The Yoga Tradition in South Asia and Beyond

This course surveys the history of yoga practice and thought from the earliest textual discussions of yoga until the present day. We investigate the development of the bodily and spiritual disciplines that come to be associated with yoga, in their social and political contexts. During the semester we also trace the expansion and transformation of yoga through its interaction with Buddhist and Muslim religious cultures. We examine orientalist representations of yoga, as well as the influence of colonialism and modern physical cultures on the evolution of modern yoga. The course concludes by looking at modern debates around questions such as “Is Yoga a religion?” and \ud “Is Yoga Hindu?” Topics examined include the body, cosmology, cross-cultural interactions, colonialism and orientalism