Workshops
Hindu Art and Iconography
Presenter: Andy Housiaux
This seminar will analyze images of Hindu gods and goddesses to illuminate
fundamental ideas in Hinduism. These include the tension between monotheism
and polytheism, the identities of various Gods, and the “language” of South Asian art
and sculpture, especially as it connects to hand gestures and physical postures. We
will also make some brief comparisons to Buddhist art. There will be opportunity
for questions and discussion. This workshop assumes no prior knowledge or
study of Hinduism. Andy Housiaux taught Philosophy and Religious Studies at
Phillips Andover from 2007-2011, where he taught courses on Asian Religions and
Nonviolence and helped lead a student trip to India. He was educated at Columbia
University and Harvard Divinity School and currently works at Columbia.
(This workshop will run both in the morning AND afternoon slots)
Being Muslim in India
Presenter: Professor Ali Asani
India is home to one of the largest concentrations of Muslims in the world. Indian Muslims are remarkably diverse in not only the ways they interpret Islam but also in the cultural, socio-economic and political contexts in which they live. This workshop, lead by Harvard Professor Ali Asani, will explore this diversity by examining the historical interaction of two major strands, one assimilative, the other separatist, that have influenced experiences of being Muslim in the subcontinent. Dr. Asani is Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard and is the Director of the Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program. He has taught at Harvard since 1983, offering instruction in a variety of languages such as Urdu/Hindi, Sindhi, Gujarati and Swahili as well as courses on various aspects of the Islamic tradition. He is particularly interested in the comparative study of Islam and Muslim societies in local contexts, particularly in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the United States, with an emphasis on artistic and literary expressions of Muslim devotional life.
(This workshop will run ONLY in the morning slot)
Teaching About Religions in India: Beyond 330 Million Gods, Five Pillars, and Four Noble Truths
Presenter: Diane L. Moore
The topic of religion poses special challenges and opportunities for educators and both are especially pronounced in the context of teaching about India. In this workshop participants will be introduced to a cultural studies method for teaching and learning about religion that challenges conventional assumptions and provides educators with tools and resources to adopt for use in their own classroom contexts. Participants will receive copies of the “American Academy of Religion Guidelines for Teaching About Religion in K-12 Schools” and resources for use in history, English, and religious studies classes that address India.
Diane L. Moore is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at the Harvard Divinity School and the Director of the Religious Literacy Project. She is also Chair of the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA where she teaches a full range of courses, including those focused on India. She chaired the American Academy of Religion Task Force that produced the Guidelines for Teaching About Religion for educators and is the author of Overcoming Religious Illiteracy: A Cultural Studies Method for Teaching About Religion in Secondary Schools.
(This workshop will run both in the morning AND afternoon slots)
Mother Ganges: The Sacred and the Secular
Presenter: Liz Howald
This interactive workshop will examine the role of the Ganges River in modern India, with particular emphasison its dual and sometimes conflicting sacred and secular uses. Participants will participate in primary source-based activities that will deepen their understanding of the world’s holiest river and the people who depend on it.
Liz Howald is Program Director at Primary Source, a Boston-based organization that offers a rich variety of professional development programs for K-12 educators with the aim of connecting teachers to people and cultures around the world through learning opportunities in the content areas of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States.
(This workshop will run both in the morning AND afternoon slots)