Kati Fitzgerald

Kati Fitzgerald is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Wittenberg University, specializing in the lives and religious experiences of Tibetan lay women. She employs ethnographic methods to explore how everyday Buddhists engage with sacred geography, bodily practices, and lineage transmission.

• Education: Ph.D. in Comparative Studies (Ohio State University), M.A. in Comparative Studies with specialization in Chinese Cultural Studies, Certificate in Tibetan Language (Tibet University), B.A. in Theatre (Barnard College).

Her research interests include Asian Religions, Religion and the Body, and Buddhism and Hip-Hop. She has conducted fieldwork in rural Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Kathmandu, Nepal, focusing on lay religious labor, Tibetan opera, and digital-age lineage practices.

Her recent publications analyze intersections of contemporary Tibetan Hip-Hop and religious innovation, sacred geography in Yushu, and gendered bodily practices in Vajrayāna Buddhism. These works emphasize lay agency, embodied spirituality, and transnational cultural dynamics.