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Dr Martin Mills

Dr Martin Mills
MA (St. Andrews), PhD (Edinburgh)

Senior Lecturer

Overview
Dr Martin Mills
Dr Martin Mills

Contact Details

Telephone
work +44 (0)1224 272622
Email
Address
The University of Aberdeen Department of Anthropology, G1 Edward Wright Building, Kings College Campus. Office Hours: Tuesdays, 2-4pm.
 
 

Biography

Dr. Martin A. Mills is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland and Director of the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research. He specialises in the comparative organisation and structure of governance in religious, state and medical institutions. He has previously lectured and researched at the universities of Edinburgh, St.Andrews and Sussex.

Dr. Mills' principal research focus is the anthropological study of Tibetan communities, in particular its religious and governmental institutions. Author of Identity, Ritual and State in Tibetan Buddhism: The Foundations of Authority in Gelukpa Monasticism (Routledge 2003), he has carried out fieldwork in Tibet, Ladakh, China, Northern India and Scotland over the last thirty years. He is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and member of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth, as well as member of the International Association for Tibetan Studies and the International Association of Ladakh Studies. 

Dr. Mills is Secretary of the Cross-Party Group on Tibet within the Scottish Parliament, Chairman of the China Studies Group at Aberdeen and Academic Representative to Court in the University of Aberdeen.

External Memberships and Affiliations

  • Member, Executive Committee of the International Association of Ladakh Studies;
  • Member, International Association of Tibetan Studies;
  • Member, Scottish Parliament Cross-Party Group on Tibet;
  • Fellow, Royal Anthropological Institute;
  • Fellow, Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth.
Research

Research Overview

All anthropologists tend to have two specialisations: one theoretical, the other substantive. 

Theoretically, Dr Mills' major research interest lies in the comparative study of authority - whether in political, religious, medical or educational spheres - as a function of legitimate governance. This is not simply in terms of the imposition of command, but also the creation and organisation of social and theoretical truths within populations, and the formation of consensus. Thematically, this core research focus involves a general specialisation in the comparative organisation and structure of governance in religious, state and medical institutions. 

In substantive and ethnographic terms, Dr Mills' primary research interest lies in the anthropology of Tibet and Tibetan-speaking areas, and in particular its religious and state life. Over the last three decades, this has involved a progression of research projects focused on the ceremonial nexuses of Tibetan monastic and state life.Such projects have involved the formulation of new ways in which modern ethnographers of Tibetan regions can integrate their work with textual specialists and indigenous scholars to create an historical anthropology of the region.

Current Research

Ritual and State in Tibetan History

Since 2003, Mills has engaged in extensive research on the indigenous constitutional history of Tibet. This has involved three main areas of research: the study of the political history of the Ganden Podrang, the Dalai Lama's government at Lhasa from 1642 to 1959, and in exile since 1959; the philological study of medieval and modern manuscripts as they relate to Tibetan understandings of legitimate governance, in particular its own mythology of divine Buddhist kingship; and the ethnographic and historical study of the Ganden Podrang's ceremonial practices of statecraft.

At the heart of these issues is a theoretical concern with four issues:

  • The importance of ceremony and ceremonial understandings of statecraft - rather than mere belief - as the basis for the daily functioning and sovereignty of religious states.
  • The formation of mythological and constitutional and narratives as the basis for indigenous solidarities and political consciousness, both in the past and the modern day;
  • The study of indigenous relations with the land and landscape as an central aspect of ceremonial sovereignty.
  • The place of conflict and warfare in religious states such as historical Tibet.

Collaborations

As Director of the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research, Dr Mills is Secretary of the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Tibet, and a member of the Cross-Party Group on China and the Westminster All-Parliamentary Group on Tibet. In his advisory role for these groups, he has authored and co-authored parliamentary briefing papers on public protest, human rights, religious regulation, political sovereignty and international law and environmental change on the Tibetan Plateau (see Publications). He is also Chairman of the Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group.

In doing so, Dr Mills has maintained a wide variety of fruitful collaborations, including amongst others:

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Research Supervision Areas

  • Political anthropology and the anthropology of the state
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Tibetan and Himalayan systems of governance.
  • Buddhist monasticism and ritual
  • Religion and the state
  • Modern religious movements and insurgencies

Postgraduate Taught

  • SL5010 Principles of Research Design
  • SL5006 Research Skills

Undergraduate

  • AT2005 Political Anthropology (groups, nations and movements)
  • AT4525 The Constitutional Imagination (anthropology of the state)
  • AT3540 Medical Anthropology
Publications

Publications 

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  • The Last Gift of the God-King: Narrating the Dalai Lama’s Resignation

    Mills, M. A.

    Tibetan Subjectivities on the Global Stage. Bhoil, S., Galvan-Alvarez, E. (eds.). Lexington Books

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Playing the Long Game?: The Politics of Religious Revival in China and Tibet

    Mills, M. A.

