Kate Hartmann

Kate Hartmann is a scholar and educator focused on the history of Buddhism, especially in Tibet. Her research explores the history of Tibetan pilgrimage to holy mountains and the goal of transforming perception while on pilgrimage, and she is currently working on a book on this topic. She is also interested in Buddhist ethics, vision and visuality, theories of place, and issues of addiction and recovery. Her engagement with Religious Studies arises out of a longstanding interest in religion as a force that shapes our experience of the world, and in the practices religions develop to transform that experience. She conducts research in classical and modern Tibetan, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Hindi, and has done field work in various communities in Asia, including summers at a Buddhist nunnery in Ladakh, at the Tibetan Library of Works and Archives in Dharamsala, at Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Kathmandu, and at Sichuan University in Chengdu.

Clay Fellow | Honors Courses

HP 3152: Anger
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: Upper-division elective
USP Attributes: none
A&S Attributes: none

This course is a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary investigation into the powerful emotion of anger, as well as its role in our social, ethical, and psychological lives. Anger has long held an ambivalent position in the collective consciousness—some thinkers (such as Buddhists and Stoics) have argued that anger is always counterproductive and morally corrupting, while others (Aristotle, Martin Luther King Jr.) have argued that anger is the proper reaction to injustice, and is necessary to motivate people to action. The course will explore the ways various thinkers from across time and place have approached the topic of anger. We will read Buddhist thinkers such as Shantideva and Buddhaghosa, Greek and Roman philosophers such as Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca, social reformers such as Frederick Douglass, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and contemporary philosophers such as Martha Nussbaum, Amia Srinivasan, and Peter Strawson. We will also supplement this primarily philosophical exploration with recent psychological and neuroscientific research on anger, as well as artistic representations of anger.

Buddhism in Thailand
Application Deadline: TBA
Estimated cost: $2795-2995
Some bad news: life is stressful, unpredictable, and full of pain and suffering. It's true now and it was true in the 5th Century BCE when the Buddha lived. Some good news: the Buddha claimed to have discovered a path by which people could escape this pervasive suffering. In the process, he planted the seeds for a religious tradition that has been influential across Asia and, more recently, the modern West.

In this course, we will explore the diverse ideals, practices, and traditions of Buddhism while exploring the ways Buddhism is lived and practiced in Thailand. We will explore key ideas from the Buddhist tradition about impermanence, desire, and the nature of the self, and ask how these ideas were taken up and reimagined as Buddhism developed.The course has two primary goals. First: to understand how, in various times, places, and cultural contexts, the Buddhist tradition diagnosed the origins of human suffering, imagined the goal of freedom from suffering, and proposed a path to such freedom. Second: to understand the relationship between Buddhist scriptural traditions and Buddhism as experienced in everyday life by people in Thailand. What do Buddhists seem to be doing? How does Buddhism play a role in their daily lives? How do we think that this daily practice relates (or does not relate) to scriptural sources?We will explore these questions in Thailand as we visit gorgeous temples, shop at the floating market in Bangkok, relax on the beaches of Pattaya, volunteer at Elephant Nature Park, eat delicious Thai food, and much more!

Contact Us

The Honors College

Guthrie House

1200 Ivinson St.

Laramie, WY 82070

Phone: 307-766-4110

Fax: 307-766-4298

Email: honors@uwyo.edu