Magdalena Szpindler
Academic employment
teaching and research assistant: 2019–2022, assistant professor (adjunct) from 2022
Research interests
Critical editions of Mongolian and Tibetan texts
Comparative and narratological studies of pre- and early-modern Mongolian and Tibetan literature with focus on Buddhist literature
Scholarly work in progress
“The Place of the Thempangma Kanjur Copy Brought to Mongolia by Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar in the Transmission History of the Kanjur: The Case of ’Phags pa yongs su skyob pa’i snod ces bya ba’i mdo and Its Critical Edition,” a chapter in a monograph
“Sūtra Without Its Kanjur? Maudgalyāyana’s Story in Translation by Siregetü Güüsi Čorji and Altangerel. Preliminary observations,” an article
“Me’ugalgibu’s Encounter with the Lord of the Five Paths, Gode Tsongkun, in the Hells: A Study of the Narrative Thread Across Its Variants,” a chapter in a monograph
“The Art of the Illustrated Book (ǰiruɣtu nom) Among the Mongolian Buddhists: A Case Study of the Molon Toyin’s Story”, a chapter in a monograph
“Beyond the Word: Illustrated Story of Molon Toyin Descending to Hells in Search of His Mother”, a monograph
“Maudgalyāyana’s Journey Through Hell: A Story of Filial Piety Across Languages and Cultures”, a monograph
Education
M.A. studies 1997-2004, Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw. “The Fifth Noyon-khutukhta Luvsandanzanravjaa – Mongolian poet and ‘mad saint,’” M.A. thesis in Polish, written under the supervision of Dr. Agata Bareja-Starzyńska, June 2004
Ph.D. dissertation written under the supervision of Dr. Hab. Agata Bareja-Starzyńska and defended on May 23, 2022, at the Faculty of Modern Languages and Literatures, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Its main aim was to produce a critical edition of an illustrated Buddhist story in Mongolian about Maudgalyāyana traveling to the hells in search of his mother. This work has been largely used for a forthcoming publication: Beyond Word: Illustrated Story of Molon Toyin Descending to Hells in Search of His Mother (work in progress)
Participation in International Projects
Participation in the European Research Council project entitled “Narrative Modes of Historical Discourse in Asia,” Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, September 2016-February 2018
Grants and fellowships
Grant Miniatura 8 „Historia przekazu i rola narracji buddyjskich w Tybecie i Mongolii na przykładzie cyklu opowiadań o Maudgaljajanie podróżującym przez piekła w poszukiwaniu matki”, awarded by National Science Centre, Poland, in June 2024
Grant awarded by the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań within the programme „Wsparcie programów wysokiej jakości studiów doktoranckich Uniwersytet Jutra,” for the purpose of doctoral research in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, April 2019
Mini grant awarded by the Faculty of Oriental Studies for presenting the paper at the conference “Kucha and Beyond: Divine and Human Landscapes from Central Asia to the Himalayas” SEECHAC, Leipzig, November, 02–04, 2021
Mini grant awarded by the Faculty of Oriental Studies for presenting the paper at the conference, Prague, July, 3–9, 2022
Visiting scholar at the Religious Studies Department, University of Virginia, October 14–December 1, 2017
Fellowship at the Department of South Asian Studies and the Divinity School, Harvard University, August 28–October 12, 2017
Scholarship, State University in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, July–August 2006
Fellowship, Zentralasiatische Seminar für Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft Zentralasiens, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, Germany, September 2006
Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, India, February–June 2006 (Certificate of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives)
Scholarship, State University in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: academic year 2002/2003 (Certificate of the National University of Mongolia)
Scholarship, State University in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: academic year 2000/2001
Selected scholarly publications
“Hellish Landscapes in Mongolian Molon Toyin’s Story: Familiar, Fearsome, and Magical”, in eds. Eli Franco, Charles Ramble, and Monika Zin, Kucha and Beyond, Divine and Himan Landscapes from Central Asia to theHimalaya: Proceedings of a Conference of the SEECHAC held in Leipzig in 2-4 November 2021. Dev Publishers 2024, pp. 177–194.
“Buddhist filial piety in Mongolia and beyond, part one,” Przegląd Orientalistyczny 4 (2020), Przegląd Orientalistyczny 3–4 (2020), pp. 322–337 (Referred and peer-reviewed)
“Książka buddyjska jako obiekt kultu, weneracji i dzieło sztuki. Rękopisy tybetańskie i mongolskie w zbiorach Państwowego Muzeum Etnograficznego w Warszawie / Buddhist Book as an Object of Cult, Veneration and Art. Tibetan and Mongolian Manuscripts in the Collection of The State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw,” Etnografia Nowa 6, 2015, Państwowe Muzeum Etnograficzne w Warszawie, pp. 335–355.
