India Studies

India Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of India about their new books.

Robert M. Geraci, "Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S." (Oxford UP, 2021)

January 5, 2023

Futures of Artificial Intelligence

Robert M. Geraci
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Twenty-first century life is increasingly governed by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as machine learning, big data analysis, facial re…

Sandeep Banerjee, "Space, Utopia and Indian Decolonization: Literary Pre-Figurations of the Postcolony" (Routledge, 2021)

October 14, 2022

Space, Utopia and Indian Decolonization

Sandeep Banerjee
Hosted by Gargi Binju

Sandeep Banerjee's book Space, Utopia and Indian Decolonization: Literary Pre-Figurations of the Postcolony (Routledge, 2021) illuminates the spatial …

Neilesh Bose, "India After World History: Literature, Comparison, and Approaches to Globalization" (Leiden UP, 2022)

September 26, 2022

India After World History

Neilesh Bose
Hosted by Gargi Binju

In the twenty-first century, terms such as globalization, global, and world function as key words at the cusp of new frontiers in both historical writ…

Manuela Ciotti, "Retro-modern India: Forging the Low Caste Self" (Routledge, 2020)

September 16, 2022

Retro-modern India

Manuela Ciotti
Hosted by Kalyani Kalyani

Manuela Ciotti's Retro-modern India: Forging the Low Caste Self (Routledge, 2020) is interesting engagement with Chamar identity and understanding it …

Silvia Schwarz Linder, "Goddess Traditions in India: Theological Poems and Philosophical Tales in the Tripurarahasya" (Routledge, 2022)

September 8, 2022

Goddess Traditions in India

Silvia Schwarz Linder
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Silvia Schwarz Linder's Goddess Traditions in India: Theological Poems and Philosophical Tales in the Tripurarahasya (Routledge, 2022) is a study of t…

Koushiki Dasgupta, "Sadhus in Indian Politics: Dynamics of Hindutva" (Sage, 2021)

August 11, 2022

Sadhus in Indian Politics

Koushiki Dasgupta
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Koushiki Dasgupta's Sadhus in Indian Politics: Dynamics of Hindutva (Sage, 2021) maps the changing face of contemporary Hindu politics, evaluating the…

Suman Nath, "Democracy and Social Cleavage in India: Ethnography of Riots, Everyday Politics and Communalism in West Bengal (2012-2021)" (Routledge, 2022)

July 28, 2022

Democracy and Social Cleavage in India

Suman Nath
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Suman Nath's book Democracy and Social Cleavage in India: Ethnography of Riots, Everyday Politics and Communalism in West Bengal (2012-2021) (Routledg…

Sarah Lamb, "Being Single in India: Stories of Gender, Exclusion, and Possibility" (U California Press, 2022)

July 26, 2022

Being Single in India

Sarah Lamb
Hosted by Garima Jaju

Today, the majority of the world's population lives in a country with falling marriage rates, a phenomenon with profound impacts on women, gender, and…

Matthew Clark, "Botanical Ecstasies: Psychoactive Plant Formulas in India and Beyond" (Psychedelic Press, 2021)

July 7, 2022

Botanical Ecstasies

Matthew Clark
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In Botanical Ecstasies: Psychoactive Plant Formulas in India and Beyond, Dr Matthew Clark proposes that soma/hoama is instead an ayahuasca-like plant …

Raj Balkaran, "The Stories Behind the Poses: The Indian Mythology That Inspired 50 Yoga Postures" (Leaping Hare, 2022)

June 27, 2022

The Stories Behind the Poses

Raj Balkaran
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Raj Balkaran's 200th podcast episode: Christa Kuberry interviews him on his beautifully written new book The Stories Behind the Poses: The Indian Myth…

Peter Scharf, "Sabdanugamah: Indian Linguistic Studies in Honor of George Cardona; Volume 1: Vyakarana and Sabdabodha" (Sanskrit Library, 2021)

May 26, 2022

Sabdanugamah

Peter Scharf
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Sabdanugamah (Sanskrit Library, 2021) is the first of two volumes of studies in honor of Professor George Cardona, the preeminent authority on Paninia…

Aditya Pratap Deo, "Kings, Spirits and Memory in Central India: Enchanting the State" (Routledge, 2021)

May 3, 2022

Kings, Spirits and Memory in Central India

Aditya Pratap Deo

Part anthropological history and part memoir, this book is a study of the polity of the colonial-princely state of Kanker in central India. Aditya Pra…

Perry Myers, "Spiritual Empires in Europe and India: Cosmopolitan Religious Movements from 1875 to the Interwar Era" (Palgrave, 2021)

April 21, 2022

Spiritual Empires in Europe and India

Perry Myers
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Spiritual Empires in Europe and India: Cosmopolitan Religious Movements from 1875 to the Interwar Era (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021) provides a comparativ…

Patrick Olivelle, "Grhastha: The Householder in Ancient Indian Religious Culture" (Oxford UP, 2019)

April 14, 2022

Grhastha

Patrick Olivelle
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Today I talked to Patrick Olivelle about his book Grhastha: The Householder in Ancient Indian Religious Culture (Oxford UP, 2019). For scholars of an…

India’s Ukrainian Dilemma

April 11, 2022

India’s Ukrainian Dilemma

Ravinder Kaur, Henrik Chetan Aspengren and Sunniva Engh

The Russian war in Ukraine has placed India in a difficult situation: how to retain the historically good relationship with Russia, without jeopardizi…

Anita Lama, "Ethnic Inequality in the Northeastern Indian Borderlands" (Routledge, 2020)

April 4, 2022

Ethnic Inequality in the Northeastern Indian Borderlands

Anita Lama

Anita Lama's book Ethnic Inequality in the Northeastern Indian Borderlands (Routledge, 2020) analyses the relationship between symbolic violence, ineq…

Samuel Wright, "A Time of Novelty: Logic, Emotion, and Intellectual Life in Early Modern India, 1500-1700 C.E." (Oxford UP, 2021)

March 17, 2022

A Time of Novelty

Samuel Wright
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Samuel Wright's A Time of Novelty: Logic, Emotion, and Intellectual Life in Early Modern India, 1500-1700 C.E. (Oxford UP, 2021) argues that a philoso…

Arup K. Chatterjee, "Indians in London: From the Birth of the East India Company to Independent India" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

March 10, 2022

Indians in London

Arup K. Chatterjee
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

London has always been a galvanizing factor for the South Asian community—whether due to the machinations of empire, the drive for higher education, o…

Nupurnima Yadav, "Astrology in India: A Sociological Inquiry" (Taylor & Francis, 2021)

March 8, 2022

Astrology in India

Nupurnima Yadav

Astrology in India: A Sociological Inquiry (Taylor & Francis, 2021) critically examines the larger world of astrology in India, its ubiquity and relat…

Jarrod Whitaker, "Strong Arms and Drinking Strength: Masculinity, Violence, and the Body in Ancient India" (Oxford UP, 2011)

February 17, 2022

Strong Arms and Drinking Strength

Jarrod Whitaker
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Today I talked to Jarrod Whitaker about his book Strong Arms and Drinking Strength: Masculinity, Violence, and the Body in Ancient India (Oxford UP, 2…