Amanda J. Lucia, Ph.D.
Professor
University of California-Riverside
Riverside, California 92521
Email: amanda.lucia@ucr.edu
Employment
2023-present University Honors Faculty Fellow, UCR
2021-present Professor, Religious Studies, UCR
2022-2023 Visiting Research Fellow, King’s College London
2015-2021 Associate Professor, Religious Studies, University of California-Riverside
2011-15 Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, University of California-Riverside
2010-11 Visiting Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, Austin College
2005-06 Visiting Lecturer, Hindi/Urdu, University of Illinois at Chicago
2004-05 Lecturer, Hindi, University of Chicago
Education
2010 Ph.D., History of Religions, University of Chicago Divinity School
Thesis: “Darshan in a Hotel Ballroom: Amritanandamayi Ma’s (Amma’s) Communities of Devotees in the United States”
Committee: Wendy Doniger (Chair, History of Religions), Steven Collins (South Asian Languages and Civilizations), Omar McRoberts
(Sociology)
2004 M.A., History of Religions, University of Chicago Divinity School
1998 B.A., Religious Studies, India Studies, Indiana University
Publications
(Prior to 4/2013, Amanda J. Huffer)
Books
Lucia, Amanda and Maya Warrier, (eds). 2024. A Cultural History of Hinduism in the Age of Independence (1947 – 2017). Vol. VI of A Cultural
History of Hinduism, vols. I-VI, edited by Karen Pechilis. London: Bloomsbury.
Lucia, Amanda. 2020. White Utopias: The Religious Exoticism of Transformational Festivals, Oakland: University of California Press.
Reviewed in: High Country News, Ethnic and Racial Studies Journal, Critical Research on Religion, Reading Religion (Journal of the American Academy of Religions), Journal of Contemporary Religion, Nova Religio, Religious Studies Review, Religion Watch, Religion
Featured in: Spirit Matters podcast, Sacred Matters Magazine, Canopy Forum, UC Press blog, The Yogic Studies podcast, New Books in Indian Religions podcast, New Books in Religion podcast, Greetings from Somewhere podcast, Burner podcast, Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Workshop
Lucia, Amanda. 2014. Reflections of Amma: Devotees in a Global Embrace. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Reviewed in: Journal of Contemporary Religion; Nova Religio; Spirituality & Practice; Choice Connect; Commonground Magazine; The Journal of Religion, The Journal of Hindu Studies, Religious Studies Review
Featured in: U.S. Religion Blogspot, New Books in Religion, Asia Research Institute (ARI) Reading Group, Singapore; Spirit Matters Podcasts, Publishers Weekly
Awards: Emory Elliott Book Award Winner, UCR 2013-2014; Named one of “The Best Spiritual Books of 2014” (top 50), Spirituality & Practice
Articles (Peer Reviewed)
Lucia, Amanda. 2023. “Marking Sacred Space: Altars and Yoga Mats in Transformative Events.” Journal of Festive Studies, Vol. 5: 110—130. https://doi.org/10.33823/jfs.2023.5.1.114
Lucia, Amanda. 2022. “The Contemporary Guru Field.” Religion Compass, e12427. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12427
Lucia, Amanda. 2018. “An Unlikely Tīrtha: Making a Gaudiya Vaishanava Space Sacred among the Mormons.” Journal of Vaishnava Studies. Vol. 27. No. 1: 171-183.
Lucia, Amanda. 2018. “Guru Sex: Charisma, Proxemic Desire, and the Haptic Logics of the Guru Disciple Relationship.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Vol. 86. No. 4: 953- 988.
Lucia, Amanda. 2014. “‘Give Me Sevā Overtime:’ Selfless Service and Humanitarianism in Mata Amritanandamayi’s Transnational Guru Movement.” History of Religions. 53: 4: 188-207.
Lucia, Amanda. 2014. “Innovative Gurus: Tradition and Change in Contemporary Hinduism.” International Journal of Hindu Studies. 18. 2: 221-263.
Huffer, Amanda. 2011. “Backdoor Hinduism: A Recoding in the Language of Spirituality.” Nidan: International Journal for the Study of Hinduism. Vol. 23: 53-71.
Huffer, Amanda. 2011. “Hinduism without Religion: Amma’s Movement in America.” CrossCurrents: Special Issue: Religion in Asia Today. Vol. 61. Issue 3: 374-398.
Huffer, Amanda. 2010. “Female Immigration as a Catalyst for Ritual Practice: A Social History of Hinduism in the United States.” Journal of Hindu Studies. 3(2): 189-215.
Chapters in Edited Volumes (Peer Reviewed)
Lucia, Amanda. “Criminality, Globality and the Tactics of Reterritorialization: New Flight Paths for Pilot Baba." In Born Again Selves: New Religious Movements and the Norms of Belief, edited by Martin Fuchs and Sanjay Srivastava, in press.
Lucia, Amanda. “The Guru and His ‘Invading Army’: Nativist Constructions of Osho’s Rajneeshpuram in ‘Wild Wild Country.’” In Mythologizing and South Asian Religions, Literatures and Films, edited by Diana Dimitrova, in press.
Lucia, Amanda. “Aligning the Good and the Beautiful: Yogic Aesthetics in a Globalized World,” In Embodied Reception, edited by Henriette Hanky, Istvan Keul and Knut A. Jacobsen, in press.
Lucia, Amanda. “Introduction.” In A Cultural History of Hinduism in the Age of Independence, edited by Amanda Lucia and Maya Warrier, Volume 6 of A Cultural History of Hinduism, vols. 1-6, edited by Karen Pechilis, in press.
Lucia, Amanda. “Lineages, Emerging Exemplars, and Movements.” In A Cultural History of Hinduism in the Age of Independence, edited by Amanda Lucia and Maya Warrier, Volume 6 of A Cultural History of Hinduism, vols. 1-6, edited by Karen Pechilis, in press.
Lucia, Amanda. “Mata Amritanandamayi.” Religious Genius, edited by Alon Goshen-Gottstein, The Elijah Interfaith Institute, in press.
Lucia, Amanda. 2023. “Persistent Fictions: Race and the Global Gurus of the Long Twentieth Century,” pp. 375-395. In Hindu Diasporas, edited by Knut Axel Jacobsen.
Lucia, Amanda. 2023. “Flooding the Web: Absence-Presence and the Media Strategies of Nithyananda’s Digital Empire,” pp. 271-297. In Gurus and Media: Sound, Image, Machine, Text and the Digital, edited by Jacob Copeman, Arkotong Longkumer, and Koonal Duggal. London: KCL Press.
Lucia, Amanda. 2023. “Economies of Wonder: The Production of Spectacle at the Kumbh Melā.” pp. 197-222. In Wonder in South Asia: Histories, Aesthetics, and Ethics, edited by Tulasi Srinivas.
