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JUNE McDANIELProfessor Dept. of Religious Studies office: 4 Glebe St., Room 101 |
SyllabiRELS 105 (Intro to World Religions)
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June McDaniel is a Professor of Religious Studies at the College. Her Ph.D. is in the History of Religions from the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, specializing in South Asian devotional religions; her Master of Theological Studies is from Candler Seminary at Emory University, where she focused on Christianity and Psychology of Religion; her BA is from SUNY Albany in Studio Art. Dr. McDaniel specializes in the study of religious experience, especially in the Hindu tradition. Her research focuses upon mysticism, Hindu bhakti and tantra, women’s religious rituals, and the study of holy people. She has spent two years doing fieldwork in India, most recently from 1993-1994 on a Fulbright Senior Scholar grant, and earlier on a grant from the American Insitute of Indian Studies, from 1983-1984. She has also done research in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sikkim.
"I work in the field of the History of Religions, in which we study the history and development of religious ideas, and how religious experiences are understood and interpreted in different cultures. In teaching, I believe that it is important for students to learn both the range of religions--which means gaining wide knowledge of many religious traditions, both present and past--and also to develop depth within a specific tradition, to gain expertise and insight into its religious perspectives. While such skills as critical thinking and analytic ability are important, I also emphasize developing empathy towards other cultures, and the ability to look at events through other religious perspectives. A good researcher can be both insider and outsider in the religion of his or her expertise, and be capable of comparing religious themes and ideas across both classical and folk traditions.
"The courses I teach include World Religions, Women and Religion, Mysticism and Religious Experience, Religions of India, Sacred Texts of the East, Phenomenology of Religion, and Myth, Ritual and Symbol."
Selected Publications
Books:
Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Making Virtuous Daughters and Wives: An Introduction to Women's Brata Rituals in Bengali Folk Religion, Albany: SUNY Press, 2003.
The Madness of the Saints: Ecstatic Religion in Bengal. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Articles:
"Does Tantric Ritual Empower Women?" in Women's Lives, Women's Rituals in the Hindu Tradition, ed. by Tracy Pintchman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
"Experience" in Studying Hinduism: Key Concepts and Methods, ed. by Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby. New York: Routledge, 2007.
"On the Path of Holy Women" in Elixir Sufi Order International, #2, Spring 2006.
"Folk Vaishnavism and the Thakur Pancayat: Life and Status among Village Krishna Statues" in Alternative Krishnas: Regional and Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity, ed. Guy Beck. Albany:SUNY Press, 2005.
"Fusion of the Soul: Jayashri Ma and the Primoridal Mother" in The Graceful Guru: Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States, ed. Karen Pechelis. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
"Emotion in Bengali Religious Thought: Substance and Metaphor" in Religion and Emotion: Approaches and Interpretations ed. John Corrigan. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
"Fieldwork in Indian Religion: Some Notes on Experience and Ethics" in Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, vol. 13 (2001), 78-81.
"O Tushu Ma: Self-Expression, Oral History and Social Commentary for the Jharkhand Goddess" in the International Journal of Hindu Studies, (March 2002).
"The Tantric Radha: Some Controversies About the Nature of Radha in Bengali Vaishnavism and the Radha Tantra," The Journal of Vaisnava Studies, Vol. 8.2 (Spring, 2000).
"Interview with a Tantric Kali Priest: Feeding Skulls in the Town of Sacrifice" in Tantra in Practice, ed. David White. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
"Blue Lotuses Everywhere: Divine Love in Gaudiya Vaisnava and Catholic Mysticism" in Journal of Vaisnava Studies, vol. 5.1, (Winter, 1997).
"Emotion in Bengali Religious Thought: Substance and Metaphor" in Emotions in Asian Thought: A Dialogue in Comparative Philosophy, ed. Joel Marks and Roger T. Ames. Albany: SUNY Press, 1995.
"A Holy Woman of Calcutta: Sri Archanapuri Ma" in Religions of India in Practice, ed. Donald Lopez. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.
"Mysticism, Madness and Ecstasy in the Gaudiya Tradition" in Vaisnavism: Contemporary Scholars Discuss the Gaudiya Tradition, ed. Steve Rosen. New York: Folk Books, 1992.
"The Embodiment of God Among the Bauls of Bengal" in the Journal of Feminist Studes in Religion, Fall, 1992.