Caitlin Kowalski / 魏凱琳

PhD candidate

Biography

Background

Caitlin Kowalski is a PhD candidate in Sinology at the University of Edinburgh. After completing an undergraduate degree in Chinese Studies and Philosophy at the Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg on linguistics and the symbolism of ambiguity in the Zhuangzi, she turned her research to pre-imperial and early imperial excavated manuscripts. Her current project involves defining and characterising a comprehensive genre of technical manuals and a set of patterns, with which technical manuals can be understood disregarding the technical field. Her research interests involve excavated manuscripts, material culture, the philosophy of language, and early Chinese medicine, law, ritual and popular belief.

Qualifications

Education:

  • MA in Chinese Studies and Philosophy (Rubrecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg)
  • BA in Chinese Studies and Philosophy (Rubrecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg)

Work:

  • 2025-2026   -   Tutor at the University of Edinburgh in Society and Culture in Pre-modern East Asia
  • 2024-2025   -   Tutor at the University of Edinburgh in Pre-modern East Asian History

Responsibilities & affiliations

Membership:

  • Society for the Study of Early China (SSEC)
  • British Association of Chinese Studies (BACS)

Research summary

Caitlin’s research focuses on the role of manuscripts in shaping everyday live in early China and how the linguistic patterning of decision-making manuscripts impacted the processes of decision-making. In particular she is interested in the circulation and use of technical manuscripts, including legal, medical and hemerological texts, alongside material and ritual practices, funerary rites, numerology and conceptions of the netherworld throughout early China. Her research focuses primarily on the pre-imperial, Qin and early Han period.

Current research interests

Excavated manuscripts; Material culture; Philosophy of language; Early Chinese medicine, law, ritual and popular belief

Past research interests

Popular religion in early China, Early Chinese philosophy and schools of thought, Metaphors in early Chinese philosophy (esp. Zhuangzi)

Conference details

Lingnan University, Hong Kong; Dec. 2026

Translators, Texts, and Contexts: Reclaiming Human Agency in the Age of AI

  • Panel: tba
  • “Excavated Manuscripts as a Challenge to AI Translations: Textual Patterns and Human Agency in the Translation of Early and Medieval Magico-medical Recipe Collections”

L-Università ta' Malta, Malta; Nov. 2026

Rethinking Comparison in Sinology

  • Panel: tba
  • “Towards a Pattern in Magical Healing: A Comparative Study of Early Chinese, Mesopotamian and Early English Magico-medical Manuscripts”

British Association of Chinese Studies (BACS), Lancaster UK; Sept. 2026

Panel: Objects, Officials, and Imperial Exchange

  • “Mastering the Everyday: How Textual Patterns in Excavated Guidebooks Shaped the Work of Low-level Officials in Early Imperial China”

British Association of Chinese Studies (BACS), Leicester UK; Sept. 2025

Panel: Archaeology, Material Documents, and Sensory/Historical Experience in Early and Medieval China

  • “Towards a Purpose in the Placement of Decision-making-manuscripts in Early Chinese Tombs”

British Postgraduate Network for Chinese Studies (BPCS) Glasgow UK; May 2025

Panel: Youth, Future, and Creative Expressions

  • “Cure My Woes with Magic: The Universality of a Magical Recipe Pattern through Time and Space”
This article was published on