Lucia, Amanda. 2023. “The Kumbh Melā as Hyperobject: Sound, Scale, Nation, Environment.” pp. 386-399. In The Routledge Handbook of Material Religion, edited by S. Brent Plate, Pooyan Arab, and Jennifer Scheper Hughes.
Lucia, Amanda. 2022. “Guru Sex: Charisma, Proxemic Desire, and the Haptic Logics of the Guru Disciple Relationship.” (reprint), In Religious Authority in South Asia: Generating the Guru, edited by István Keul and Srilata Raman, New York: Routledge.
Lucia, A. 2022. “Gurus and Healing: Amma (Mata Amritanandamyi) at the Intersection of Miracles and Medicine,” pp. 244-257 in The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Medicine, and Health, edited by Dorothea Lüddeckens, Philipp Hetmanczyk, Pamela E. Klassen, and Justin B. Stein. London and New York: Routledge.
Lucia, Amanda. 2021. “The Global Manifestation of the Hindu Guru Phenomenon.” pp. 413-427 in Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions, edited by Knut Axel Jacobsen. New York: Routledge University Press.
Lucia, Amanda. 2021“Charisma in Hinduism.” pp. 175-185 in Routledge International Handbook of Charisma, edited by José Pedro Zúquete. London: Routledge.
Lucia, Amanda and Michael Alexander. 2021. “Aum Shalom: Jews, Gurus, and Religious Hybridity in the United States.” pp 189-203 in Religion in Los Angeles: Religious Activism, Innovation, and Diversity in the Global City, edited by Diane Winston and Richard Flory. New York: Routledge.
Lucia, Amanda. 2018. “Saving Yogis: Spiritual Nationalism and the Proselytizing Missions of Global Yoga.” pp. 35-70 in Asian Migrations & Global Religion: Studies on Transnational Religious Movements, edited by Brenda Yeoh and Bernardo Brown, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Articles (Non-Peer Reviewed)
Lucia, Amanda. 2021. “‘White Utopias’: Investigating Spiritual Festivals’ Religious Exoticism with Professor Amanda J. Lucia.” Citta Vritti blog.
Lucia, Amanda. 2021. “Manufacturing Consent: Creating Hierarchies in the Guru-Disciple Relationship.” Sacred Matters: Religious Currents in Culture. April 4.
Lucia, Amanda. 2020. “Why are Yogic and Transformational Festivals – from Wanderlust to Burning Man – So White?” UC Press Blog. November 25.
Lucia, Amanda. 2020. “Religious Exoticism and White Utopias: 7 Questions for Amanda J. Lucia.” Sacred Matters: Religious Currents in Culture. November 1.
Lucia, Amanda. 2020. “Representation and Whiteness among the ‘Spiritual but not Religious.’” Canopy Forum: On the Interactions of Law and Religion. September 24.
Lucia, Amanda 2020. “The Hindu Guru-Disciple Relationship and the Complications of Sexual Consent.” The Revealer, March, Special Issue: Religion and Sexual Abuse.
Lucia, Amanda 2018. “Desires for power: sex scandals and their proliferation.” Oxford University Press Blog. December 15.
Lucia, Amanda. 2018. “On the Global Guru Circuit: From India to the West and Back Again.” The Religious Studies Project. November 15.
Lucia, Amanda. 2017. “Divali in the White House?” Oxford University Press Blog. October 18.
Lucia, Amanda and Jennifer Scheper Hughes, Jim K. Lee, and S. Romi Mukherjee. 2015. “California’s New Religion of the Streets.” BOOM: A Journal of California. December 23.
Lucia, Amanda. 2015. “The Playful Seduction of Colors: Chanting ‘Hare Krishna’ by Accident.” October 24.
Lucia, Amanda. 2015. “Toward a Theory of Festival.” October 24.
Lucia, Amanda. 2015. “How ISKCON took Hinduism to the US Heartland.” Scroll.In. January 16. (~23K views, also reposted at Utah Krishnas )
Lucia, Amanda. 2014. “Who Needs a Hug(ging) Saint?” Religion in American History. September 21.
Encyclopedia Entries
Lucia, Amanda. 2018. “Hinduism in America.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Religion in America, (print edition), edited by John Corrigan. New York: Oxford University Press, 105-125.
Lucia, Amanda. 2017. “Hinduism in America” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Religion in America, (online edition), edited by John Corrigan, January 26.
Lucia, Amanda. 2016. “Festivals.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Hinduism, edited by Tracy Coleman, November 28.
Lucia, Amanda. 2013. “Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust/Embracing the World,” BRILL Encyclopedia of Hinduism, vol. V, edited by Knut A. Jacobsen. Leiden: BRILL (2013), 523-30.
Translations
Huffer, Amanda. 2007. Translation of selections from the Sadhvi Shakti Parishad’s (a subsidiary of the VHP) Mātramāhāśakti. (Hindi original.) Available at the Regenstein Library. The University of Chicago.
Book Reviews
Lucia, Amanda. Journal of Contemporary Religion, Karen Pechilis and Amy-Ruth Holt, eds., Devotional Visualities: Seeing Bhakti in Indic Material Cultures, in progress.Lucia, Amanda.
Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception. Paul Hackett, ed., The Assimilation of Yogic Religions through Pop Culture, in press.
Lucia, Amanda. 2021. American Religion. Megan Goodwin, Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions, vol. 2, no. 2, Spring: 148-150.
Lucia, Amanda. 2021. H-ASIA. Luke Whitmore, Mountain, Water, Rock, God: Understanding Kedarnath in the Twenty-First Century, (February) 3.
Lucia, Amanda. 2020. Nova Religio. Richard Weiss, The Emergence of Modern Hinduism: Religions on the Margins of Colonialism, vol. 24, no. 2: 114-116.
Lucia, Amanda. 2020. The Journal of Religion. Angela Rudert, Shakti’s New Voice: Guru Devotion in a Woman-Led Spiritual Movement, 100, No. 1 (January): 152-154.
Lucia, Amanda. 2020. Southern California Quarterly. David J. Neumann, Finding God through Yoga, Vol 102., No. 1: 86-9.
Lucia, Amanda. 2019. International Journal of Hindu Studies. Nanette Spina, Women’s Authority and Leadership in a Hindu Goddess Tradition. 23.1: 97-98.
Lucia, Amanda. 2019. The Journal of Asian Studies. J. Barton Scott, Spiritual Despots: Modern Hinduism and the Genealogies of Self-Rule. Vol. 78, Issue 2: 476-477.
Lucia, Amanda. 2018. Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies. Prema Kurien, Ethnic Church Meets Megachurch: Indian American Christianity in Motion. Vol. 31, Article 37: 132-134
Lucia, Amanda. 2017. Contributions to Indian Sociology. Karline McLain, The Afterlife of Sai Baba: Competing Visions of a Global Saint. 51, 3: 379-381.
