grafika

Dr. James Madaio


AREAS OF INTEREST

  • Indian philosophical traditions, particularly Advaita Vedānta
  • Indic theories of self, pedagogy, and hermeneutics
  • Cross-cultural philosophy, pluralism, and dialogue
  • Transnational South Asian traditions and the Global Occult
 
EDUCATION
 
2016. Ph.D.: University of Manchester, Religions and Theology Department
2006. M.A. University of Philosophical Research, Consciousness Studies Department
2002. B.A.  University of Maryland, Philosophy Department
2002. B.A. University of Maryland, History Department 
 
ACADEMIC CAREER AND AFFILIATIONS
 
Current
  • 2016-currently Research Fellow, Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences
  • 2015-currently Fellow, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, University of Oxford
  • 2023-currently Adjunct Faculty, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Consciousness Studies Programme

Previous 

  • 2017. Shivdasani Visiting Fellow (Hilary Term), Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, University of Oxford
  • 2015-2016. Post-doctoral Fellow, New Europe College, Bucharest 
  • 2012. Affiliated Research Scholar, Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Chennai, India
  • 2006-2009. Research Associate, Center for Heritage Resource Studies, University of Maryland
  • 2002-2006. Research Assistant, Center for International Development and Conflict Management, University of Maryland

EDITORSHIPS

  • 2018-currently  Editor (Indic traditions), Bloomsbury Introductions to World Philosophies (book series), Bloomsbury Academic
  • 2017-currently  Editor, Journal of Hindu Studies, Oxford University Press

PUBLICATIONS   

Monograph

  • Advaita Vedānta and the Story of Liberation: Vidyāraṇya’s Narrative Philosophy. Forthcoming (under contract with Oxford University Press).

Edited Volumes

  • The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Non-duality in Indian Thought. Co-edited with Jonathan Duquette              (Cambridge University). Forthcoming (under contract with Bloomsbury Academic). 
  • Provincializing Pluralism: Difference and Diversity in South Asian Traditions. Co-edited with Brian Black (Lancaster  University). Forthcoming  (under contract with Bloomsbury Academic).

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • ‘The Narrative Shape of Orthopraxy: Storytelling, dharma, and the path to liberation in Advaita Vedānta’.              The Journal of Hindu Studies (2021), 14.3, pp. 326–377. doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiab029
  • ‘The Instability of non-dual knowing: Post-gnosis sādhana in Vidyāraṇya’s Advaita Vedānta’. Journal of Dharma     Studies (2018) 1.1, pp. 11-30. doi.org/10.1007/s42240-018-0005-5
  •  ‘Rethinking Neo-Vedānta: Swami Vivekananda and the Selective Historiography of Advaita Vedānta’. Religions       (2017) 8.6, pp. 1-12. doi.org/10.3390/rel8060101

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

  • ‘Neglected Advaitas: The Genealogy of Swami Vivekananda’s Cosmopolitan Theology’ chapter 11 in Vivekananda: His Life, Legacy and Liberative Ethics, ed. Rita Sherma (New York: Lexington Books: 2021), pp.175-192.
  • ‘Transparent smoke in the pure sky of consciousness: emotions and liberation-while-living in the Jīvanmuktiviveka’ Chapter 7 in The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Emotions in Classical Indian Philosophy, eds. Maria Heim, Roy Tzohar, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad (London: Bloomsbury, 2021), pp.153-172.
  • ‘The Instability of non-dual knowing: post-gnosis sādhana in Vidyāraṇya’s Advaita Vedānta’. Chapter 8 in              Contemplative Studies in Hinduism: Meditation, Reflection, Ritual and Prayer, eds. Purushottama Bilimoria and Rita Sherma (New York: Routledge: 2020), pp. 99-122.
  • ‘Transformative dialogue in the Yogavāsiṣṭha’. Chapter 6 in In Dialogue with Classical Indian Traditions: Encounter,  Transformation, and Interpretation, eds. Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad and Brian Black (London: Routledge, 2019), 107-129.

