Ph.D., Boston University, MA
About
George Pati, Ph.D., joined Valparaiso University in 2006 after earning a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and South Asian Languages and Cultures (focusing on the anthropology of religion, comparative religions, Hindu devotional traditions of India, and Malayalam literature) through the interdisciplinary University Professors Program at Boston University in Boston, MA (with coursework from Boston College, Harvard University, and Boston University). His commitment to teaching excellence earned him numerous awards, including the Valparaiso University Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016-2017.
His research and teaching interests include the anthropology of South Asian religions and cultures; ethnography; Hindu devotional traditions (bhakti); rituals and performances; religion and the body; popular languages and cultures; Malayalam and Sanskrit literary traditions; history and culture of Kerala; Indian Christianity; Chinese and Japanese religions and cultures. His research languages are Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, and Hindi, and he has studied several others.
He is the author of Religious Devotion and the Poetics of Reform: Love and Liberation in Malayalam Poetry (2019), Transformational Embodiment in Asian Religions: Spatial Bodies, Subtle Bodies (2020, with Katherine C. Zubko), The Routledge Handbook of Religion and the Body (2023, with Yudit K. Greenberg), and several scholarly articles, chapters, and encyclopedic and bibliographic entries. His current book project explores Ritualizing Devotion in South India. He has also curated an exhibition titled Sacred Spaces and Objects at the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University, Indiana.
He currently serves as President of the Association for Asian Studies—Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, Chair of the Arts, Literature, and Religion Unit of the American Academy of Religion, and Book Series Editor for the Springer Nature/Palgrave Macmillan series on Arts, Literature, and Religions. He has also served as the Chair of the Body and Religion Unit of the American Academy of Religion and sat on the Board of Directors of Opportunity Enterprises, a nonprofit that serves people with disabilities in the community.
SELECT COURSES
- Anthropology of the Body
- Sacred Geographies: Space, Place, and Religion
- Disability, Society and Culture
- Bollywood Movies: Religion, Popular Culture, and Society
- Narratives of Love in South Asian Literature
- Hinduism: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lives
- South Asian Rituals and Performances
- Chinese and Japanese Religions and Cultures
- Global Christianities/ Asian Christianities
- Religion and Society
- Theories and Methods in Religious Studies
- Research and Writing Seminar
- South Asian Languages: Sanskrit, Malayalam, and Hindi (Various levels)
MEMBERSHIPS
- Association for Asian Studies
- American Academy of Religion
- European Academy of Religion
- European Association for South Asian Studies
- International Association for the History of Religions
- Society for Hindu-Christian Studies
- Kerala Council for Historical Research (Life Member)