Lucia, Amanda. 2016. Reading Religion (American Academy of Religion Book Reviews). Nicholas Campion, The New Age in the Modern West: Counterculture, Utopia and Prophecy from the Late Eighteenth Century to the Present Day.
Lucia, Amanda. 2016. Nova Religio. Véronique Altglas, From Yoga to Kabbalah: Religious Exoticism and the Logics of Bricolage. Vol. 20, No. 1, (Aug.): 134-135.
Lucia, Amanda. 2016. The Journal of Religion. Orianne Aymard, When a Goddess Dies: Worshipping Ma Anandamayi after Her Death. Vol. 96, Issue 2 (April 2016): 252-253.
Lucia, Amanda. 2015. Religious Studies Dissertation Reviews. Michael J. Altman, “Imagining Hindus: India and Religion in Nineteenth Century America.”
Lucia, Amanda. 2014. Inscriptions. Vincent Wimbush, ed., MisReading America: Scriptures and Difference. Vol. 9, Spring: 2-4.
Lucia, Amanda. 2014. Religious Studies Review. Jacob Copeman and Aya Ikegame, eds., The Guru in South Asia. Vol. 40 (1): 55-56.
Lucia, Amanda. 2013. Religion and Society: Advances in Research. Jacob Copeman and Aya Ikegame, eds., The Guru in South Asia. 4: 212-213.
Huffer, Amanda. 2011. Journal of Asian Studies. Tulasi Srinivas, Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism Through the Sathya Sai Movement. Vol. 70 (3): 894-896.
Huffer, Amanda. 2011. Journal of Hindu Studies. Kavita Ramdya, Bollywood Weddings: Dating, Engagement, and Marriage in Hindu America. 4(1): 109-110.
Huffer, Amanda. 2011. History of Religions. Sumathi Ramaswamy, The Goddess and the Nation: Mapping Mother India. Vol. 51, No. 2: 185-188.
INVITED LECTURES
RELIGION AND SEXUALITY
Guru Movements and Sexual Abuse
2024. “The Power of Persecution.” Keynote, Undergraduate Research Symposium, California State University-Bakersfield (May 3)
2023. “When Should We Listen to Critics?: Scholarly self-reflexivity in controversial research.” Controversial Topics in Research and Teaching. Univ. of Bergen, Norway (May 31-June 1)
2023. “‘Self-styled Godmen’: lineage versus criminality in media discourse,” Spalding Symposium, King’s College London (April 21-23).
2023. “Criminal Bandits and Nationalist Heroes: Ambiguous Gurus in the Discourses of the Sannyasi and Fakir Rebellion,” University of Vienna. (March 31).
2022. “‘Studying Up’ and Academic Complicities,” Panel: On Ethics and Elephants: The Politics Mediating Yoga Studies, Yoga Darśana, Yoga Sādhana (YDYS), Jagiellonian University,
Kraków (May 19).
2022. “Whose Law? Whose Authority?: Questioning the role of law in adjudicating abuse,” Religion & Sexual Abuse Conference, University of California-Riverside (March 5).
2021. “Defining Discourses: Unpacking Gail Tredwell’s Abuse Allegations against Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi),” Religious Studies Seminar, University of Edinburgh (March 24)
2020. “Religion and Sexual Abuse,” Respondent. Inform Seminar: Sexual Abuse Framed by Faith or Belief, London, UK (July 22)
2020. “Permeable Bodies and Sexual Abuse in the Guru-Disciple Relationship,” (Lectures I, II, III), Yoga Studies Summer School, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, (July 13-15) (cancelled due to COVID-19)
2020. “Manufacturing Consent: Persuasion, Coercion, and Conformity in Guru-Disciple Relationships,” Yoga and Sexual Abuse Conference, Loyola Marymount University, (June 13)
2020. “Consent and Empowerment in the Guru-Disciple Relationship,” Evolution of Yoga Summit, Loyola Marymount University, (March 22) (cancelled due to COVID-19)
Guru Charisma and Physicality
2018. “Mediating Charisma: The Rise of the Celebrity Guru,” Rise of New Religions in Asia Workshop, Boston University, (March 19-20).
2018. “Touching God: Charisma, Proxemic Desire, and the Haptic Logics of the Guru Disciple Relationship,” Colloquium, sponsored by Department of Classics and World Religions/Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Ohio University, Athens, OH.
2015. “An Intimate Connection: Devotional Desires and Guru Physicality,” Gurus: Mapping Spirituality in Contemporary India, South Asian Council Annual Conference, Yale University.
TRANSNATIONAL YOGA
2023. “A Brief History of Modern Yoga.” Yoga: Past and Present. SOAS (February 8).
2022. Respondent, Yoga in Latin America (YoLA) Project Symposium, El Colegio de México, Mexico City (September 20-22)
RACE AND NEW AGE SPIRITUALITY
2024. TBD, California State University-Northridge (April 23)
2023. Panel with Arun Saldanha. “Awakening the Third Eye: Hierarchies of Consciousness in the New Age,” Harvard University (October 26)
2022. Keynote, “Denaturalizing White Women’s Agency in Alternative Spiritualities,” Ghent University (December 8)
White Utopias: The Religious Exoticism of Transformational Festivals
2024. Book Talk and Class Discussion, Skidmore College (April 23)
2022. Book Talk and Class Discussion, University of Notre Dame (November 15).
2022. Keynote, Yoga Studies Summer School, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland (May 19)
2022. Colloquium. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland (March 23)
2022 “The Materiality of Religious Exoticism: Re-reading White Utopias through Objects,” Occidental College (February 23).
2021. Book Talk and Classroom Presentation, Skidmore College (December 3)
2021. Keynote, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK (September 15)
2021. Book Talk and Classroom Presentation, Eckerd College (April 23)
2021. Book Talk and Classroom Presentation, Indiana University (April 13)
2021. Book Talk and Classroom Presentation, Elon University (March 24)
2021. Book Talk at Cellar Door, Riverside, CA (February 19)
2021. Book Talk at Open Book Sessions, Seattle, WA (February 9)
2020. Colloquium. Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA (October 7)
2020. Ratner Family Lecture, Keynote, Case Western Reserve University (March 4)
2019. Keynote, Yogascapes 2.0, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (July 11)
2020. “In Conversation: Michael Alexander on Making Peace with the Universe (2020) and Amanda Lucia on White Utopias (2020).” Center for Ideas and Society, UCR (November 17)
2014. “Seeking the Sacred: Transformational Festivals and the Search for Spiritual Experience,” Indiana University-Bloomington.