“Luwsandandzanrawdża — mongolski poeta i ‘szalony święty’,” Przegląd Orientalistyczny 3–4, 2006, pp. 198–209 (Referred and peer-reviewed)
Other
Introduction and the translation and editing of subtitles in Thangka — magiczny Tybet (Thangka — Magical Tibet), Warszawa: Elipsa, 2016
Texts in an album on Bhutan, pp. 12, 22, 28, 48, 64, 88–89, Pictures: Mirosław Lubarski, Artur Urbański. Commentaries and Pictures’ descriptions: Mirosław Lubarski. Edited by Dragon, Bielsko-Biała: Wydawnictwo Dragon 2016
Consultation in Mongolian studies and preparation of footnotes in: R. Isaacson, Opowieść ojca. Przez mongolskie stepy w poszukiwaniu cudu, Wydawnictwo Nasza Księgarnia, Warszawa 2010
Co-editing
Tibet and the Himalayas: Past and Present I. Edited by Magdalena Szpindler, Paulina Koniuch, Stanisław Jan Kania. Warsaw: Elipsa, 2025, 177 pp.
copy editor – Chinese Visions of Progress, Edited by Thomas Fröhlich, Axel Schneider, 1895 to 1949, Brill Leiden Series in Comparative Historiography (BLSCH), Leiden: Brill, 2020, 317 pp.
Mongolia and the Mongols: Past and Present. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the University of Warsaw on November 23–24, 2015. Edited by Agata Bareja-Starzyńska, Magdalena Szpindler, Jan Rogala. Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, Elipsa 2018, 320 pp.
Oriental Studies & Arts: Contributions Dedicated to Professor Tadeusz Majda on His 85th Birthday. Edited by Agata Bareja-Starzyńska, Kamila Barbara Stanek, Marzenia Godzińska, Anna Akbike Sulimowicz, Magdalena Szpindler, Joanna Bojarska-Cieślik. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Akademickie Dialog 2015, 474 pp.
Academic and professional services
Secretary of Przegląd Orientalistyczny (Oriental Studies Review): issues 1–2 (2016), 258 pp.; together with Justyna Wiśniewska-Singh issues 3–4 (2016), 413 pp., 1–2 (2017), 219 pp.; issues 1–4 (2021), 1–2 (2022), 3–4 (2022); 1–2 (2023), 1–4 (2024), 1–2 (2025); together with Stanisław J. Kania issue 3–4 (2025)
Member of the Academic Discipline Council for Literary Studies at the University of Warsaw, since 2025
Member of the Council of the Faculty of Asian and African Cultures, since 2024
Member of the Didactic Council of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at UW, 2024/2025
Secretary of the Admissions Committee for the Doctoral School of Humanities at UW, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
Student supervisor, 2024–2025
Conference presentations
2025 – “Place of Thempangma Kangyur, Brought by Ondor Gegeen Zanabazar to Mongolia, in the Kagyurs’ Transmission History on the example of Yongs su skyobs pa’i snod ces bya ba’i mdo and Its Critical Edition. Preliminary observations,” a paper presented at the international conference commemorating 390th anniversary of the birth of Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar, The Ministry of Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth of Mongolia, Chinggis Khaan National Museum, Ulaanbaatar, July 1–4, 2025
2025 – “Textual Transmission of the Illustrated Story of Molon Toyin”, a paper presented at the international conference „Textual Tradition of Mongolian Buddhism: Written and Oral Traditions,” Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest, April 8–9, 2025
2024 – “Cultural Negotiations Through Narrative in Mongolian Culture from the Early Modern Period,” a paper presented at the international conference of the Society for the Study of Narrative “Narrative 2024,” Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, April 17–19, 2024
2024 – “What did the King Mahāsammata (Olan-a ergügdegsen) Discuss with Samantabhdra? Study of a Manuscript from Belgian Scheut Collection against the broader cultural and literary background?,” a paper presented at the international conference “Study of Mongolian Buddhism,” National University of Mongolia, International Association for Mongol Studies, Gandan Tegchenling Monastery, Centre for Mongolian Buddhists, August 26–28, 2024
2024 – “Buddhist Parables Across Time in Premodern Asia: Negotiating the Cultural Diversity,” a paper presented at the international conference “3rd International Congress Humanities–Society–Identity: Diversity in Equality,” University of Warsaw, December 4–5, 2024
2022 – “Reading manuscripts of the Kite by Noyan Qutuγtu Rabǰai,” a paper presented at the international conference “1st International Humanities – Society – Identity Congress,” University of Warsaw, December 7–9, 2022
2022 – “Human Relationship with the Natural World According to the Story about Molon Toyin in the Context of Buddhist Ethics,” a paper presented at the international conference “Mongolian Buddhism: Animals, Plants and Bioethics,” Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest, October 20–21, 2022
2022 – “Storytelling Materialised: Book-reading of a story of Maudgalyāyana descending to hells in search of his mother,” a paper presented at the international conference “16th International Conference of International Association of Tibetan Studies IATS,” Charles University, Prague, July, 3–9, 2022
2021 – “Hellish Landscapes in Molon Toyin’s Story: Familiar, Fearsome and Magical,” a paper presented at the international conference “Kucha and Beyond: Divine and Human Landscapes from Central Asia to the Himalayas,” SEECHAC conference, Leipzig, October 02–04, 2021
