Faculty Profiles

Mikles, N. L. (2026). “Global Ties and Local Divides: How an Austin Buddhist Temple Responded to COVID-19 and its Implications for Transnational Buddhist Communities.” Transnational Asia, 8(1), 1–19.

Mikles, N. L. (2026, May 1). Why Teaching Buddhism Matters. Harvard Divinity Bulletin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Divinity School. Retrieved from https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/why-teaching-buddhism-matters/

Mikles, N. L. (2025). Between Two Apocalypses: Catastrophic Millenialism and Narrative Modeling in the Gesar Epic. Cahiers d’Extreme-Asie, 34.

Mikles, N. L. (2025). “The Dymal gling rdzogs pa chen po, Social Kinds, and the Boundaries of Buddhism in Tibet.” Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, 75(March 2025), 114–135.

Mikles, N. L. (2024). Narrative Lifeworlds, the Dmyal gling rdzogs pa chen po, and Gter ma’s Social Function. Journal of Tibetology, 26, 230–248.

Mikles, N. L. (2024). Shattered Grief: How the Pandemic Transformed Death and Spirituality. New York, NY, USA: Columbia University Press.

Mikles, N. L. (2024). Whose Epic is it Anyway? Gesar and the Myth of the National Epic. In The Routledge Handbook of Epic (pp. 285–298). Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Mikles, N. L. (2024, November 14). China’s Commodification of Minorities. The Diplomat. Retrieved from https://thediplomat.com/2024/11/chinas-commodification-of-minorities/

Mikles, N. L. (2024, September). Ritual and Resiliency in the Unprecedented Times of the COVID Pandemic. Dharma World: For Living Buddhism and Interfaith Dialogue. Rissho Kosei-kai International.

Mikles, N. L. (2024, August). Enchanted Revolution: Ghosts, Shamans, and Gender Politics in Chinese Communist Propaganda. Nova Religio.

Mikles, N. L. (n.d.). Imagining Hell and Hellish Imagination: Teaching Buddhist Hells as Imaginative Acts. In Imagination in Buddhism. Berkeley, CA, USA: Mangalam Publishing.

Mikles, N. L. (2024). Nechung’s Dream. In Longing to Awaken: Exploring Buddhist Devotion in Tibetan Poetry and Song. Charlottesville, VA, USA: University of Virginia Press.

Mikles, N. L. (2023). Three Spirit Mediums: A Case Study on Grief, Death, and Alternative Religious Traditions during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Nova Religio: The Journal of New Religious Movements, 27(2), 86–100.

Mikles, N. L. (2023). What a biannual gathering of 1967 Impalas reveals about the blurry line between fandom and religion (co-authored with Joseph Laycock). The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/what-a-biannual-gathering-of-1967-impalas-reveals-about-the-blurry-line-between-fandom-and-religion-216890

Mikles, N. L. (2023, June 1). Review of Doug Cowan, “The Forbidden Body: Sex, Horror, and the Religious Imagination.” The Journal of Contemporary Religion.

Mikles, N. L. (2022, January 30). I asked Texans how COVID changed funerals. Houston Chronicle. Houston TX. Retrieved from https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Essay-I-asked-Texans-how-COVID-changed-funerals-16815791.php

Mikles, N. L. (2022). The Pandemic Changed Death Rituals and Left Grieving Families without a Sense of Closure. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-pandemic-changed-death-rituals-and-left-grieving-families-without-a-sense-of-closure-175302

Mikles, N. L. (2021, October). William M. Gorvine. Envisioning a Tibetan Luminary. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019). Nova Religio. University of California Press.

Mikles, N. L. (2021). The Religion Matters Reader (with Joseph Laycock). New York, New York, USA: W. W. Norton & Company.

Mikles, N. L. (2021). Lack of Burial Space is Changing Age-old Funeral Practices, and in Japan ‘tree burials’ are gaining popularity. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/lack-of-burial-space-is-changing-age-old-funeral-practices-and-in-japan-tree-burials-are-gaining-in-popularity-161323

Mikles, N. L. (2021, May 4). Indians are forced to change rituals for their dead as COVID-19 rages through cities and villages. The Conversation. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/indians-are-forced-to-change-rituals-for-their-dead-as-covid-19-rages-through-cities-and-villages-160076

Mikles, N. L. (Ed.). (2021). Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous: Of Gods and Monsters (with Joseph Laycock). Washington, D.C., USA: Lexington Books.

Mikles, N. L. (2020). Interpreting Intercultural Encounters with 90 Day Fiancé in the World Religions’ 2020 Classroom. Teaching Theology & Religion, 23(3), 163–174.

Mikles, N. L. (2020). “When is a Hat a Mountain?: The Material Religion of Gesar Bard’s Hats.” Material Religion.

Mikles, N. L. (2020). The Many Stories of Diwali Share a Common Theme of Triumph of Justice. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-many-stories-of-diwali-share-a-common-theme-of-triumph-of-justice-149792

Mikles, N. L. (n.d.). Taking Seriously Lived Tibetan Buddhism and the Performative Tradition  of the Gesar Epic. In Proceedings Honoring the 60th Anniversary of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts.

