Religion and Ecology in Western India

FAIN: RZ-51356-11

Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ 85281-3670)
Anne Feldhaus (Project Director: November 2010 to May 2018)

Research in India on places that are both religiously significant and environmentally sensitive, culminating in a book, at least one scholarly article, a website, and a panel at a scholarly conference. (36 months)

We propose a study of places in India that are both religiously important and environmentally sensitive. Our project addresses a vitally important need to integrate the study of ritual, devotion, aesthetics, and the religious imagination with an understanding of the economic, social, and political relations that form the context within which the rituals are performed, the devotion is experienced, and the religious imagination thrives. When -- as is so often the case, both in India and in other parts of the world -- the religious emotions and ideas are directed toward and set within a natural environment that is also the focus of strong economic, social, and political interests, there is an equally vital need to understand how the various interests, emotions, and ideas can be adjudicated within the structures of a secular democracy.