Tenzin Mingyur Paldron, Ph.D.

Tenzin Mingyur Paldron is a transgender Tibetan artist and educator based in New York City.

Works Bio

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Projects of Interest
Book jacket art with an aqua-teal background. On the front cover, the title reads— Transgender Road Diaries: A Tibetan Adventure. A person, a car, and a Tibetan Buddhist mask are visible. A paper airplane flies across the top.
Several individuals seated in chairs on a stage, listening to each other. Two of them hold microphones.
A classroom whiteboard. In marker, Guest: Tenzin Paldron. Topic: Tibet, China, and the United States: An LGBTIQ Lens Other Tibetan and English words are visible below, such as the word kindness.
Picture of a person holding a sheaf of paper while seated before a large boulder and plants.
Side profile of two Tibetan men against a black background. They are holding one another tenderly, one behind the other.
Banner with the words Tibet x Decolonial Atlas over an illustrated panel of Aang from Avatar, Yoda, The Ancient One, etc. To the right is an illustration titled "Map of Tibet's Lakes & Rivers" with celestial beings watching over the map.

Tenzin Mingyur Paldron (he/they/ཁོ་/ཁོང་)

I’m a transgender Tibetan artist, writer, storyteller, and educator. I hold a PhD in Rhetoric and a specialization in Gender & Sexuality Studies from UC Berkeley.

My current work brings attention to ethical mindfulness and decolonization through creative collaborations and projects such as Tibet Learning Series and Transgender Road Diaries: A Tibetan Adventure. My video exhibit Power, Masculinity, and Mindfulness is currently showing at the Rubin Museum.

I was born under refugee status in New Delhi, India, and became one of the first Tibetan children to live in the United States. I grew up in the 1990s in a mobile home park in Colorado as well as apartments in Washington State. I’m a first-generation college graduate and attended Seattle Central Community College before obtaining my BA in Film at The Evergreen State College.

An excerpt from my dissertation, Tibet, China, and the United States: Self-immolation and the limits of understanding (2021), can be read here. I received nine fellowships for my doctoral work including the UC Dissertation-Year Fellowship, the Magistretti Fellowship in Asian Languages, Cultures, History, and Society, and the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship.

Last year, I published A Capacity to Change and presented on cultural translation and media literacy at the National Sexual Assault Conference.

I like teaching in a way that creates room for personal insight while helping people feel part of a nurturing community. As someone with a variable speech disability, I value working with groups that seek to advance their communication practices. I navigate my disability through a technique I call cooperative conversation.

I live in New York City with my partner and my dog, Maya.

Photo by Charles Klein Photography.

Website logo and landing image by Tselha from Transgender Road Diaries and Virtue and the Remaking of Suffering.

Booking Requests

To book me for an event with your community please complete this request form. I’ve spoken with audiences at colleges, secondary schools, libraries, museums, nonprofits, and city government.

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