In the talk, Dr. Hackett will discuss his new edited volume, The Assimilation of Yogic Religions through Pop Culture. In this book, the authors explore the references to yogis and their native cultures of India, Tibet, and China as they are found in the stories of many famous icons of popular culture, from Batman, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange to Star Trek, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, and others. 

Dr. Hackett holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism from Columbia University, an M.L.S. in Information Science from the University of Maryland at College Park, an M.A. in History of Religions from the University of Virginia, and a B.S. in Astronomy and Physics from the University of Arizona. He specializes in canonical Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan culture, as well as their influence on contemporary alternative religion in America; he is also active in the field of applied computational linguistics, and serves as the chair of the Tibetan Information Technology Panel for the International Association for Tibetan Studies.