“Romanticizing the Premodern: Yoga, Spirituality, and the Practice of Exoticism,” (Ch. 1)
2021. Yadunandan Center for India Studies, California State University-Long Beach (March 24)
2020. SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies, University of London (December 2)
2018. “Box Braids, Buddhist Altars, and Native Headdresses: Radical Self Expression vs. Cultural Property at Burning Man,” Burning Man and Transformational Event Cultures Symposium, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, (November 29-20).
2017. Colloquium. Middlebury College
“Representing Yoga: A Book Talk on White Utopias with Amanda Lucia,” (Ch. 2)
2020. Webinar. Yoga Alliance (November 12)
“Anxieties over Authenticity: American Yoga and the Problem of Whiteness,”
2018. Colloquia Series, Keynote Speaker, California State University-Bakersfield, (May 4).
2018. University Club, Claremont, CA, (June 29).
2015. “Modern Postural Yoga through Multiple Lenses,” Dueling Disciplines: Critical Dance Studies, Religious Studies, and Political Theory, Center for Ideas and Society, UCR
2014. “The Yoga of Antiquity: American Yoga and Authenticity,” Dance Department, UCR
“Between Asceticism and Mysticism: Spiritual Yogis in the Festival Scene,” (Chs. 3 & 4)
2024. California State University-Northridge (April 23)
2020. New Directions in Yoga Studies: Online Weekend School for the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (December 6)
“The Cathartic Freedom of Transformational Festival: Escapes and Entrapments of Neoliberal Modernity,” (Ch. 5)
2018. Colloquium. UCR (October 4)
2017. “Illusions of Freedom: Escapism, Exoticism and the Neoliberal Yogi,” University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
“Saving Yogis: Spiritual Nationalism and the Proselytizing Missions of Global Yoga”
2020. Classroom Presentation. Otterbein University. (November 11)
2015. Migrant Communities and Religious Experience in Asia Conference, Asia Research Institute (ARI), Singapore
GLOBAL GURUS AND TRANSNATIONAL HINDUISM
Guru Innovation
2014. “Innovative Yoga Gurus: Charisma, Devotees, and the creation of NRMs,” When New Religious Movements Get Old, Conference in honor of Eileen Barker, UCR.
2011. “Hinduism Without Religion: Amma’s Movement in America,” UCR.
2011. “Do We Still Need Gurus?” Colloquium Panel with Ivan Strenski, Toby Johnson, and Erich Schwitzgebel, UCR.
Reflections of Amma: Devotees in a Global Embrace
2020. Classroom Presentation. Whittier College. (September 30)
2018. University of California-Davis, (October 29).
2016. Elijah Interfaith Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel
2015. Plenary for 2014 Emory Elliott Book Award, Center for Ideas and Society, UCR.
2014. In conversation with Edward Blum, Religious Studies Department, UCR.
Devī Bhāva: Revelation and Performance of the Guru as Goddess (Ch. 2)
2011. “Performing Authority: Amritanandamayi Ma’s Theater of the Goddess,” Albion College.
“Like Bees to Honey: Amma and her American devotees through the lens of Devī Bhāva.”
2010. Theory and Practice in South Asia (TAPSA) Seminar, University of Chicago.
2010. Elon University.
American Multiculturalism: Religion, Race, and Ethnicity
2017. “American Multiculturalism: Promises and Actualities,” La Sierra University, Riverside, CA.
2017. “From John Lennon to Mark Zuckerberg: Imaginings of India in American Counter/Culture,” Spirit of Women Dinner, United Church of Christ, Claremont, CA.
2016. “Asian Immigration and Religion in the United States,” The 40th Annual Meeting of the Council of Thai Bhikkhus in the U.S.A., Suddhavasa Temple, Riverside, California.
2015. “Does Ethnicity Trump Religion?” The Returns of Religion, Religion in Diaspora and Global Affairs Conference, UCHRI, Collège d’études mondiales/FMSH/EHESS, Paris.
2013. MisReading America: Scriptures and Difference, edited by Vincent Wimbush with Lalruatkima and Melissa Renee Reid. Panel Respondent. Claremont Graduate University.
“Swami Vivekananda and the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions”
2011. Austin College, Sherman, Texas.
2011. The Art Institute of Chicago.
2011. “Hindu Religiosity in America,” Rotary Club of Delphi, Delphi, Indiana.
2010. “Ordinary Women, Goddesses, and Gurus: Post-1965 Diversification of Vivekananda’s Hinduism.” Hindus in India and America: Hinduizing America; Globalizing India Conference, University of Chicago.
2009. “From the Serampore Mission to the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago (HTGC): A History of “American Hinduism,” TAPSA Seminar, University of Chicago.
Kumbh Mela and Hinduism in India
2013. “Ascetic Discipline and the Kumbh Mela 2013,” Center for Ideas and Society Speaker Series, University of California-Riverside, Palm Desert Campus.
2012. “The One and the Many: Religious Pluralism in India,” California Agricultural Leaders Association, California State Polytechic University-Pomona.
ETHNOGRAPHIC METHODS
2020. “Rethinking Ethnographic Methodology in the Wake of Writing White Utopias,” Office of Research and Economic Development, University of California-Riverside (May 19)
“Ethics of Ethnography”
2014. Honors Symposium, University of California-Riverside.
2013. Honors Symposium, University of California-Riverside.
2011. Honors Symposium, University of California-Riverside.
PEDAGOGY
2018. “Making the Intangible Tangible: How to Recreate the Magic of the Classroom in an Online Learning Environment,” Faculty Instructional Innovation Studio, University of California, Riverside.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2024. A Cultural History of Hinduism, Vols. 1-6. Roundtable, American Academy of Religions Conference, San Diego, California (November 19)
2024. Transgression. Roundtable. American Academy of Religions Conference, San Diego, California (November 19)
2024. “Paradoxes of the Elokeshi Archive (1873): A Heroic Murderer, a Muted Victim, and an Abundance of Necroerotics,” Sexuality in the Archive workshop, sponsored by the Religion and Sexual Abuse Project, UCR (March 1-3)
2023. “Sexual Abuse and the Study of Religion: Where do we go from here?” Roundtable, sponsored by the Contextualizing the Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis Seminar, American Academy of Religions Conference, San Antonio, Texas (November 19)
2023. “Transgression in the Eye of the Beholder: Revisiting the Maharaj Libel Case of 1862,” Regional Bhakti Scholars Network Symposium on “Transgression,” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, Wisconsin (October 18)
2022. “Religion and/as Labor.” Panel respondent. American Academy of Religions Conference, Denver, Colorado (November 20).
2022. “Women in Publishing.” American Academy of Religions Conference, Denver, Colorado (November 21).
2022. “Neoliberalism and White Utopias.” American Academy of Religions Conference. Denver, Colorado (November 21).
