Matilda Perks

Matilda Perks

Religious Studies
Part-time Instructor
Email: matilda.perks@smu.ca

Primary Field of Study
Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Literature, Modern and Global Buddhism 

Secondary Field of Study
Historiography of Religion, Decolonial Theory, Biography, Hagiography

Education
B.A. Philosophy (McGill University)
M.A. Religious Studies (McGill University)
PhD Candidate, Religious Studies (McGill University)

Publications 

“Hybridity and Pilgrimage in Chögyam Trungpa’s Concrete Poetry”. In Yeshe: A Journal of Tibetan Literature, Arts and Humanities. Vol. 2, no 1, 2022.

 “Introduction.” In Chögyam Trungpa’s Cynicism and Magic: Intelligence and Intuition on the Buddhist Path. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2021.

 “Book Review: The Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje: Master of Mahāmudra. Lives of Masters Series.” In Yeshe: A Journal of Tibetan Literature, Arts and Humanities. Vol. 1, no. 1, 2021.

 “Tibetan Literary Themes in the English Poems of Chögyam Trungpa”. In Resistant Hybridities: New Narratives of Exiled Tibet. Edited by Enrique Galvan Alvarez and Shelly Boil. London and NY: Lexington Books, 2020.

Biography

Matilda studies the history of Buddhist modernism(s) and Tibetan Buddhism outside of Tibet with a focus on the life and works of Tibetan lama and Buddhist popularizer, Chögyam Trungpa (c. 1939–1987). Her PhD dissertation (forthcoming) situates Trungpa's life and community in historical context, tracing a contemporary genealogy of spirituality, authenticity, power, magic, religious conversion, liberation and abuse across traditions, languages, and time. Matilda is a recipient of the Barbara and Patrick Keenan Dissertation Finishing Fellowship (2024-2025), SSHRC Doctoral Award, Khyentse Foundation Buddhist Scholarship, and the McGill Graduate Excellence Fellowship. She is a member of the FRQSC-funded Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire sur le Tibet et l’Himalaya (GRITH). Matilda is a part-time instructor at Saint Mary's University in Religious Studies.