Yoga in America: history, community formation, and consumerism

textThis dissertation explores the ways in which various Western yoga teachers have interpreted and presented yoga to an American audience, and how media outlets have represented those yoga practices to a broader American audience between the 1890s and the 2010s. In particular, the case studies illuminate the ways in which contemporary concerns have influenced how yoga teachers and media reports have framed and responded to yoga practices. In this dissertation, I present a series of Western yoga practitioners that embody the most interesting and distinctive representations of popular understanding of yoga for their individual historical moments. Though the chapters do not reflect a linear development, recurrent discourses concerning Orientalism, post- colonialism, race, gender, sexuality, and class in the United States re-emerge in each chapter as different yoga schools respond to local and global concerns. Through these different vignettes, a trajectory of American yoga as taught and practiced by Westerners in the United States historicizes yoga in ways that are often overlooked in favor of the “timelessness” of the practice.American Studie

W.B. Yeats\u27s Construction of India

William Butler Yeats’s literary career consists of varied passions and interests. He had a life-long interest in the occult mysticism of the East and the West, and Indian philosophy and spiritual tradition cover a considerable space in Yeats’s mysticism. From 1880s to the end of his life, Yeats cherished a profound interest in the spiritual India which was periodically reinforced by his encounters with three Indian personalities: Mohini Mohun Chatteijee in 1886, Rabindranath Tagore in 1912, and Shri Purohit Swami in 1931. Each of these three Indians left a profound impression on his mind and influenced him substantially. Yeats also wrote about them in memoirs, autobiographical reminiscences, and in a substantial number of letters. He also wrote introductions for Tagore’s Gitanjali (1912), Purohit Swami’s An Indian Monk (1932), and the latter’s translation of his Master, Bhagwan Shri Hamsa’s autobiography The Holy Mountain (1934). These introductory essays by Yeats as well as his autobiographical reflections, letters, and occasional poems like “Mohini Chatterjee” and “Meru” are significant documents that help us understand Yeats’s cultural-political construction of India. Yeats’s conception of India is complex and ambiguously nuanced. There are times when he conflates the Indian and Western mysticisms or spiritual traditions. At other times, he attempts to distinguish the “spiritual” Indian civilization from the materialist civilization of the West, and the philosophically syncretic Indian vision from the dualistic vision of Western thoughts. Although in these works he often seems to betray a deliberate or inadvertent complicity with the dominant Western discourses, Yeats’s construction of India also challenges and reverses the Orientalist binaries, and attempts to provide an alternative representation of the Orient

William Butler Yeats and Me

This thesis is a collection of poems/essay influenced by William Butler Yeat

The Collected Books of Richard Denner Volume 22

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New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism

This volume offers new approaches to some of the biggest persistent challenges in the study of esotericism and beyond. Commonly understood as a particularly “Western” undertaking consisting of religious, philosophical, and ritual traditions that go back to Mediterranean antiquity, this book argues for a global approach that significantly expands the scope of esotericism and highlights its relevance for broader theoretical and methodological debates in the humanities and social sciences. The contributors offer critical interventions on aspects related to colonialism, race, gender and sexuality, economy, and marginality. Equipped with a substantial introduction and conclusion, the book offers textbook-style discussions of the state of research and makes concrete proposals for how esotericism can be rethought through broader engagement with neighboring fields. Readership: All interested in the study of esotericism, ranging from established experts and teachers looking for textbook introductions to students aiming to familiarize themselves with current discussions within the field

New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism

This volume offers new approaches to some of the biggest persistent challenges in the study of esotericism and beyond. Commonly understood as a particularly “Western” undertaking consisting of religious, philosophical, and ritual traditions that go back to Mediterranean antiquity, this book argues for a global approach that significantly expands the scope of esotericism and highlights its relevance for broader theoretical and methodological debates in the humanities and social sciences. The contributors offer critical interventions on aspects related to colonialism, race, gender and sexuality, economy, and marginality. Equipped with a substantial introduction and conclusion, the book offers textbook-style discussions of the state of research and makes concrete proposals for how esotericism can be rethought through broader engagement with neighboring fields. Readership: All interested in the study of esotericism, ranging from established experts and teachers looking for textbook introductions to students aiming to familiarize themselves with current discussions within the field