Paul Copp studies the intellectual, material, and visual cultures of China, mostly during the period stretching from the 8th through the 12th centuries. He is the author of The Body Incantatory: Spells and the Ritual Imagination in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (Columbia, 2014). At present, he is working on two books, one tentatively titled “The Ritualist’s Seal: Object, Practice, and Knowledge in China, ca 100 – 1000 CE,” and the other “Manuscript, Print, and the Ritualist’s Craft at Dunhuang and Beyond.” His graduate seminars focus on the philological close reading of texts in their historical (and, wherever possible, material) contexts; on methods for the use of manuscripts, epigraphy, and archaeological remains in the study of history; as well as on critical engagement with the fields of Sinology and the history of religions.

Read more on Prof. Copp's homepage.