The Department of Sociology invites you to a talk titled ‘Authority, Secrecy, Empathy: Researching Siddha Medicine in the Domain of Hindu Guru Organization’ by Dr. Nina Rageth, Department of the Study of Religion at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Scheduled on 11 November 2021 at 6:45 PM, the talk is part of the Sociology Seminar Series.
Abstract
In my Ph.D. I explored Hindu guru organizations in present-day South India through the lens of their Siddha medical practices. I particularly examined how guru organizations gain credibility, recognition, and symbolic capital because of their participation in the Siddha medical domain and how they reinterpret and alter the broader Siddha tradition. In this talk, I will tackle methodological issues which had far-reaching consequences for my research project. On one hand, I will engage with the notion from feminist anthropology of situated knowledge and will discuss my own social location as a researcher in the field of Hindu guru organizations. On the other hand, I will talk about field-specific challenges and will particularly look at power dynamics and limitations in an organizational context with strong hierarchies.
About the Speaker
Dr. Nina Rageth is a senior research and teaching assistant at the Department of the Study of Religion at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. She studied in Zurich and London (SOAS University of London and Goldsmiths University) and spent time in India for fieldwork and language training. She wrote her Ph.D. on the intersection of Hindu guru organizations and Siddha medicine in present-day South India. Previously she has worked on Auroville, a new religious movement in South India. Her research interests include religion and medicine, discourses and practices related to spirituality, new religious movements, qualitative methods, and ethical concerns in qualitative research.