2022. “The Reterritorialization of the New Age: Pilot Baba in post-Soviet states and Japan,” Born Again Selves: New Religious Movements and the Norms of Belief, Universistät Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany, (February 2-4) (postponed from 2021 due to COVID-19)
2021. “Aspiring for Beauty: Aesthetic ideals and Ascetic Practice in Contemporary Spirituality,” Practices of Embodied Reception, University of Bergen, Norway. (September 8).
2021. “The Guru and his ‘Invading Army:’ Nativist constructions of Osho’s Rajneeshpuram in ‘Wild Wild Country,’” European Academy of Religion Conference, Muenster, Germany. (August 30) (postponed from 2020 due to COVID-19)
2020. The Power of Context, Identity, and Capital: Three Books Interrogating Spirituality and Yoga Published in 2020. Roundtable Panelist, responding to White Utopias. American Academy of Religion. (December 9)
2020. Neoliberalism, Hinduism, and Globalized ‘Spirituality’ Discourses in India and America. Panel Respondent. American Academy of Religion. (December 8)
2020. Amanda Lucia on her new book “White Utopias,” interviewed by Tulasi Srinivas. American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Raising our Voices. (November 11)
2019. Theory and Method 2.0 Roundtable. American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA.
2019. Authors Meet Critics. Harshita Mruthinti Kamath, Impersonations: The Artifice of Brahmin Masculinity in South Indian Dance. American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA.
2019. Authors Meet Critics. Tulasi Srinivas, The Cow in the Elevator: An Anthropology of Wonder, Association for Asian Studies, Denver, CO.
2019. “Temporary Asceticisms: The Embodied Practices of Spiritual Tourism,” Society for Pilgrimage Studies Conference, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India.
2018. “The Ephemeral Field: Ethnographic Research on Nebulous Spirituality,” American Academy of Religion, Denver, CO.
2018. “Yogic Spiritual Tourism: A Modern Asceticism?” American Academy of Religion, Denver, CO.
2018. “White Bhaktas/White Yogis: Anxieties over Authenticity in Indic Spirituality in the United States” University of Wisconsin-Madison South Asia Conference, Madison, WI.
2018. “Celebrity, Scandal, and the Godmen of Modern India.” Conference on the Study of Religions of India, University of California-Davis.
2017. Authors Meet Critics: David A. Palmer and Elijah Siegler, Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality. Respondent. American Academy of Religion, Boston, MA.
2017. Reconstructing Authority: Female Gurus Today. Panel Respondent. American Academy of Religion, Boston, MA.
2016. “Transnational Yoga: Translation, Domestification, and Appropriation,” American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, TX.
2016. Disseminating Yoga: Teachings and Traditions. Panel Respondent. American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, TX.
2015. “Feeling Encounters: Understanding the Haptic Logics of Guru Intimacy,” American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, GA.
2015. “Postethnic Authenticities: Postural Yoga and American Multiculturalism,” American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, GA.
2015. “From Healing to Sex Scandal: Understanding the Haptic Logics of Guru Intimacy,” Society for the Anthropology of Religion, San Diego, CA.
2015. “Saving Yogis: Missionizing Discourses of American Yoga,” Yoga (R)evolution? Interrogating Possibilities and Practices, The Race and Yoga Research Working Group, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
2014. “Mormons Playing Holi at the Hare Krishna Temple: Cultural Representation, Proselytization, and the Productive Spaces of Festival,” American Anthropological Association, Washington DC
2014. Gods Just Want to Have Fun: Ecstasy, Celebration and Community in Los Angeles Religions. Panel Respondent. American Studies Association, Los Angeles, CA.
2013. “Textuality, Sexuality, and Embodiment: performing the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra,”American Academy of Religion, Baltimore, MD.
2013. “Is Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) a ‘Religious Genius’?” American Academy of Religion, Baltimore, MD.
2013. “Vectors of Religious Labor at the Kumbh Mela 2013,” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI.
2013. “Ascetic Discipline and the Kumbh Mela,” Society for Pilgrimage Studies Conference, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India.
2012. “Reviving the ‘Golden Age of the Vedas’: Gendered Innovations of Hindu Ritual,” American Academy of Religion, Chicago, IL.
2012. “Exhibit(ing) India: Authenticity and the Politics of Representation in American Yoga,” American Academy of Religion, Chicago, IL.
2012. “Hunting Exotic India: Freak Show and Festival in America 1894-2012,” South Asian Studies Association (SASA), Claremont, CA.
2011. “Hinduism without Religion: the Rhetoric of ‘Spirituality’ in Amma’s Global Guru Movement,” American Academy of Religion, San Francisco, CA.
2011. “Spiritual, But Not Hindu: Universalism in a Global Transnational Guru Movement,” Society for the Anthropology of Religion, Santa Fe, NM.
2010. “A ‘Feminine’ and Feminist Form of Hindu Religiosity: The Goddess in Amritanandamayi Ma’s Movement,” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI.
2009. “Bounded Communities: Ammachi’s Communities of Devotees in the United States,” American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
2009. “From the Serampore Mission to the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago (HTGC): A History of “American Hinduism,” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI.
2007. “Surprising Parallels: Rhetoric of Divine Motherhood in the Discourses of the Sadhvi Shakti Parishad and Amritanandamayi Ma,” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI.
2007. “An Analysis of Female Agency in Nancy Falk’s ‘Shakti Ascending: Hindu Women, Politics, and Religious Leadership During the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.’” Midwest American Academy of Religion, River Forest, IL.
Grants and Awards
2023. Co-sponsorship Award for Sexuality in the Archive Workshop, Center for Ideas and Society, UCR ($3000)
2023-24. Academic Senate Omnibus Travel Award, Committee on Research, UCR ($700)
2022-23. Academic Senate Committee on Research Award ($7,000)
2022-2025. Honor’s Faculty Fellow, University Honors Program, UCR (deferred until 2023-2026)
2021. Certificate of Appreciation for Service as Chair of the Hellman Fellowship Award Review Committee
2020. Professor of the Year, University Honors Program, UCR
2020-21. Academic Senate Omnibus Travel Award, Committee on Research, UCR ($1800)
2019-20. Academic Senate Committee on Research Award ($5,000).
