Shubha Pathak Associate Professor Philosophy and Religion
- Degrees
- AB (religion), Princeton University
PhD (social and behavioral sciences), The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
AM (divinity), PhD (history of religions), The University of Chicago Divinity School - Bio
- Shubha Pathak is a historian of religions who interprets epic myths from Greece, India, and Rome. In addition to teaching courses on intersections of religion, philosophy, and politics in classical and postclassical contexts, she researches epics in their original and later literary forms to illuminate their paradigmatic pantheons and their authors’ creative understandings of their places in their universes. Her monograph, (Center for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University, 2014), shows how divinity-favored and -favoring bardic kings in the primary Greek and Sanskrit epics articulate and address their respective audiences' existential needs. Her edited volume, (State University of New York Press, 2013), demonstrates the methodological advances made by applying metaphor and metonymy theories in comparative religious studies. Her articles have appeared in such journals as , the , and .
- See Also
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Teaching
Spring 2024
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PHIL-496 Selected Topics:Non-Recurring: Pol Aesthtcs: Myth/Mnmt/Monies
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RELG-145 Religion without Borders
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RELG-245 Stories of South Asia
Fall 2024
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CORE-105 Complex Problems Seminar: Epic Love, Lust and Loss
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PHIL-496 Selected Topics:Non-Recurring: Myths/Philosophies of Love/Sex
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RELG-396 Selected Topics:Non-Recurring: Mod Amer Myth: Edith Hamilton
Partnerships & Affiliations
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Member, Steering Committee, Ѳٲ and Classical Hinduism Seminar; Past Chair (with Professor Patton Burchett, College of William & Mary, as Chair), Hinduism Unit -
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Past Chair, Committee on Public Information and Media Relations, Communications and Outreach Division; Past Member, Committee on the Classical Tradition and Reception, Outreach Division -
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Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities
Research Interests
The philosophical, psychological, and religious aspects of epic poetry and literarycreativity; political aesthetics; political theologies; comparative philosophy and comparative religion;literary criticism; and contemporary psychological theories.
Grants and Sponsored Research
2016–17 College of Arts and Sciences Mellon Faculty Development Fund Grant, American University.
2010–11 Faculty Research Award, Office of Academic Affairs, American University.
2008–9 College of Arts and Sciences Mellon Faculty Development Fund Grant, American University.
Selected Publications
Books
- Washington: Center for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University; Cambridge: distributed by Harvard University Press, 2014.
- (edited volume). Albany: State University of New York Press, 2013.
Articles
- International Journal of Hindu Studies 27, no. 2 (2023): 173–212.
- In “Transdisciplinary Approaches to the 鲹̄̄ⲹ̣ and Ѳ̄̄ٲ,” edited by Laxshmi Rose Greaves and Simon Brodbeck, special issue, Religions of South Asia 16, nos. 2–3 (December 2022): 137–57.
- Philosophy of Religion: big question philosophy for scholars and students (Web log). March 15, 2016.
- Classics@ 12 (2015).
- International Journal of Hindu Studies 10, no. 2 (2006): 127–49.
Chapter
- In Visions and Revisions in Sanskrit Narrative: Studies in the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas, edited by Raj Balkaran and McComas Taylor, 291–313. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2023.