IAHR-WSN

This network has been founded in 2006 by IAHR Past President Rosalind I. J. Hackett and former IAHR Executive Committee member Morny Joy to provide a forum for women in Religious Studies throughout the world to be in contact with one another.

Women Scholars Network

Steering Committee

Amy L. AlloccoAmy L. Allocco, PhD

Elon University (Assistant Professor and Distinguished Emerging Scholar in Religious Studies and Faculty Director, The Global Neighborhood)
2340 Campus Box
Elon University
Elon, NC 27244

E-mail: aallocco@elon.edu

Websites

Areas of Specialization

  • Hindu traditions
  • Religion in Tamil Nadu
  • Hindu Goddesses
  • Women and Religion
  • Ethnography and Performance Studies
  • Ritual Theory 

Areas of Interest

  • South Asian Religions
  • History and Approaches to the Study of Religion
  • Contemporary Islam, Gender, and Muslim Women's Practices
  • Asian Healing Practices and Traditions
  • Possession and the Body
  • Death and Death Rituals 

Major Relevant Publications

  • Snake Goddesses and Anthills: Modern Challenges and Women's Ritual Responses in Contemporary South India (monograph in progress)
  • Ritual Innovation in South Asian Religions (co-edited volume with Brian K. Pennington)
  • Guest Editor for a special issue of Nidan: An International Journal for the Study of Hinduism (with James Ponniah, University of Madras, India): "'It's the End of the World as We Know It': Contemporary Understandings of the Kali Yuga." (5 articles plus Introduction – 120 pages)
  • "The Blemish of 'Modern Times': Snakes, Planets, and the Kaliyugam." Nidan: An International Journal for the Study of Hinduism 26.1: 1-21.
    "Fear, Reverence and Ambivalence: Divine Snakes in Contemporary South India." Religions of South Asia 7.1: 230-248.
  • "From Survival to Respect: The Narrative Performances and Ritual Authority of a Female Hindu Healer."  Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 29.1: 101–117. (winner of the Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza New Scholar Award)
  •  "Cacophony or Coherence: Ethnographic Writing and Competing Claims to Ritual and Textual Authority."  Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 21: 3-14.
  • "Snakes in the Dark Age: Human Action, Karmic Retribution, and the Possibilities for Hindu Animal Ethics," in Asian Perspectives on Animal Ethics: Rethinking the Nonhuman, eds. Neil Dalal and Chlöe Taylor (New York: Routledge, pp. 179-201).
  • "Fear, Reverence and Ambivalence: Divine Snakes in Contemporary South India" in
    Charming Beauties and Frightful Beasts: Non-Human Animals in South Asian Myth,
    Ritual and Folklore, eds. Fabrizio M. Ferrari and Thomas Dähnhardt (Sheffield, UK:
    Equinox Publishing, pp. 217-235).
  • "Snake Goddess Traditions in Tamilnadu," in Contemporary Hinduism, ed. P. Pratap
  • Kumar (Durham, UK: Acumen, pp. 191–203). 

Other Information of Interest

  • Chair, International Connections Committee, American Academy of Religion
  • Arts & Humanities Selection Committee, American Association of University Women (AAUW) International Fellowship Competition
  • Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza New Scholar Award, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
  • The Excellence in Teaching Award, Elon University College of Arts and Sciences