Rima Vesely-Flad
Research Fellow
Rima Vesely-Flad, PhD, is the Founding Director of the Initiative for Black Buddhist Studies. She is the author of three books and several academic articles on Buddhism and Black culture, as well as religious approaches to systemic violence. Dr. Rima has twice been awarded a Department of State Fulbright Scholarship, as a post-graduate student in South Africa and as a faculty member in Ghana. She is also the recipient of grants from the Fetzer Institute, the Henry J. Luce Foundation, the Frederick Lenz Foundation, and the Crossroads Program. For several years, she taught college-level courses at Sing Sing Prison, Sarah Lawrence College, and Warren Wilson College, as well as graduate classes at Union Theological Seminary. You can follow her work at www.blackbuddhiststudies.org and on Instagram.
Degrees and Certifications:
Ph.D. in Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary (2013)
Master of Philosophy, Union Theological Seminary (2011)
Master of International Affairs, Columbia University (2003)
Master of Divinity, Union Theological Seminary (2002)
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa (1997)
Research Interests:
Buddhist Ethics, Buddhism and Race, Buddhism and Caste, Socially Engaged Buddhism, Religion and Social Movements, Moral and Political Philosophy, Critical Race Theory, Sociology of Punishment.
Select Publications:
- The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde (North Atlantic Books, 2026)
- Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition: The Practice of Stillness in the Movement for Liberation (NYU Press, 2022)
- Racial Purity and Dangerous Bodies: Moral Pollution, Black Lives, and the Struggle for Justice (Fortress Press, 2017)