Dr Maya Warrier BA, MA, MPhil (Delhi), PhD (Cambridge)

Contact Details

School of Theology, Religious Studies and Islamic Studies
Tel: 01570 424913 (4913)
E-mail: m.warrier@trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk

Location

Sheikh Khalifa Building

Campus

Lampeter Campus

Job Title

Associate Professor in Religious Studies

Role in the University

lecturer and tutor at undergraduate and postgraduate levels
researcher
research supervisor
senior tutor in the School
programme coordinator, MA pathway, Indian Religions

Member of

British Association for the Study of Religion
European Association for the Study of Religion
British Association for South Asian Studies
European Association for Modern South Asian Studies
International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine
The Higher Education Academy’s Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies

Academic Interests

Areas of teaching and research interest

Multiculturalism and the construction of Hindu identities in India and overseas;
Alternative spiritualities, holistic health and South Asian healing traditions in the West;
Public representations of Hinduism; Hinduism in the mass media;
Modern Hindu guru organisations in transnational context; Popular Hinduism – ritual, belief and practice

Areas of Research

Religious Studies
Hinduism

Publications

Books

(forthcoming) Public Hinduisms. (Selected papers from AHRC-funded network project of the same title). Co-edited with John Zavos, Deepa Reddy et al. London: Sage.
2008. Theology and Religious Studies: Exploring Disciplinary Boundaries (co-edited with Simon Oliver) London: T&T Clark
2005. Hindu Selves in the Modern World: Guru Faith in The Mata Amritanandamayi Mission. South Asian Religion Series. London and New York: Routledge-Curzon (also published in Delhi, India by Foundation Books via Routledge).

Articles

Forthcoming (invited / accepted for publication):

‘The Yogas of Bhakti and Karma in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission’ in Mark Singleton and Ellen Goldberg (eds) Gurus of Modern Yoga.
‘Engaging the Practitioner: Boundary Politics in the Academic Study of Hinduism’ in Zavos, John et al. (eds) Public Hinduisms. (Selected papers from AHRC-funded network project of the same title) London: Sage.
‘Making Hinduism Respectable: ISKCON and Religious Education in Britain’ in Zavos, John et al. (eds) Public Hinduisms. (Selected papers from AHRC-funded network project of the same title) London: Sage.
‘The Professionalisation of Ayurveda in Britain: The Twin Imperatives of Biomedicalisation and Spiritualisation’ in Sax, William et al. (eds) Asymmetrical Translations: Mind and Body in European and Indian Medicine

Published:

2011. ‘Revisiting the Easternisation Thesis: The Spiritualisation of Ayurveda in Modern Britain’ in Paul Heelas ed. ‘Autonomous’ Spiritualities beyond Religious Tradition (Volume III of Spiritualities in the Modern World: Within Religious Tradition and Beyond; ‘Critical Concepts in Religious Studies’ Series), London and New York: Routledge, pp 299-319.
2011. ‘Modern Ayurveda in Transnational Context’, Religion Compass 5, 3: 80-93
2010. ‘The Temple Bull Controversy at Skanda Vale and the Construction of Hindu Identity in Britain’ International Journal of Hindu Studies 13, 3: 261- 278 (guest editors John Zavos and Deepa Reddy)
2009. ‘Seekership, Spirituality and Self-discovery: Ayurveda Students in Britain’. Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity 4: 423-451
2008. ‘The Disciplines and Their Boundaries: An Introduction’ in Warrier, M. and Oliver, S. (eds) Theology and Religious Studies: Exploring Disciplinary Boundaries London: T&T Clark
2007. “Hindu Diaspora” in Mittal, Sushil and Thursby, Gene (eds) Studying Hinduism: Key Concepts and Methods. London and New York: Routledge
2007. ‘Indian Bodies, Human and Divine, in Western Representations of the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries’ Trivium. 37: 139-59
2006. “Modernity and its imbalances: Constructing modern selfhood in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission”. Religion. 36: 179-195
2005. “Jesus Goes to Delhi” in Barker, Gregory (ed) Jesus in the World’s Faiths. New York: Orbis
2003. “The Seva Ethic and the Spirit of Institution Building in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission” in Antony Copley (ed.) Hinduism in Public and Private. Delhi: Oxford University Press
2003. “Guru Choice and Spiritual Seeking in Contemporary India”. International Journal of Hindu Studies. 7, 1-3: 31-54
2003. “Processes of Secularisation in Contemporary India: Guru Faith in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission”. Modern Asian Studies. 37(1): 213-253

Other publications

2006. A Guide to Hinduism. ‘Faith Guides for Higher Education’ series. Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies, University of Leeds
2005. “Hinduism: A Historical Overview”, “Hinduism: Worship and Festivals”, and “Hinduism: Family and Society” in Partridge C. (ed) The World’s Religions: A Lion Handbook. Oxford: Lion Hudson
2004. “Mata Amritanandamayi Mission” in Partridge, C. (ed.) Encyclopedia of New Religions. Oxford: Lion Publishing
2004. ‘Devotion to a Goddess in Contemporary India’. Occasional paper, Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre

Additional Information

Current Research

I am currently examining the ways in which practitioners of Ayurveda (an ancient Indian medical tradition) in Britain mediate (a) between South Asian and British cultural contexts, and (b) between Britain’s informal holistic health networks and the formal apparatus of the state, in their efforts to systematize and popularize this tradition in the UK. This research will contribute to scholarship on (a) Eastern health traditions in the West, and (b) the impact of statutory regulation of Britain’s holistic health professions. The results of this research will appear in the form of articles as well as a monograph. The fieldwork for this project was funded by a Wellcome Trust History of Medicine Project Grant (2005-10).

External roles (current):

2009-10: Steering Group Member, AHRC-funded ‘Religion and Society’ network project on the “Public Representations of a Religion Called Hinduism’

www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/hinduism/

2008-11: Associate Editor, International Journal for Hindu Studies (Springer)

www.springer.com/humanities/religious+studies/journal/11407

2008-11: Section Editor, Indian Religions, Religion Compass (Wiley-Blackwell)

www.blackwell-compass.com/subject/religion/

Recent invited lectures and seminars:

‘The Professionalisation of Ayurveda in Britain: The Twin Imperatives of Biomedicalisation and Spiritualisation’; Body, Health and Religion Research Network, University of Cardiff (May 2010)
‘Engaging the Practitioner: Boundary Politics in the Academic Study of Hinduism’. International conference on ‘Hindu organisations in Education, Health and Development Work’, Indic Studies Project, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, India -- part of AHRC-funded network project on ‘Public Representations of a Religion called Hinduism (March 2010).

‘Krishna Consciousness, Hinduism and Religious Education in Britain’. Seminar on ‘Modern Gurus, Sampradayas and Media Hinduism’, University of Manchester -- part of AHRC-funded network project on ‘Public Representations of a Religion called Hinduism (July 2009).

‘Bovine slaughter, media representations, and the construction of Hindu identity in Britain’. Majewski Lecture, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (February 2009)
‘The Temple Bull Controversy at Skanda Vale: Media Representations and the Construction of Hindu Identity’. 20^th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, University of Manchester (July 2008)
‘The Spiritualisation of Ayurveda in Britain’. Research Seminar Series. Department of Religious Studies, University of Lancaster (March 2008)
‘Representations of Ayurveda in Britain: The Politics of ‘Authenticity’ and Legitimacy’. 33rd Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions, University of Oxford (March 2008)