The graduate study of Asian Religions at UU直播 encompasses the study of religions originating in Asia throughout history and across the globe. Faculty and graduate students in the School of Religious Studies often focus on the study of Hinduism in South Asia as well as in North America, and the study of Buddhism in South Asia, Tibet, China, and Japan, and as a contemporary transnational set of traditions.
Faculty
Mika毛l Bauer, Associate Professor of Japanese Religions (Buddhism)
Lara E. Braitstein,听Associate Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism
Rongdao Lai,听Assistant Professor of Chinese Religions (Buddhism), joint appointment with the Department of East Asian Studies
Andrea Farran, Associate Professor of South Asian Religions
Arvind Sharma,听Birks Professor in Comparative Religion
Hamsa Stainton,听Associate Professor of South Asian Religions (Hinduism)
Graduate Students
Ph.D.
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Sujata Chaudhary听(Ph.D. 2017鈥�)听B.A in Applied Psychology from the University of Delhi, India (2008). M.A in Social Anthropology from Indira Gandhi National Open University, India (2011). M.Phil. in Sociology from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India (2013). Sujata鈥檚 Ph.D. research at UU直播 focuses on analyzing the role of Indian judiciary and bureaucracy in regulating religious matters. Using legal judgments and archival documents as a primary source of analysis, she looks at varied forms of religion-state relations in different parts of India.听听听听 |
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Alex Grabiner听(Ph.D. 2018鈥�), B.A. New York University (2016), M.A. Yale University (听2020) |
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Chulthim Gurung (2019鈥�)听is a Ph.D. student at UU直播鈥檚 School of Religious Studies, and ABD position in (2024). His thesis focuses on Tibetan Abhidharma Psychology. He earned his B.A. in Buddhist Studies from Vikrama Shila Buddhist Institute in 2000 and M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of British Columbia in 2019. Between 2002 and 2015, Mriti served as a research assistant, teacher, Buddhist interpreter, and secretary at different Buddhist monastic institutes in Nepal and India. |
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Adrien Moevus听(Ph.D. 2019鈥�) B.A. UU直播 (2017),听M.A. in Religious Studies from UU直播 (2020). Research Interests:Indian Buddhism; Tibetan Buddhism; Sanskrit; Classical Tibetan; Mah膩mudr膩 |
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Matilda Perks听(Ph.D. 2019鈥�) B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science (2006), M.A. in Religious Studies from UU直播 (2020). Matilda studies the history of Buddhist modernism(s) and Tibetan Buddhism outside of Tibet with a focus on the life and works of Tibetan lama, Ch枚gyam Trungpa (1940鈥�1987), and the development of the Vajradhatu community. |
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Helena Reddington (Ph.D. 2014鈥�)听Wilfred Cantwell Smith Fellowship (2014鈥�2017). Broadly speaking, her research focuses on religion, vernacular literature, and the history of performing arts traditions from Kerala, South India. Her doctoral research explores the Tu岣丰阜al genre, combining textual analysis on the literary tradition as well as fieldwork on the living performance heritage. Her research contributes to the existing scholarship on regional identity and the emergence of vernacular literature in South Asia by examining the Tu岣丰阜al genre as an important factor in the development of the Malayalam language. |
| 听 | Tahereh Tavakkoli (Ph.D. 2020鈥�) M.A. in Religious Studies, UU直播 (2021) |
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Anna Lee White听(Ph.D. 2018鈥�). Graduate Option in Gender and Women's Studies. Wilfred Cantwell Smith Fellowship (2018鈥�2022). Graduate Excellence Fellowship (2018鈥�2022). B.A. in Anthropology and South Asian Studies from Mount Holyoke College (2015). M.A. in History of Religions from the University of Chicago Divinity School (2018). Anna Lee studies the history of听bhakti听(devotional)听literature written in Hindi and Sanskrit from early modern North India and focuses on the development of the Ramanandi community.听 |
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Recently Completed Supervisory Projects
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy
| Darry Dinnell, (2020) Thesis Title:听Upwardly mobile M膩t膩s: The transformation听of Village Goddesses in Gujarat, India, Supervisors: Lara Braitstein and Davesh Soneji |