2020 – “Does Theory Starts Where Philology Ends? Trying Out New Approach within Mongolian studies,” a paper presented at the “9th International Conference: New Horizons in Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, December 8-9, 2020
2020 – “Tibetan Sources for Mongolian Translations of Molon Toyin’s Story,” a paper presented at the 3rd International Conference “Mongolia and the Mongols: Past and Present,” University of Warsaw, Warsaw, November 18–20, 2020
2019 – “Role of the Myth in Creation of Modern Mongolian Worldview and Cultural Community”, a paper presented at the international conference “Mongols: traditions and modernity”, The Centre for Typological and Semiotic Folklore Studies (Russian State University for the Humanities), in cooperation with the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies (the Higher School of Economics) and the Institute for Mongolian Studies (the National University of Mongolia), Moscow, September 11–13, 2019
2019 – “Storytelling Materialised: Book-reading of a story of Maudgalyāyana descending to hells in search of his mother,” a paper presented at the international conference “15th International Association for Tibetan Studies Seminar,” Paris, July 2019
2018 – “Bringing an Archive of Memory to Life: Collection of Mongolian Manuscripts and Blockprints in the Section of Inner Asian Peoples, University of Warsaw,” a paper presented at the 7th International Conference of Oriental Studies: Collections of Texts and Artefacts, Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, Kraków, October 21–24, 2018
2018 – “Mobility as One of the Defining Characteristics of Ravjaa’s Life in His (Auto)biography,” presented at the international conference entitled “Mobility and Immobility in Mongolian Societies,” Universität Bern, Bern, September 11– September 13, 2018
2018 – Participation in the international workshop entitled “A Comparative History of East Asian Literatures Workshop,” Chicago University, Chicago, February 4– February 6, 2018.
2017 – Presentation of an excerpt from a novel Jane Eyre in Mongolian translation at the international workshop entitled “Prismatic Jane Eyre: Close-reading a Global Novel Across Languages,” Oxford University, Oxford, October 6–October 7, 2017.
2016 – Participation in the international workshop entitled “Core Concepts of Historical Thinking and the Dynamics of Chinese History as Part of a One-World History,” Beijing University, Beijing, October 28–October 29, 2016.
2015 – “Mongolian Buddhist Artefacts in the National Museum in Warsaw Collection in the context of Polish collections,” a paper presented at the international conference entitled “Mongolian Buddhism — Past, Present and Future,” Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Humanities, Budapest, April 16– April 17, 2015
2014 – “Searching for Images of Lay Power in Buddhist Art of Mongolia,” a paper presented at the international 6th Asia Europe Museum Network General Conference — Exploring Borders, Vienna, September 25– September 28, 2014
2006 – “Agvaandandar (1758–ca. 1840) — Philosopher, Linguist and Poet from Alashan,” a paper presented at the 11th International Conference of International Association of Tibetan Studies IATS, Königswinter, August 27–September 2, 2006
2005 – “O sztuce ważenia, czyli parę słów o odważnikach birmańskich,” a paper presented at the conference of the Polish Oriental Society, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, December 2, 2005
Public lectures
2024 – “Dotykając niedotykalnego: zwoje malarskie w tradycjach buddyjskich Tybetu i Mongolii,” Festival of Science, University of Warsaw, September, 21, 2024
2024– Organization of the presentations “Dokąd i dlaczego podróżowali “w 80 dni dookoła świata’?” Noc Muzeów (Museums’ Night), University of Warsaw, May, 18, 2024
2023 – “Zagadki mongolskie,” Noc Muzeów (Museum’s Night), University of Warsaw, May, 13, 2023
2005 – “Sztuka Mongolii i Tybetu,” Festival of Science, University of Warsaw, September, 25, 2005
Conferences co-organized
2024 – 1st International Conference of Tibet and the Himalayas “Tibet and the Himalayas: Past and Present,” University of Warsaw, October 21–22, 2024
2024 – Organization of two conference panels, 3rd International Congress Humanities-Socity-Identity: Diversity in Equality, University of Warsaw, December 4–5
2023 – International conference Heaven and Hell and What Lies Between: Representing the Afterlife from Central Asia to the Himalayas, SEECHAC, University of Warsaw, November 13–15, 2023
2022 – ASAIHL Warsaw Conference Bridges for Science and Education, Cooperation, Trust, Openness, and Creativity in the Globalized World, University of Warsaw, September 26–27, 2022
2022 – Oriental Studies for the Future. International Conference Organized on the Occasion of the 90th Anniversary of Oriental Studies at the University of Warsaw, June 29–30, 2022
2022 – The 11th International Conference Current Trends in Oriental Studies / Współczesne trendy orientalistyki, University of Warsaw, November 21–23, 2022
2018 – II International Conference “Mongolia and the Mongols: Past and Present” University of Warsaw, May 6–9, 2018
2008 – The International Conference of Oriental Studies: 55 years of the Committee of Oriental Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1952–2007), University of Warsaw, December 8–9, 2008