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Mark Elmore
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Assistant Professor, Religious Studies B.A., University of California at Santa Barbara Office: 916 Sproul Hall |
Current Projects
Elmore, Mark and Caleb Elfenbein. "Religion and Colonialism: Religion as a Primary Category of Analysis." Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2007. Under Review. Solicited).
Elmore, Mark. "Where’s My Murti?, or Locating Religion in an Old Imperial Capital." International Journal for Urban and Regional Research (2007. Under Review. Solicited).
Recent Publications
Elmore, Mark and Caleb Elfenbein, ed. Religion and Colonialism: A Reader. Series Edited by Russell T. McCutcheon, Critical Categories in the Study of Religion: Routledge USA; Equinox UK, 2007. Forthcoming.
Elmore, Mark and Caleb Elfenbein, ed. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (Special Issue: "Defining Religion in the Postcolony"), 2007. Forthcoming.
Elmore, Mark. "'God is a Beggar': Land Reform and the Production of Religion." Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (2007. Forthcoming).
Elmore, Mark. "Torino in the Himalayas: Ford’s Attempt to Package Village Religion for Asian Tourists." In Religion, Media, and Globalization, edited by Stewart Hoover, 2007. Forthcoming.
Elmore, Mark. "Definitional Transgression, or the Revenge of the Vernacular in Hindu Tantric Studies." Religion Compass 1, no. 1 (2007).
Elmore, Mark. "Theologies of Visibility and Evidentiary Authority in Eastern Himachal Pradesh." Contemporary South Asia 15, no. 1 (2006): 3-14.
Elmore, Mark. "Hindu Approaches to Death." In Death and Religion in a Changing World, edited by Kathleen-Garces Foley. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2005.
Elmore, Mark. "Stately (Dis)Placement: Narrative, Place, and Postcoloniality." epoché 25, no. 2 (2005): 139-65.
Elmore, Mark and Ira Chernus. "Toward a Nonviolence History of the Nuclear Age." In The Gandhis and the Kings: Retrieving and Renewing Nonviolence, edited by Simon Harak. Macon: Mercer University Press, 1999.
Elmore, Mark et al. "The Academic Study of Religion and Thestrip." Council of Societies for the Study of Religion Bulletin 27, no. 1 (1998): 7-9.
Elmore, Mark. "Mirages of the Mind: A Study of Academic Representations of Tantra." TheStrip: A Journal of Religion and Culture (1998).
Elmore, Mark. "Review of Guru English: South Asian Religion in a Cosmopolitan Language." Religion (2006).
Elmore, Mark. "Review of Hind Swaraj and Other Writings." Religious Studies Review 24, no. 2 (1998): 216.
Honors and Awards
- International Faculty Grant, University of North Florida 2006
- Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship in Media, Religion, and Culture, Lilly Endowment, University of Colorado School of Journalism 2004
- Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Predoctoral Fellowship 2004
- University of California President's Dissertation Year Fellowship 2003
- Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship 2002
- Muktabodha Indological Institute Fellowship 2002
- UCSB Prospectus Writing Fellowship 2002
- UCSB Humanities/Social Science Research Grant 2002
- UCSB Rowny Fellowship 2000-2002
- Wabash Grant, with Barbara Holdrege 2000
- UCSB Instructional Development Grant, with Barbara Holdrege 2000
- University of Colorado at Boulder, Excellence in Scholarship 1998
- University of Colorado Graduate Fellowship 1997-1998
- Graduate School Travel Grant recipient 1997-1998
Courses Taught
Theories and Methods in the Study of
Religion; South Asian Religions; Colonialism, Postcolonialism and
Religion
University of North Florida
2005-2006
Assistant Professor
Tantra, Sex, and Power; Asian Religions; Religion and Modernity; South Asian Religion
University of California at Santa Barbara
2001-2002
Teaching Assistant
Introduction to Asian Religions; Ancient Western Religions; Medieval Western Religions
University of Colorado at Boulder
1996-1997
Teaching Assistant
Introduction to Indian Religious Traditions; Life and Thought of Mahatma Gandhi; Tantric Traditions
Education
University of California at Santa Barbara, 2005
