Professor (em.) Dr Katherine Young

PhD (McGill University 1978; history of religions; thesis: “Beloved Places (ukantāruḷiṉa- nilaṅkaḷ): The Correlation of Topography and Theology in the Śrīvaiṣṇava Tradition of South India”);  Special Student (Harvard University; Center for the Study of World Religions, 1973-1974; Sanskrit; Indian Philosophy); MA (University of Chicago 1970; history of religions; Hinduism); College Year in India Program (University of Wisconsin 1965-1966; Osmania University); BA (University of Vermont 1966; philosophy and religion). Academic positions: McGill University (Montreal Canada); lecturer to full professor (1972-2011); James McGill Professor 2001-2015; now Professor Emeritus and Associate Fellow, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria (Victoria, Canada).  Research areas: besides topics in Hinduism and Comparative Studies, the history of Śrīvaiṣṇavism with special reference to the interaction of religious, spatial and social histories.  Recent book project: 1) Turbulent Transformations: Non-Brahmin Śrīvaiṣṇavas on Religion, Caste and Politics in Tamil Nadu (forthcoming Orient Blackswan 2020).  2) Nāthamuni’s Divya-prabandham and Tangled Tales: A New Approach to Śrīvaiṣṇava History (manuscript complete).  Current project: “Forging, Sustaining and Contesting Śrīvaiṣṇava Identities:  The Role of Musical Tropes with Special Reference to Tiruppāṇ Āḻvār.”

Selected publications

• Forthcoming. Katherine K. Young, “Who is the Āḻvārs’ Supreme God?”
• 2014. “Śrīvaiṣṇava Topoi: Constructing a South Indian Sect through Place,” Mapping the Chronology of Bhakti: Milestones, Stepping Stones, and Stumbling Stones. ed. Valerie Gillet. Publications de Ecole francaise d’Extreme Orient
• 2009. “Fate Hangs on a Particle: The Hermeneutics of Bhagavadgītā 9:32”. Journal of Hinduism (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
• 2002. “Oṃ, the Vedas, and the Status of Women with Special Reference to Śrīvaiṣṇavism.” Jewels of Authority: Women and Textual Tradition in Hindu India. Ed. Laurie L. Patton. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 84-121
• 2006. “Brāhmaṇas, Pāñcarātrins, and the Formation of Śrīvaiṣṇavism.” Studies in Hinduism, Vol. 4. Ed. Marion Rastelli. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Science Press. 197-261
• 1995. “Theology Does Help Women's Liberation: Śrīvaiṣṇavism, a Case Study,” Journal of Vaiṣṇava Studies4 (Fall): 173-198
• 1994. With Alaka Hejib. “Etymology as a Bridge Between Text and Sectarian Context: A Case Study of Parāśarabhaṭṭar's Commentary on Śrīviṣṇusahasranāma.” Hermeneutical Paths to the Sacred Worlds of India. Ed. Katherine K. Young. Atlanta: Scholar's Press. 222-230
• 1993. “The Meeting of Two Great Traditions: Migration into Tamil Nadu (500-900 C.E.).” Ethnicity, Identity, Migration: The South Asian Context. Eds. Milton Israel and N.K. Wagle. University of Toronto: Centre for South Asian Studies. 87-104
• 1983. “Dying for bhukti and mukti: The Śrīvaiṣṇava Theology of Liberation as a Triumph Over Death.” Studies in Religion (Sciences Religieuses)4 (Fall): 389-96.