Dr Sowparnika Balaswaminathan, PhD
- Assistant Professor, Religions and Cultures
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Sign in to editResearch areas: Heritage & Museums, Art & Craft, Anthropology of Religion, South Asia, Caste, Postcoloniality, Ethics, Aesthetics, Labour, Gender & Sexuality
Contact information
Teaching activities
Courses
Undergraduate
RELI 344 Hindu Myths & Narrative Winter, 2022
RELI 347 Religion & the Arts in south & Southeast Asia Winter, 2022
Graduate
RELI 6007 Religion, Politics, and Heritage Fall, 2021
Pedagogy Workshops & Training
2019 NEH Seminar for College and University Teachers on “Museums: Humanities in the Public sphere,” Georgetown University & University of California, Santa Cruz. Instructors: Karen Bassi & Gretchen Henderson.
2018 NEH Seminar for College and University Teachers on “The Bhagavad Gita: Ancient Poem. Modern Readers,” Yale University, New Haven. Instructor: Richard Davis.
2017 NEH Institute for College and University Faculty on “Rome and Migration,” University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Instructors: Michael Mass, Richard Talbert, & others.
2016 Summer Graduate Teaching Scholars Program, UC San Diego.
2016 Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning &Center for Engaged Teaching Summer Graduate Teaching Scholars Program.
2015 Nancy Sommers workshop on evaluating student writing.
2009 Making of the Modern World (UC San Diego) Pedagogy Seminar.
Publications
Journal Articles
Balaswaminathan, Sowparnika. 2020. “The Outsider.” Anthropology and Humanism 45(1):92-99.Balaswaminathan, Sowparnika. 2019. "The Real Thing: Craft, Caste, and Commerce in Late Capitalist India." Journal of Modern Craft 11(2):127-141.
Balaswaminathan, Sowparnika. 2016. "Icons & Identities: Tradition in the Work & Life of Swamimalai Bronzecasters in Tamilnadu." Marg 63(3): 10-23.
Book Chapters
Balaswaminathan, Sowparnika. 2022. “The Knez Collection: Negotiating the Personal and Political through the Material.” Eds. Jennifer Shannon and Joshua Bell. Putting Theory and Things Together: Working With Museum Collections, Smithsonian Institution. Forthcoming.Balaswaminathan, Sowparnika & Thomas Levy. 2018. “Consuming Indian-ness: Capitalism, Handicrafts and Nationhood in India.” Eds. Lorraine Lim and Hye-Kyung Lee. Handbook on Cultural and Creative Industries in Asia, pp.349-361, Routledge, London & New York.
Book Reviews
Balaswaminathan, Sowparnika. 2021.“Book Review of Across Anthropology: Troubling Colonial Legacies, Museums, and the Curatorial.” Museum Anthropology. EarlyView. http://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12239Others
Balaswaminathan, Sowparnika. 2017 “Recasting Museums as Infrastructure: Explorations in a World Café.” Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage – Reflections Blog.
http://www.carmah.berlin/reflections/recasting-museums-as-infrastructure-explorations/