Dr. Meera Jo Kachroo will present her research lecture, "Publicity, Secrecy and Esotericism in the Contemporary Tantric Maṇḍalī" as part of her week as a short-term visiting scholar this semester.
Throughout its history, the rituals of the Śrīvidyā tradition have been called rahasya (“secret”) and its teachings a gupta vidyā (“hidden knowledge”). In striking contrast to these intimations of secrecy, its insignia and mantras are now widely publicized and promoted across south India. This talk explores the apparent contradictions of an esoteric tradition in its encounters with modern life: publicity, publication, and shifting publics. Based on four years of fieldwork among tantric societies of south India, Dr. Kachroo has observed that specific (and usually implicit) negotiations have determined the social and intellectual boundaries of these contemporary tantric societies, under the influence of influential gurus who have controlled access to texts and ritual initiations. The twinned practices of privacy and publication—a kind of brokerage and exchange of information across social boundaries—enacts a process of public esotericism.
Meera Jo Kachroo (PhD, McGill University) is a Post-Doctoral Fellow affiliated with the Canadian Centre for Rural and Agricultural Health and the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology in the College of Medicine, and is an Adjunct Professor in the department of Religion and Culture at St Thomas More College, both at the University of Saskatchewan. Meera is an experienced ethnographer, whose doctoral research brought focus to contemporary south Indian Śrīvidyā ritual communities. Her current research includes medical anthropology and intervention studies, co-created by on-reserve members of several Treaty 6 First Nations in Canada. Meera’s research interests include esotericism, meditation and yoga, interculturality and Indigenous ceremony and spirituality.
This event is free and open to the public.
The Humanities Institute and its related centers host a wide range of events, from intense discussions of works in progress to cutting-edge presentations from world-known scholars, artists, activists and everything in between.
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