Mikles, N. L. (2020). The Monstrous and the Moral: King Yama’s Representation in Returner Literature. Revue D’etudes Tibetaines, (55), 385–408.

Mikles, N. L. (2019). The Power of Genres and the Project of Secularization:  Publishing the Gesar Epic in Contemporary China. Culture and Religion, 20(3), 322–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2019.1704423

Mikles, N. L. (2019). Forum on Teaching Asian Religions in the American South (with Brett Esaki and Lisa Battaglia). Teaching Religion and Theology, 22(3), 208–222. https://doi.org/10.1111/teth.12497

Mikles, N. L. (2019). Tears Like Fluttering Leaves: Karmic Resentment and the Senses in Gesar’s Trip to Hell. Revue E’tudes Tibetaines, 50(June 2019), 212–234. Retrieved from http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/ret/pdf/ret_50_09.pdf

Mikles, N. L. (2019, May). Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality (by Elijah Seigler and David Palmer). Nova Religio. Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California, Berkeley. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2019.22.4.131

Laycock, J. P., & Mikles, N. L. (2018). Name it and Disclaim it: A Tool for Better Discussion in Religious Studies. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 47(3–4), 18–23.

Mikles, N. L. (2018, August). Cambodian Buddhism in the United States. Nova Religio. Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California, Berkeley Press.

Mikles, N. L., & Laycock, J. P. (2018, May 24). “Name it and Disclaim it: A Tool for Better Discussion in Religious Studies.” The Bulletin for the Study of Religion. Sheffield, UK: Equinox.

Mikles, N. L. (2017, October). “In the Weeds with David S. Pumpkins,.” The Bulletin for the Study of Religion. Retrieved from https://bulletin.equinoxpub.com/2017/10/in-the-weeds-with-david-s-pumpkins-sociophobics-and-the-social-breakdown-of-horror/

Mikles, N. L. (2017, July). Right Thoughts at the Last Moment. Reading Religion. American Academy of Religion. Retrieved from https://readingreligion.org/9780824856434/right-thoughts-at-the-last-moment/

Mikles, N. L. (2017, April). “What’s on Your Syllabus: Natasha L. Mikles,.” The Bulletin for the Study of Religion. Retrieved from https://bulletin.equinoxpub.com/2017/04/whats-in-your-religion-syllabus-natasha-l-mikles/

Mikles, N. L. (2016). Buddhicizing the Warrior-King Gesar in the dMyal gling rDzogs pa Chen po.”, 37, 231–246.

Mikles, N. L. (2016). “So You’re Not a Priest: Scholars Explain what They do to Outsiders,.” USA: The Bulletin for the Study of Religion.

Mikles, N. L. (2016). “Why are Chinese Grandmothers Giving Offerings to Video Game Characters? And Why does the Internet Think it’s Funny?” The Bulletin for the Study of Religion.

Mikles, N. L. (2015). “Storytelling and Possession.” In Spirit Possession Around the World (pp. 328–331). Santa Barbara, CA, United States: ABC-CLIO.

Mikles, N. L. (2015). “Miko (Japanese Female Mediums).” In Spirit Possession Around the World. (pp. 236–237). Santa Barbara, CA, United States: ABC-CLIO.

Mikles, N. L. (2015). “Kagura (Japanese Dance of Possession).” In Spirit Possession Around the World. (pp. 197–198). Santa Barbara, CA, United States: ABC-CLIO.

Mikles, N. L. (2015, August). Experimental Buddhism [Review of Experimental Buddhism, by J. K. Nelson]. Nova Religio. Honolulu, HI, USA: University of Hawaii Press.

Mikles, N. L., & Laycock, J. P. (2015). “Tracking the Tulpa?: Exploring the ‘Tibetan’ Origins of a Contemporary Paranormal Idea.” NovaReligio, 19(1), 87–97.

Mikles, N. L. (2014). Is Nessie a Naga?: The Changing Face of Buddhism in the West. The Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 43(3), 35–40.

Mikles, N. L. (2014). A Tantrika in the Modern World. Monitor: Journal for International Studies, 13(1), 28–40.

Mikles, N. L. (2014). A Field Note from the 2014 NEH Summer Institute “Problems in the Study of Religion,” July 7th – July 25th, 2014. The Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 43(3), 37–39.

Mikles, N. L. (2014). [Review of Buddhism and Ireland, by L. Cox]. Buddhist Studies Review.

Mikles, N. L. (2014). A Report from the 2014 NEH Summer Institute "Problems in the Study of Religion. The Bulletin for the Study of Religion.

Mikles, N. L., & Laycock, J. P. (2014). Offerings for the Loch Ness Monster—a Sign of Buddhism’s Arrival in the West. The Bulletin for the Study of Religion.

Mikles, N. L. (2013). Buddhism and American Consumerism. Claremont Journal of Religion, 1(2), 85–99.

Mikles, N. L., & Laycock, J. P. (2013). Considering Orgasmic Meditation: It’s not “Diddling” when it’s Ritual. The Bulletin for the Study of Religion.

Mikles, N. L., & Laycock, J. P. (2013). Speaking to Outsiders: Can Our Theory Make a Bigger Bang? The Bulletin for the Study of Religion.