2019-2024. PI: “The Religion and Sexual Abuse Project,” Henry Luce Foundation ($550,000)
2018. Center for Ideas and Society (CIS) Second Project Award (course release equaling $6100)
2018. University of California Women’s Initiative for Professional Development (UC WI)
2016. Budget Expansion, Innovative Learning Technology Initiatives (ILTI), UCR, to develop RLST 012 into an online course ($60,000)
2016-17. Academic Senate Committee on Research Award ($6,500)
2015. UCEAP Academic Integration of Study Abroad ($5,000)
2015. “The Public Practice of Immigrant and Minority Religions in Southern California,” Mellon Foundation, Center for Ideas and Society, UCR (course release equaling $6,200)
2015. Emory Elliott Book Award for Reflections of Amma, Center for Ideas and Society, UCR
2015. Reflections of Amma, One of “The Best Spiritual Books of 2014,” Spirituality &Practice
2015. ILTI, UCR ($2,500)
2014-15. Academic Senate Omnibus Travel Award, Committee on Research, UCR ($1,300)
2014. Outstanding Mentorship Award, Sisters in Strength undergraduate club, UCR
2013-15(16). Co-PI: Religion in Diaspora and Global Affairs (RIDAGA) Humanities Studio Award, University of California Humanities Research Initiative/Luce Foundation ($75,000)
2013-15. Hellman Fellowship, UCR ($30,000)
2013-14. Academic Senate Omnibus Travel Award, Committee on Research, UCR ($1,125)
2013-14. Regents Faculty Fellowship, Committee on Research, UCR ($4,400)
2013-14. Mellon Workshop, Center for Ideas and Society, UCR, Co-PI: ISIR (Institute for the Study of Immigration and Religion) ($2,500)
2012-13. Mellon Workshop, Center for Ideas and Society, UCR, Co-PI: ISIR ($3,500)
2011-12. Stimulus Money, Office of the Chancellor, UCR, Co-PI: ISIR ($13,500)
2011-12. Faculty Research Grant, UCR ($15,000)
2011-13. ACLS Mellon New Faculty Fellowship (declined)
2009-10. Dissertation Fellowship, Committee on Southern Asian Studies (COSAS)
2009. Dissertation Research Stipend, COSAS/Divinity School, University of Chicago
2008-09. Dissertation Fellowship, COSAS
2005-06. Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Grant, Malayalam
2004-05. FLAS Grant, Hindi
2003-04. FLAS Grant, Hindi
2003. American Institute of India Studies (AIIS)/FLAS. Summer Hindi in Jaipur, India
1996-97. College Year in India Program (Varanasi), University of Wisconsin, Madison
Teaching:
University of California-Riverside:
Lower Division:
Religious Myth and Ritual (cross-listed with Ethnic Studies): 2024Su (online), 2024W (Honors), 2023Su (online), 2022Su (online), 2022W (Honors), 2021Su (online), 2021W (Honors), 2020W (Honors), 2020Su (online), 2019W (Honors), 2019W (online), 2019Su (online), 2018 (+ Honors section), 2018Su (online), 2017 (+Honors section), 2017Su (online), 2016 (+Honors section), 2015
Introduction to Asian Religions: 2014
Upper Division:
Decolonizing Religion: 2024, 2022
New Religious Movements: 2024, 2020, 2012
Gurus and Saints: 2021, 2016, 2013, 2012
Yoga: From Ancient to Modern: 2017, 2016
Contemporary Themes in Religion and Theory: 2018, 2014, 2013
Gender, Sexuality, and Religion (cross-listed with Gender & Sexuality Studies): 2017, 2012
Modern Hinduism: 2021F, 2020F, 2020W, 2014, 2013, 2011
Senior Seminar: 2018, 2016, 2015
Graduate Seminars:
Charisma: Advanced Topics in Method and Theory in the Study of Religion: 2020
Via Mystica: 2017
Advanced Topics in the Study of North American Religion: 2014, 2012
Ethnographic Methodology: 2024, 2020, 2019, 2015, 2013
Thinking Religion: Classic Theories in the Study of Religion: 2018
Contemporary Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion: 2021, 2016
Independent Studies:
Senior Seminar
Sociology of Religion
American Communal Utopias
Hinduism in America
Shirdi Sai Baba
Muslim Postcolonial Feminisms in South Asia
Transmission of Buddhism from Asia to the United States
First Year Hindi/Urdu: I, II, III
First Year Sanskrit: I, II, III
Austin College:
Religion, Culture, and Society in Asia
Asian Religions in America
Gurus and Globalization
Hinduism
Buddhism
University of Illinois, Chicago:
Second year Hindi/Urdu
Advanced Readings Hindi/Urdu
The University of Chicago:
Second year Hindi
Related Employment
2009-10. Research Assistant, Dr. Wendy Doniger, History of Religions, University of Chicago
2007-08. Program Assistant, South Asia Language Resource Center (SALRC), University of Chicago
6-9/2006. Research Assistant, Dr. Martin Riesebrodt, Sociology of Religion, University of Chicago
6-9/2004
2004-05. Research Assistant, Dr. Christian Wedemeyer, History of Religions, University of Chicago
2004-05. Coordinator, Theory and Practice in South Asia (TAPSA) Lecture Series, University of Chicago
2002-04; 6-9/2005. Coordinator, South Asia Outreach, University of Chicago
SERVICE, PROFESSIONAL SKILLS, AND ASSOCIATIONS
Service to Academic Institutions:
University of California-Riverside:
Senate Committees
GRE Ad Hoc Rubric Committee (2021 – 2022)
UCR Library Strategic Planning Steering Committee (2021 – 2022)
Administrative Studies Committee (2016 – 2022)
Executive Council (2020 – 2021)
Graduate Council (2018 – 2021)
Chair (2020 – 2021)
Graduate Council Courses and Programs Subcommittee (2019 – 2020)
Graduate Council Fellowships Subcommittee (2018 – 2019)
Scheduling Committee Member (2017 – 2018)
CHASS Executive Committee (2014 – 2016)
Campus Service
Instructional Continuity (Covid-19) Working Group (2020 – 2021)
Classroom Design Subcommittee (2019 – 2021)
Center for Ideas and Society (CIS) Mellon Speaker Series Coordinator (2012 – 2014)
Mentoring Summer Research Internship Program (MSRIP) (06/2016 – 08/2016)
Making Excellence Inclusive (MEI): UCR Diversity Certificate Program (2016 – 2017)
Office of Research and Development trip to Washington DC to meet with Program Officers (7/2016)
Associate Provost Team Classroom Visit, Oregon State University (3/2019
Religious Studies Department Service
Graduate Program Advisor (2024 – )
Graduate Program Committee (2011 – 2018, 2019 – 2022)
Lecturer Committee (Spring 2019 – 2020)
Colloquium Coordinator (Spring 2019 – 2020, 2013 – 2014); Co-Coordinator (2014 – 2015)
Undergraduate Advisor (Fall 2011, Fall 2015 – Spring 2019)
Assessment Coordinator (2016 – Spring 2019)
Faculty Liaison for Undergraduate RLST Club (2012 – 2018)
Library Coordinator (2014 – 2016)
Search Committee Chair: Religious Studies and Black Study (2021-2022)
