South Asia

United States of America

Retired professor

Formerly of California State University, Chico
Department of Comparative Religion and Humanities
corh@csuchico.edu

sarahleec18@gmail.com

Unknown

530-898-5661 (Departmental office, may have contact information)

https://independent.academia.edu/SarahCaldwell

India

My primary research has been on the mudiyettu ritual theater of central
Kerala. My theoretical interests include psychology and religion; the
relationship of trauma to spirit possession; worship of goddesses and
gender socialization; and the religious aspects of performance. I am also
interested more generally in the anthropology of South Asia and the
anthropology of religion. Current research topics include: gendered
nature of initiation rituals in cross-cultural perspective;
charismatic Hindu and Buddhist teachers and sexual abuse of disciples.

Author of:
Oh terrifying mother : sexuality, violence, and worship of the goddess Kā̄ḷi. New Delhi ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.

Kali : slayer of illusion. San Rafael, CA : Mandala Pub., 2003.

"Margins at the Center: Tracing Kali through Time, Space, and Culture." In: Encountering Kālī ; in the margins, at the center, in the West. Edited by Rachel Fell McDermott and Jeffrey J. Kripal. Berkeley : University of California Press, c2003.

"Kali and Kuli : female masquerades in Kerala ritual dance," in: Masked ritual and performance in South India : dance, healing, and possession. Edited by David Schulman and Deborah Thiagarajan. Michigan: Centers for South and Southeast Asian Studies, Univiversity of Michigan, 2006.

Producer and director of film:
"Ball of fire : the angry goddess." Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning, c1999. [Edited by Sarah Caldwell and Laji Mattungal.]

Hinduism; South Asian Women; psychology; psychoanalysis; spirit possession; gender; performance;