Melody Rodari

Melody Rod-ari received her B.A. and M.A. in art history and museum studies from Boston University, and her Ph.D. in art history from UCLA. Prior to coming to LMU, she was curator of Asian art at the Norton Simon Museum. Dr. Rod-ari is currently the Southeast Asian Content Editor for Smarthistory. Her research investigates the development and evolution of Buddhist art in Southeast Asia with focus on modern and contemporary Buddhist visual culture in Thailand. Dr. Rod-ari's work also examines the history of collecting, display and repatriation of South and Southeast Asian art in American and European museums. Her writing has been published by the National Art Education Association, National University of Singapore Press, Oxford University Press and UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press. Dr. Rod-ari's work and research has been supported by various foundations including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation and the Dunhuang Foundation. In addition to her teaching and publishing, Dr. Rod-ari continues her curatorial work, which includes the redesigned South and Southeast Asian galleries at the USC Pacific Asia Museum.