Search Committee member: Shrimad Rajchandra Endowed Chair in Jain Studies (2017 – 2018), Holstein Chair (2015 – 2016), Global Christianity (2014 – 2015), Transnational Buddhism (2013 – 2014)
Austin College:
Asian Studies Committee (2010 – 2011)
Graduate Students Advised – Dissertation Committee Chair
Zamuşinski, Alexandr, (2021 – ). “TBD” Religious Studies, UCR
Rosetti, Cristina. 2019. “Spirits in Zion: Dissenting Acts of Spirit Communication as Sources of Authority in Contemporary Mormonism,” Religious Studies, UCR
Kuo, Shou Jen. 2018. “Situating Themselves in the Pure Land of Humanistic Buddhism on Earth: A Study of Chinese American Religiosity at Hsi Lai Temple in Southern California,”
Religious Studies, UCR
Guida, Jeremy. 2016. “Metaphysical Underground: The Underground Press and the Transformation of Metaphysical Religion, 1964-1973,” Religious Studies, UCR
Graduate Students Advised – Dissertation Committee Member
Tejpaul Bainiwal (2020 – present), “From the Margins to the Mainstream: Reorienting Sikh American History through the Lens of Stockton Gurdwara (1912-1965),” Religious Studies, UCR
Owain Graham (2018 – 2024), “Escucha los Cantos: Non-Human Agency in Peruvian Vegetalismo and Shamanic Pilgrimage,” Ethnomusicology, UCR
Benjamin Blocksom (2018 – 2024), Ethnomusicology, UCR
Tessa Harmon (2021 – 2024), Religious Studies, UCR
Hassanah El-Yacoubi (2018 – 2023), “From Marginal to Mainstream: An Ethnographic Exploration on Faith, Fashion, and Female Muslim Entrepreneurship in the U.S.,” Religious Studies, UCR
Steven Quach (2020 – 2022), “Dear Saṅgha: Producing the Secular Mind of Mental Health in the Biopsychosocial Territories of Buddhist Therapeutics,” Religious Studies, UCR
Alina Pokhrel (2021 – 2022), Religious Studies, UCR
Nathan Womack (2016 – 2019), “Disrupting Suburban Religion: The Great Recession, Suburban Poverty, and Reframing Evangelical Narratives,” Religious Studies, UCR
Chris Miller (2017 – 2018), “Embodying Transnational Yoga,” Religious Studies, University of California-Davis
Jen Aubrecht (2014 – 2017), “Choreographers and Yogis: Untwisting the Politics of Appropriation and Representation in U.S. Concert Dance,” Dance, UCR
Sean Sagan (2013 – 2017), “Only a Tract: The Production and Distribution of Evangelical Gospel Literature and the Construction of Social Boundaries,” Religious Studies, UCR
SJ Crasnow (2013 – 2017), “From the Gay Synagogue to the Queer Shtetl: Normativity, Innovation, and Utopian Imagining in the Lived Religion of LGBTQ Jews,” Religious Studies, UCR
Jeremy Guida (2013 – 2015), “Metaphysical Underground: The Underground Press and the Transformation of Metaphysical Religion, 1964-1973,” Religious Studies, UCR
Allison Solso (2012 – 2015), “Beyond Momento Mori: Understanding American Religious Commemoration through Roadside Shrines,” Religious Studies, UCR
Charles Townsend (2012 – 2015), “Music in the Gurus' View: Sikh Religious Music, Memory, and the Performance of Sikhism in America,” Religious Studies, UCR
Graduate Students Advised – Dissertation Committee External Reader
Henriette Hanky. 2023.“‘Buddhafields’ in Flux Communicative Forms of the Post-Osho Scene and the Formation of Sannyas Subjectivities,” University of Bergen, Norway.
Michael Riva Erlich. 2022. “Contemporary Hyperlocal Guru-Bhakti Communities: Religion and Well-Being in the Geographic and Socio-Cultural Peripheries of Delhi,” University of Tel Aviv, Israel
Nika Kuchuk. 2021. “Genealogies of Transnational Religion: Translation, Revelation, and Discursive Technologies in Two Female Gurus of Esoteric Vedanta,” University of Toronto
Wittich, Agi. 2021. “Her Yoga: Women-Oriented Iyengar Yoga: Between Innovation and Tradition,” Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Di Placido, Matteo. 2020. “Pedagogies of Salvation: Discipline, Practice, and the Shaping of the Self,” Sociology and Social Research, Universita Degli Studi Di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Graduate Students Advised – Qualifying Exam Committee Chair
Alexandr Zamuşinski (2022), Religious Studies, University of California-Riverside
Cristina Rosetti (2016), Religious Studies, University of California-Riverside
Jessica Rehman (2015), Religious Studies, University of California-Riverside
Shou Kuo (2014), Religious Studies, University of California-Riverside
Graduate Students Advised – Qualifying Exam Committee Member
Christopher Valencia (2022 - present), Department for the Study of Religion, UCR
Gurbeer Singh (2022), Religious Studies, UCR
Alina Pokhrel (2021), Religious Studies, UCR
Tessa Harmon (2021), Religious Studies, UCR
Tejpaul Bainiwal (2020), Religious Studies, UCR – reader
Steven Quach (2019), Religious Studies, UCR
Hassanah El-Yacoubi (2018), Religious Studies, UCR – reader
Owain Graham (2018), Ethnomusicology, UCR
Benjamin Blocksom (2018), Ethnomusicology, UCR
Chris Miller (2017), Religious Studies, University of California-Davis
Nathan Womack (2016), Religious Studies, UCR
Jen Aubrecht (2014), Dance, UCR
Jeremy Guida (2013), Religious Studies, UCR
Sean Sagan (2013), Religious Studies, UCR
SJ Crasnow (2013), Religious Studies, UCR
Daniel Pschaida (2012), Religious Studies, UCR
Daniel Suh (2012), Sociology, UCR
Graduate Students Advised – Master’s Exam Committee Member
Deoin Cleveland. (2024), Department for the Study of Religion, UCR
Christopher Valencia (2023), Department for the Study of Religion, UCR
J Selke (2022), Religious Studies, UCR
Anna Beck (2014), Religious Studies, UCR
Erin Routon (2013), Religious Studies, UCR
James Edmonds (2012), Religious Studies, UCR
Undergraduate Honors Students Theses Advised
Melani Fernandez (2023 - present), “Ex-offenders using education as a form of rehabilitation,”
Amrita Srivastava (2023 - present), “How do religious views compare to medical views during Covid-19 in India,” Psychology, UCR
Abhijit Rege (2022-2023), “The Power of Media: Examining the Impact of Indian Media Bias on Muslim Discrimination,” Mechanical Engineering, UCR
Chloe Rochmes (2020-2022), “The Impact of Covid-19 on Leo Baeck Temple,” Anthropology, UCR
Emma Sherwood (2017-2018), Religious Studies, UCR
Aubrey Francis (2011-2013), “Trends of Faith in Christian College Students,” Psychology, UCR
Undergraduate Student Language Exam Advisor and Proctor
Zara Raza (2019), Urdu Placement Exam, University of California-Irvine
Devansh Bhargava (2017), Hindi Placement Exam, UCR
Madiha Jamal (2016), Urdu Placement Exam, UCR
