South Asian Religions Distinguished Lectureship
South Asian Religions Distinguished Lectureship
The School of Religious Studies invites you to this year’s South Asian Religions Distinguished Lectureship, given by Prof. Joyce Flueckiger from Emory University. The lecture is open to public.
Lecture:
From Protectors to Protected: Transformations of Space and Goddesses in South India
Speaker:
Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger
Professor Emerit, Department of Religion
Emory University
When:
March 25, 2025, 3:30-6:00PM
Birks Building Chapel
Abstract:
This talk analyzes the agency of materiality—and its limits—through an ethnographic study of architecturally transformed goddess shrines in urban South India. As the shrines of village goddesses (gramadevatas) are being transformed, so too are the identities, theologies, and rituals of the goddesses. Goddesses who used to live in the open and protect village boundaries and water sources are now surrounded by urban landscapes and are architecturally enclosed by walls and roofs. The goddesses are gradually transforming from powerful, yet accessible, independent protectors who like to wander to stabilized goddesses who need architectural and (male) societal protection. However, there are examples of goddesses who exert their own agency of resistance to being bound by walls. The talk will also highlight methodologies for the study of materiality.