calebsimmons

calebsimmons
calebsimmons@arizona.edu
Phone
520-626-8640
Office
The Refinery
Office Hours
Please email professor to schedule a meeting or refer to class syllabus.
Personal Site
Research and Publications
Simmons, Caleb
Executive Director
Dr. Caleb Simmons (Ph.D., University of Florida) is the Executive Director of Online Education overseeing Arizona Online, the University of Arizona's online campus with over 9,500 students. He is also Professor of Religious Studies and Faculty Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. He specializes in digital and online learning and religion in South Asia, especially Hinduism. He has recently been named a Center for University Education Scholarship (CUES) Distinguished Fellow for his research on online pedagogy. 
 
His Religious Studies research spans religion and state-formation in medieval and colonial India to contemporary transnational aspects of Hinduism. His book Devotional Sovereignty: Kingship and Religion in India (Oxford University Press, 2020), examines how the late early modern/early colonial court of Mysore reenvisioned notions of kingship, territory, and religion, especially its articulations through devotion. His second monograph, Singing the Goddess into Place: Locality, Myth, and Social Change in Chamundi of the Hill, a Kannada Folk Ballad (SUNY Press 2022), examines popular local folksongs that engage the mythology of Mysore's Chamundeshwari and her consort Nanjundeshwara to critique social inequalities. He also edited (with Moumita Sen and Hillary Rodrigues) and contributed to Nine Nights of the Goddess: The Navarātri Festival in South Asia (SUNY Press 2018) a collected volume that focuses on various aspects of the important festival of Navaratri. He also has publications and continuing research interests related to a broad range of contemporary topics, including ecological issues and sacred geography in India; South Asian diaspora communities; and material and popular cultures that arise as a result of globalization—especially South Asian religions as portrayed in comic books and graphic novels. He teaches courses on Hinduism, Indian religions, and method and theory of Religious Studies. He is a member of the Administrative Committee as well as the website/listserv manager for the American Academy of Religion South Asia Religions Unit and serves on the editorial board of Ethno-Indology: Heidelberg Studies in South Asian Rituals (Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing) . He formerly served as the Book Review editor for Religion (Routledge).
 

Recent Opinion Articles

 

Awards & Fellowships

University of Arizona Committee Service (current only)

 
Selected Publications

Books

Articles and Chapters

-----------translated into Kannada “Dēvate Vaiṣṇavadharma mata Prādēśika Oḍetana: Maisūru Oḍeyar Bhakti Parampareya Svarūpa-Rāja Oḍeyar (1583-1617) Kālāvadhiyalli Āda Badalāvaṇe” in Itihāsa Darpaṇa: A Peer Reviewed Journal of Historical Research in Kannada Vol. 28 (Winter 2016), pp. 43-62.

 

 

Currently Teaching

RELI 160A1 – Gods, Goddesses, and Demons: Divinity in South Asia

This course is an introduction to multiple concepts of the divine in South Asia. We will explore the different ways that the religious traditions of South Asia understand supernatural beings and forces. In order to do this we will read portions of primary texts in translation, examine iconography, and watch rituals as they unfold. In addition to learning about the South Asia traditions, we will put those conceptions of the divine in conversation with those rooted in a European context, forcing you to learn to think critically about the ways people from different cultures view the world around them.

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This course is an introduction to multiple concepts of the divine in South Asia. We will explore the different ways that the religious traditions of South Asia understand supernatural beings and forces. In order to do this we will read portions of primary texts in translation, examine iconography, and watch rituals as they unfold. In addition to learning about the South Asia traditions, we will put those conceptions of the divine in conversation with those rooted in a European context, forcing you to learn to think critically about the ways people from different cultures view the world around them.

View Section Details

This course is an introduction to multiple concepts of the divine in South Asia. We will explore the different ways that the religious traditions of South Asia understand supernatural beings and forces. In order to do this we will read portions of primary texts in translation, examine iconography, and watch rituals as they unfold. In addition to learning about the South Asia traditions, we will put those conceptions of the divine in conversation with those rooted in a European context, forcing you to learn to think critically about the ways people from different cultures view the world around them.

View Section Details

This course is an introduction to multiple concepts of the divine in South Asia. We will explore the different ways that the religious traditions of South Asia understand supernatural beings and forces. In order to do this we will read portions of primary texts in translation, examine iconography, and watch rituals as they unfold. In addition to learning about the South Asia traditions, we will put those conceptions of the divine in conversation with those rooted in a European context, forcing you to learn to think critically about the ways people from different cultures view the world around them.

