Julia Hirsch

Julia Hirsch is a PhD student in the Religious Studies Department at Stanford University, where she focuses on Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. She holds a BA from Boston College in Philosophy with minors in Psychoanalytics and Women’s and Gender Studies (2015). She received her MA in the History of Art and Archaeology: Religious Arts of Asia from SOAS University of London (2020).

Julia’s current research explores Buddhist material religion and visual culture, power objects, and ritual from an art-historical perspective. Of particular interest are relic cults, funerary rites, and the importance—and soteriological potential—of sensory encounter in South Asian and Himalayan traditions.

Prior to joining Stanford, Julia worked for several years at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, where she continues to serve as a contributing editor covering Buddhist art, film, and publishing.