Mohammad Sameer Saddiqi (2014), Urdu Placement Exam, UCR
Saad Sidiqqui (2013), Urdu Placement Exam, UCR
Affaf Waseem (2013), Urdu Placement Exam, UCR
Aleena Khan (2012), Urdu Placement Exam, UCR
Service to Academic Fields:
Research Groups:
PI: Religion and Sexual Abuse Project (2019 – present)
Survivor-centered Approaches to Research in Religious Studies workshop, sponsored by the Religion and Sexual Abuse Project, UCR (March 2024)
Pedagogy Discussion Group: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian (August 2020)
Co-Director: Institute for the Study of Immigration and Religion (2012 – 2018)
Co-PI: Religion in Diaspora and Global Affairs, RIDAGA (2013 – 2015)
Contributor: Working Group, Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California (2012-2014)
Leadership in National Organizations:
American Academy of Religion:
Member: Yoga Theory and Practice Group Steering Committee (2016 – 2021)
Co-Chair: Hinduism Group (2014 – 2018)
Member: Hinduism Group Steering Committee (2011 – 2014)
Academic Journal Activity:
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Editorial Board (2018 – present)
Journal Reviews:
American Jewish History (2015)
Anthropology of Work (2024)
Asian Women (2011)
Critical Research on Religion (2018)
Fieldwork in Religion (2020)
History of Religions (2014, 2013)
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2019)
International Journal of Hindu Studies (2022, 2016, 2015, 2012)
International Social Sciences Journal (2010)
Journal of Asian and African Studies (2015)
Journal of Contemporary Religion (2021, 2022)
Journal of Dharma Studies (2019)
Journal of Hindu Studies (2022)
Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2018, 2017, 2015)
Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (2016)
Nova Religio (2020, 2019, 2018)
Race and Yoga Journal (2020, 2015)
Religion Compass (2023, 2020, 2015)
Religions (2021, 2018)
The Journal of Religion (2009)
Societies (2018)
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies (2021)
Granting Institutions Reviews:
Hellman Fellowship Selection Committee, UCR (2021 [Chair], 2020, 2019, 2018)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) (2021, 2017, 2015)
National Endowment of the Humanities – Documentary Film Development Projects (2015)
Book Manuscript Reviews:
Bloomsbury Academic Press (manuscript 2017)
Columbia University Press (manuscripts 2023, 2013, proposal 2022)
Lexington (manuscript 2022)
New York University Press (manuscript 2020)
Oxford University Press (manuscripts 2023, 2022, 2020, 2017, proposal 2022)
Palgrave MacMillan (manuscript 2015)
Routledge (manuscripts 2023, 2018, proposal + 3 chapters 2022, proposals 2022, 2021)
University of California Press (manuscripts 2023, 2014, proposal 2019)
University of Chicago Press (manuscript 2023)
Public Outreach:
Media:
Interviewed by Deborah Netburn of Los Angeles Times, “‘It’s a lot of UFO stuff and a lot of healing’: Inside L.A.’s wackiest spiritual convention,” https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2024-02-19/la-spiritual-convention-conscious-life-expo-aliens-chakra-energy-healing, published February 19, 2024.
Interviewed by Marina Nasi of ValigiaBlu, “Lo Scandalo Bivolaru e la questione degli abusi nel mondo dello yoga” [“The Bivolaru scandal and the issue of abuse in the world of yoga”],https://www.valigiablu.it/bivolaru-abusi-yoga/, published December 23, 2023.
Interviewed by Sushmita Pathak of The Juggernaut, “How Kailasa, A Fake Hindu Nation, Conned Millions,” https://www.thejuggernaut.com/sister-city-scam-fake-hindu-nation-kailasa-nithyananda, published March 20, 2023.
Interviewed by Sonia Paul of Vox on Sadhguru, “Sadhguru, the spiritual leader with ties to Will Smith and Modi, explained,” https://www.vox.com/23206916/sadhguru-explained-save-the-soil-modi, published July 18, 2022.
Consultant for docu-series on Nithyananda, Gunpowder and Sky Productions, 2022.
Interviewed by Michael J. Williams of The Press Enterprise on Aimee Semple McPherson, “Lake Elsinore: Preacher Found Celebrity Status with her Global Following,” http://www.pe.com/articles/mcpherson-775646-elsinore-lake.html, published July 31, 2015
Interviewed by Steven Wall of The Press Enterprise on declining numbers of American Christians, “Religion: Fewer Americans call themselves Christian,” http://www.pe.com/articles/christian-767089-people-percent.html?page=1, published May 12, 2015.
Interviewed by high school students from Rancho Verde High School on Swami Vivekananda, November 12, 2014.
Interviewed by Kirsten Anne Schmitt on Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma), for Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism publication, July 19, 2013
Interviewed by Ela Dutt on the Pew Forum report, “Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths,” for News India Times, August 28, 2012
Interviewed by David Olson of The Press Enterprise on the launching of the Institute for the Study of Immigration and Religion at University of California-Riverside, “UC Riverside: Institute focuses on immigrant religions,” http://www.pe.com/articles/institute-638543-immigrant-hughes.html, May 31, 2012
Interviewed by Adriana Janovich on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and global guru movements for USC’s student newspaper, Neon Tommy, April 18, 2012
Interviewed by Josh Jarman of The Columbus Dispatch on Karunamayi Ma’s visit to the Midwest, June 2007.
Higher Education:
Alumni Pedagogy Workshop: Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Chicago, April 2013
Chair/Judge: University of California-Riverside Undergraduate Research Symposium, 2014
Panelist: Hinduism and Buddhism, Student Forum, Austin College, 2011
Languages:
Hindi: advanced. Urdu: good. Sanskrit: reading. French: reading.
Technical:
Web-based teaching tools (Canvas/ilearn/Blackboard/Moodle), MS Office, Scrivener, Databases, Adobe, basic HTML/XHTML, Squarespace
Professional Memberships:
American Academy of Religion (AAR)
American Anthropological Association (AAA)
American Studies Association (ASA)
REFERENCES
Dr. Melissa Wilcox, Professor, University of California-Riverside, melissa.wilcox@ucr.edu
Dr. Wendy Doniger, Professor, The University of Chicago, don8@uchicago.edu
Dr. Hugh Urban, Professor, Ohio State University, urban.41@osu.edu
Dr. Deepak Sarma, Professor, Case Western University, deepak.sarma@case.edu