View Section Details

This course is an introduction to multiple concepts of the divine in South Asia. We will explore the different ways that the religious traditions of South Asia understand supernatural beings and forces. In order to do this we will read portions of primary texts in translation, examine iconography, and watch rituals as they unfold. In addition to learning about the South Asia traditions, we will put those conceptions of the divine in conversation with those rooted in a European context, forcing you to learn to think critically about the ways people from different cultures view the world around them.

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RELI 350 – Hindu Mythology

Overview of the traditional Hindu narratives found in the Vedic, epic, and puranic literature. We will also examine Hindu myth in their many regional literary and artistic forms, and how these narratives influence culture, philosophy, literature, and folklore.

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Overview of the traditional Hindu narratives found in the Vedic, epic, and puranic literature. We will also examine Hindu myth in their many regional literary and artistic forms, and how these narratives influence culture, philosophy, literature, and folklore.

View Section Details

Overview of the traditional Hindu narratives found in the Vedic, epic, and puranic literature. We will also examine Hindu myth in their many regional literary and artistic forms, and how these narratives influence culture, philosophy, literature, and folklore.

View Section Details

Overview of the traditional Hindu narratives found in the Vedic, epic, and puranic literature. We will also examine Hindu myth in their many regional literary and artistic forms, and how these narratives influence culture, philosophy, literature, and folklore.

View Section Details

Overview of the traditional Hindu narratives found in the Vedic, epic, and puranic literature. We will also examine Hindu myth in their many regional literary and artistic forms, and how these narratives influence culture, philosophy, literature, and folklore.

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RELI 367 – Yoga

In this course we examine the philosophy, practice, historical roots, and development of yoga. Students are asked to use and reflect on the disciplinary perspectives of the historian to examine premodern primary texts (in English translation) that provide a window into the origins of yoga, as well as the perspectives of the anthropologist and cultural critic to examine contemporary yoga practices. Students will compare and contrast perspectives of Indian yogis and contemporary international yoga influencers in order to understand how the experience of yoga differs across time and culture and how social systems of power and inequality are both subverted and reinforced by yoga and its practitioners.

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In this course we examine the philosophy, practice, historical roots, and development of yoga. Students are asked to use and reflect on the disciplinary perspectives of the historian to examine premodern primary texts (in English translation) that provide a window into the origins of yoga, as well as the perspectives of the anthropologist and cultural critic to examine contemporary yoga practices. Students will compare and contrast perspectives of Indian yogis and contemporary international yoga influencers in order to understand how the experience of yoga differs across time and culture and how social systems of power and inequality are both subverted and reinforced by yoga and its practitioners.

View Section Details

In this course we examine the philosophy, practice, historical roots, and development of yoga. Students are asked to use and reflect on the disciplinary perspectives of the historian to examine premodern primary texts (in English translation) that provide a window into the origins of yoga, as well as the perspectives of the anthropologist and cultural critic to examine contemporary yoga practices. Students will compare and contrast perspectives of Indian yogis and contemporary international yoga influencers in order to understand how the experience of yoga differs across time and culture and how social systems of power and inequality are both subverted and reinforced by yoga and its practitioners.

View Section Details

In this course we examine the philosophy, practice, historical roots, and development of yoga. Students are asked to use and reflect on the disciplinary perspectives of the historian to examine premodern primary texts (in English translation) that provide a window into the origins of yoga, as well as the perspectives of the anthropologist and cultural critic to examine contemporary yoga practices. Students will compare and contrast perspectives of Indian yogis and contemporary international yoga influencers in order to understand how the experience of yoga differs across time and culture and how social systems of power and inequality are both subverted and reinforced by yoga and its practitioners.

View Section Details

In this course we examine the philosophy, practice, historical roots, and development of yoga. Students are asked to use and reflect on the disciplinary perspectives of the historian to examine premodern primary texts (in English translation) that provide a window into the origins of yoga, as well as the perspectives of the anthropologist and cultural critic to examine contemporary yoga practices. Students will compare and contrast perspectives of Indian yogis and contemporary international yoga influencers in order to understand how the experience of yoga differs across time and culture and how social systems of power and inequality are both subverted and reinforced by yoga and its practitioners.

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To view full listing of courses offered, please visit our Course Schedule.

Course Schedule