    Asia Dialogue

    Contributions to Specialist Publications: Articles

  • Exorcising Mauss' Ghost in the Western Himalayas: Buddhist Giving as Collective Work

    Mills, M. A.

    Sangha Economies, 14 pages

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Review of Subject to Death: Life and Loss in a Buddhist World, by Robert Desjarlais: Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 2016, 295 pp. including bibliography and indexes, 39 photographs, US$30.00 (paperback), ISBN 9780226355870

    Mills, M. A.

    South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 678-679

    Contributions to Journals: Review articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2017.1342901

  • The Dalai Lama’s secret temple goes to London

    Mills, M. A.

    The Conversation

    Contributions to Specialist Publications: Articles

  • Religious Relationships with the Environment in a Tibetan Rural Community: Interactions and Contrasts with Popular Notions of Indigenous Environmentalism

    Woodhouse, E., Mills, M. A., McGowan, P. J. K., Milner-Gulland, E. J.

    Human Ecology, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 295-307

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-015-9742-4
    Open Access
    http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/4799/1/art_3A10.1007_2Fs10745_015_9742_4.pdf
    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Who Belongs to Tibet?: Governmental Narratives of State in the Ganden Podrang

    Mills, M. A.

    Facing Globalization in the Himalayas. Toffin, G., Pfaff-Czarnecka, J. (eds.). SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, pp. 397-419, 23 pages

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Self-Immolations in Tibet and China – 2013 Update: Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Tibet, Briefing Paper No.5

    Mills, M. A., May, S. J.

    Commissioned by Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Tibet. Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group on Tibet. 13 pages

    Books and Reports: Commissioned Reports

  • The Opposite of Witchcraft: Evans-Pritchard and the Problem of the Person

    Mills, M. A.

    Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 18-33

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12001

  • Ritual as History in Tibetan Divine Kingship: Notes on the Myth of the Khotanese Monks

    Mills, M. A.

    History of Religions, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 219-220

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1086/662190

  • Anthropology and Religious Studies

    Mills, M.

    The Sage Handbook of Social Anthropology. Gledhill, J., Fardon, R. (eds.). Sage Publications

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446201077.n14

  • Religious policy and state control in Tibet: Scottish Parliament cross-party group on Tibet, briefing paper 3

    Mills, M., Scrimgeour, R.

    Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group on Tibet. 6 pages

    Books and Reports: Commissioned Reports

    Open Access
    http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/787/1/Final4.pdf

  • La double figure du moine: Monachisme et maisons (The Two-Dimensional Monk : Monasticism and Householding)

    Mills, M.

    Moines et moniales de par le monde. Herrou, A., Krauskopff, G. (eds.). Editions L'Harmattan, pp. 161-171, 11 pages

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • This Circle of Kings: Modern Tibetan Visions of World Peace

    Mills, M.

    Boundless Worlds. Kirby, P. (ed.). Berghahn Books, pp. 95-114, 20 pages

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Small Shoes and Painted Faces: Possession States and Embodiment in Buddhist Ladakh

    Mills, M.

    Modern Ladakh. Van Beek, M., Pirie, F. (eds.). Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 139-152, 13 pages

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Re-Assessing The Supine Demoness: Royal Buddhist Geomancy in the Srong btsan sgam po Mythology

    Mills, M.

    Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, vol. 3, THL #T3108

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Whither the Straw Man? A Response to Toni Huber

    Mills, M.

    The Tibet Journal, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 47-56

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The Silence in Between: Governmentality and the Academic Voice in Tibetan Diaspora Studies.

    Mills, M.

    Critical Journeys: The Making of Anthropologists, pp. 191-206, 15 pages

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Funeral Practices in Tibet.

    Mills, M.

    Davies, D. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Cremation, pp. 398-399, 1 page

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Living in Time's Shadow: Pollution, Purification and Fractured Temporalities in Buddhist Ladakh

    Mills, M.

    Qualities of Time, ed. W.James & D.Mills. ASA Monograph 41. Oxford: Berg., pp. 349-366, 17 pages

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Identity, Ritual and State in Tibetan Buddhism: The Foundations of Authority in Gelukpa Monasticism

    Mills, M.

    RoutledgeCurzon. 440 pages

    Books and Reports: Books

  • This Turbulent Priest: Contesting Religious Rights and the State in the Tibetan Shugden Controversy

    Mills, M.

    Human Rights in Global Perspective:. Wilson, R. A., Mitchell, J. P. (eds.). Routledge, pp. 54-70, 16 pages

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Vajra-brother, Vajra-Sister: Renunciation, Individualism and the Household in Tibetan Buddhist Monasticism

    Mills, M.

    Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 17-34

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.t01-1-00002

  • In the Presence of the Teacher: Incarnate Lamas in Tibetan Buddhism

    Mills, M.

    Cosmos, pp. 179-209

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The Religion of Locality: Local Area Gods and the Characterisation of Tibetan Buddhism

    Mills, M.

    Recent Research on Ladakh 7. Dodin, T., Rather, H. (eds.). M. Bernecker und B. Krause, pp. 309-328, 19 pages

    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

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