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D. Mitra Barua
Assistant Professor of Asian Studies, Buddhist Scholar in Residence
I am currently examining the mutual relationship between Asian wisdom traditions, particularly Buddhist spiritual principles and those of Western psychotherapy. With an MA and a PhD in Religion and Culture from Wilfrid Laurier University, I received trainings in both the textual and social scientific study of religion. I also completed an MA in Buddhist Philosophy at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
Prior to joining Martin Luther University College, I taught and conducted research at Cornell University, Rice University and the University of Saskatchewan.
My Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded monograph Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019) explains what being Buddhist means within the context of Canada’s multicultural social reality.
With recent funding from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and the Ho Foundation for Buddhist Studies, I am working on my second book project (prospectively entitled Adi Bauddha) on modern Buddhist identity formation in the border region of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
My research interests are in the following areas:
- Individual and Collective Identity Formation
- Religion of Asian Immigrant Communities in North America
- Buddhism-Psychotherapy Relationships
- Barua, D. M. (2021). The Buddhist Principles Behind Dialectical Behaviour Therapy—the Practice Making Waves in Western Psychotherapy. CBC Life (forthcoming).
- Barua, D. M. (2019). Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism: The Transmission of Sri Lankan Buddhism in Toronto. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
- Barua, D. M. (2019). Thrice Honored Sangharaja Saramedha (1801-82): Arakan-Chittagong Buddhism Across Colonial and Counter-Colonial Power. Journal of Burma Studies, 23 (1), 37–85.
- Barua, D. M. (2011). Temporary Ordination for Character Transformation: A Diasporic Practice with Transnational Connections. Journal of Global Buddhism, 12, 51-68.