Ph.D, Religious Studies
Dissertation: States of Religion: Postcolonialism, Power, and the Formation of Himachal Pradesh
Doctoral exams: South Asian Religious Traditions (David White), Modern Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics (Tom Carlson), Postcolonialism and the History of Indian Visual Culture (Bhaskar Sarkar and Mary Hancock), Philosophy and Art of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism (Vesna Wallace)
University of Colorado at Boulder, 1998
M.A., Religious Studies, South Asia, Honors
University of California at Santa Barbara, 1995
B.A., Religious Studies, Environmental Studies, Geography, Deans Honors
Teaching Experience
New York University
2006-2007
Assistant Professor/ Faculty Fellow
Presentations
"Picturing Religion: Photography and the Production of Religion in Himachal Pradesh" Annual South Asian Conference, Madison, Wisconsin 2006
"'God is a Beggar': Land Policy and the Production of Religion." Re-Stating Religion Conference, Columbia University 2006
"Faithful Logics: Religious Modernization and the Problem of Animal Sacrifice." Conference on Religion and Media, Boulder, Colorado 2005
"Religion and Media in the Western Himalayas," An Invited lecture. Pre-conference Meeting of the American Academy of Religion 2004
"Religious Formations: Myths of Himachali Religious History and the Ascendancy of the Pahārī Subject," Annual South Asian Conference, Madison, Wisconsin 2004
"Envisioning Religion: Religion and Visual Culture in Himachal Pradesh," An invited lecture in Santa Barbara 2003
"Visual Culture in Himachal Pradesh,” Fulbright Conference in Orissa, India 2003
"DSCN Infinity: Visual Technologies and Field Work in India," A public lecture in Santa Barbara 2001
"The Future of the Academic Study of Religion," Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Orlando 1998
"Seduction and Sanitation: Hindu Tantra in American Academic and Popular Landscapes," Presented at the 27th Annual Conference on South Asia 1998
"Internet Technology and the Academy," A public lecture in Boulder, Colorado 1997
"Mystery and Machines: The History of the Study of Chinese Alchemy," Western Branch, Association of Asian Studies 1997
Fieldwork and Media Work
Dissertation Fieldwork
Himachal Pradesh, India 2002-2003
Funded by Fulbright-Hays and the
Muktabodha Indological Institute
Dissertation Fieldwork
Himachal Pradesh, India 2004
Funded by Interdisciplinary Humanities Center
Visual Ethnography
India and Nepal 2000-2001
Funded by Wabash Institute and University of California at Santa Barbara
Preliminary Dissertation Research and Language Training
India and Nepal 1999
Research on the Spread of Buddhism and Hinduism in South East Asia
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia 1999
Language Study and Site Selection
Thailand, Indonesia, India and Nepal, 1999
Film, Photography, Hypertext
Pratibimba: A documentary film about ritual sacrifice in Himachal Pradesh
2006-Present, Virtual Himachal: A Geo-referenced Database of Digital Resources for the Study of Religion in Himachal
2004-Present, Visual Anthropologist: Photographer and Videographer for the Center for the Analysis of Sacred Sites in South Asia 2000-2001
Web Master/Content Creation: Center for the Analysis of Sacred Sites in South Asia
1999-2000
Web Master/Editor: TheStrip, an experimental on-line academic journal of religion and culture
1997-1999
Research Interests
- Modern Hinduism
- Religion and Politics in South Asia
- Tantric Traditions
- Religion and Colonialism
- Theory and Method in the Study of Religion
- Visual Culture
Professional Activities
Founder and Co-Chair, Religion and Colonialism Consultation, American Academy of Religion
Collaborator with the Interdisciplinary Institute of Himalayan Studies
Languages
- Hindi: Reading, Writing, Speaking
- Sanskrit: Reading
- Pahari: Speaking
- Spanish: Reading, Writing, Speaking
- French: Reading
Professional Memberships
- American Academy of Religion
- American Anthropological Association
- American Historical Association
- Society for Visual Anthropology
- Society for Anthropology of Religion
- Institute of Integrated Himalayan Studies, a UGC Center of Excellence