monks, Ministers, and Virtuous Kings: Stories of Buddhist Lineage Transmission in Dutch Colonial Southern Asia,” Sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Religion Group and the Center for Religion and Global Citizenry, UW–Madison