South Asian Religions
The South Asian Religions path is dedicated to the study of religions both in and of South Asia with faculty specializing in South Asian Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Jainism and their associated diasporic communities. Embracing a variety of interdisciplinary approaches in ritual, textual, historical, and ethnographic studies, this path offers rich opportunities for creative work across diverse historical and cultural contexts. Students train in a wide range of South Asian languages, both literary and spoken, in order to complete projects involving themes such as gender, performance, beauty, death, body, pilgrimage, politics, and identity. The study of South Asian religions invariably includes the wider study of South Asian culture. As such, the study of any individual religion is greatly enriched by the study of other religious traditions of the region. Students and faculty in this path therefore engage traditions comparatively with attention to cross-fertilization of ideas, exchange of practices, and common patterns among traditions practiced in this broad region. Students are asked to take at least one seminar in another South Asian religious tradition, to be determined based on their particular research agenda, and to engage the full spectrum of relevant scholarship, from indigenous to contemporary academic. Most students in this path undertake fieldwork, and faculty are involved with guiding students in seeking outside funding from major grant agencies. Summer language programs and language programs abroad are also a common element on this path.
Path Advisor
