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Diplomas / Degrees

Ph.D., Columbia University (2001)
A.B., Harvard University (1988)

Recent Courses

Cultural Anthropology
Culture And Health
Culture And Religion Of India
Culture And Society
Independent Study Youth In Japan
S/T: Caring For The Mind
S/T: Ethnographic Exploration Of Asia
S/T: Anthropological Fieldwork Capstone

Teaching Specializations / Interests

cultural anthropology, anthropology of religion, psychological anthropology, anthropological theory, fieldwork methods, ethnographic survey of Asia, South Asia (India) histories and cultures, introduction to Asian American history; transnationalism and globalisation issues

Research Interests

Rethinking categories of religion and secularism; Hindu devotional movements; Indian subcontinent; postcolonial Gujarat history and culture; gender, feminist ideologies, and non-liberal traditions; religious subjectivities; embodiment and sensory anthropology; semiotic theory

Grants / Sponsored Research

Adelphi University Faculty Development Grant, 2009-2010, for aural and visual explorations of "Hinduism" and "religion" in newly constructed Swaminarayan temples.

Book Chapters

Kim, H. (2009). A Fine Balance: Standardisation and Accommodation in the Swaminarayan Sanstha. In A. Mukadam, S. Mawani (Eds.). Reflections on Global Gujaratis. (pp. forthcoming). Leiden: Brill.

Kim, H. (2009). The Swaminarayan Movement and Religious Subjectivity. In E. Simpson, A. Kapadia (Eds.). The Idea of Gujarat: History, Ethnography and Text. (pp. forthcoming). Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan Pvt. Ltd.

Kim, H. (2008). Managing Deterritorialisation, Sustaining Belief: the Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha as Ethnographic Case Study and Theoretical Foil. In A. Geertz, M. Warburg, D. Christensen (Eds.). New Religions and Globalization: Empirical, Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives. (pp. 225-242). Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.

Kim, H. (2007). 'Edifice Complex': Swaminarayan Bodies and Buildings in the Diaspora. In A. Mukadam, S. Mawani (Eds.). Gujaratis in the West: Evolving Identities in Contemporary Society. (pp. 59-78). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Kim, H. (2005). Swaminarayan Movement. In L. Jones (Eds.). The Encylopedia of Religion. (pp. 8889-8893). Farmington Hills: Gale/Macmillan Reference.

Recent Articles

Kim, H. (2009, 12). Public Engagement and Private Desires: BAPS Swaminarayan Temples and their Contributions to the Discourses on Religion. International Journal of Hindu Studies, forthcoming

Invited Presentations and Lectures

Kim, H. (15 May 2008). Contemporary Gujarat from an Ethnographic Perspective: Swaminarayan Bhakti and Some Considerations for Unpacking Assumptions about Religion and Religious Subjectivity. School of Oriental and African Studies, London, U.K.

Kim, H. (18 November 2006). Transforming Talk: Swaminarayan Women and the Cultivation of the Ideal Devotee. New York University

Kim, H. (03 October 2003). The Study of Religion, the Obvious and the Sensible: Some Reflections on Being Pious, Modern and Swaminarayan. Columbia University

Kim, H (12 July 2001). Situating Swaminarayan Bhakti: the Space of Colonial Discourse. University of Bombay

Conference Presentations and Papers

Showing first 5 of 22. View All

Kim, H. (28 March 2010). Consuming Akshardham: Reflections on Architecture, Themed Spaces, and the Cultivation of BAPS Swaminarayan Devotional Practices. Association for Asian Studies, Philadelphia, PA

Kim, H. (02 December 2009). Coming to Terms with 'Religion': Examining the Shared Space of Global Hindus and Critical Anthropologists. American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Kim, H. (20 November 2009). Remaking Space: BAPS Swaminarayan Virtual Geography and its Transnational Implications. The Public Representation of a Religion called Hinduism: Hindu Trans-nationalism: Organizations, Ideologies, Networks, Houston, Texas

H. Kim (27 March 2009). Irreducible Histories: The Problem of "Secular-Belief" and Some Possibilities for a New Sociality in India. Society for Anthropology of Religion, Asilomar, California

Kim, H. (24 March 2009). The BAPS Swaminarayan Temple Organisation and its Publics. International Conference on the Public Representation of a Religion called Hinduism: Umbrella Organisations and Ecumenical Hinduism, Crawfordsville, Indiana

Other Scholarly / Artistic Work

Book Manuscript:
"Transcending Secularism: The Swaminarayan Sanstha and the Making of a Global Religion," 2010.

Panels Organised:
Association for Asian Studies
(25-28 March 2010, Philadelphia, PA)
Global Hinduism and Material Expressions of Belonging

Society for Anthropology of Religion (27 March 2009, Asilomar, CA)
Provincialising Secularism: Aporias, Ambiguities, and Beyond

American Anthropological Association (22 Nov 2008, San Francisco, CA)
Tricky Positions or Unnatural Relations?: Probing the Limits of Anthropological Collaboration with Non-Liberal or Non-Western Religious Traditions

Book Reviews:
"In the Presence of Sai Baba, by Smriti Srinivas," in Contemporary South Asia, vol. 17, nr. 4, 2009.

"An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism, by Raymond B. Williams," in Journal of Religion, vol. 82, no. 2 p.332-334, 2002.

Professional Activities

Member, American Academy of Religion
Member, American Anthropological Association
Member, Association for Asian Studies
Member, European Association for South Asian Studies
Member, Gujarat Studies Association
Member, Society for Anthropology of Religion