Other Publications

  • ‘Liberation and Hindu Studies’. The Journal of Hindu Studies (2019) 12.1, pp. 1–11 doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiz006         Introduction to guest-edited, themed issue.
  •  ‘Vernacular Hinduisms: Texts, Traditions, and Transformations’ (co-authored with James Bradbury). The Journal of  Hindu Studies (2020) 13.2, pp. 91-100. doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiaa014 Introduction to guest-edited, special issue.
  • ‘The Shinto Tradition’. Chapter 11 in The Spiritual Heritage of the Human Race: An Introduction to the World’s           Religions (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2010), pp. 239-259.
  •  ‘The Zoroastrian Tradition’. Chapter 5 in The Spiritual Heritage of the Human Race: An Introduction to the World’s   Religions (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2010), pp. 123-139.
  •  ‘The Religious Traditions of Ancient Greece’. Chapter 4 in The Spiritual Heritage of the Human Race: An     Introduction to the World’s Religions (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2010), pp. 94-121. Book Reviews

Book Reviews

  •  Engaged Emancipation: Mind, Morals, and Make-Believe in the Mokṣopāya (Yogavāsiṣṭha), eds., Christopher Key     Chapple and Arindam Chakrabarti. Journal of South Asian Studies (2016) 32.2, pp. 199-202.                                     doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2016.1172816 
  •  Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader, ed. Deepak Sarma. Contemporary South Asia (2014) 22.1, p. 110.                    doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2014.880239
  •  Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue: Self and No-Self, eds. Jonardon Ganeri, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, and   Irina Kuznetsovaet. Journal of Hindu Studies (2013) 6.3, pp. 391-393.                                           doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hit034

GRANTS AND RESEARCH PROJECTS

  • Czech Science Foundation (GAČR): Multiyear research grant for project entitled ‘The transnational entanglements of global Hinduism’ (Grant #21-31380S).
  • Strategy AV21: 2002 grant to host colleagues from India working on Indian philosophy and to pursue institutional partnerships with Indian institutions.
  • Strategy AV21: 2020 grant to organize an international workshop in Prague on the theme of ‘Pluralism and Plurality in Contemporary and Classical Indian Traditions’.
  • Strategy AV21: 2019 to organize an international workshop in Prague on the theme of ‘Subjectivity and its Modes of Expression in Indic traditions’.
  • Israel – Czech Republic Cooperative Initiative: 2018 grant for working trip to Israel.

TEACHING

  • 2019. Lecturer, Ancient and Classical Indian Religious Traditions, Department of Asian Studies, Charles University
  • 2013. Co-Lecturer, Indian Philosophy, University of Manchester 
  • 2012. Graduate Teaching Assistant, Religion in Modern South Asian History, University of Manchester
  • 2005-2007. Co-Lecturer, World Religions, Honors Department, University of Maryland 

CONFERENCE AND PANEL ORGANISATION

  • Organizer of six-paper panel ‘The Plurality of Non-Duality: Theological, Contemplative, and Ethical Approaches to Identity and Non-Difference’. Dharma Academy of North America panel at the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Denver, Colorado, United States 19-22 November 2022.
  • Organizer of International Seminar Series on Pluralism in South Asia. Papers distributed before each one-hour seminar session (via Zoom). February-July 2021.
  • Organizer of International conference: ‘Pluralism and Plurality in Contemporary and Classical Indian Traditions’. Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic (via Zoom).18-19 September 2020.
  • Organizer of five-paper panel ‘Subjectivity, Feelings and Emotions in Classical Indian Religions’. Dharma Academy of North America panel at the American Academy of Religion (AAR). San Diego, California, U.S. 22 November 2019.
  • Organizer of International Conference: ‘Subjectivity and its Modes of Expression in Indic traditions’. Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic. 9-10 May 2019. 

SERVICE AND ESTEEM INDICATORS 

  • Editorial Board, Journal of Dharma Studies, Springer Publishing. 2022-currently.
  • Council of the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (elected member), 2002-currently.
  • Editorial Board, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Mandala Publishing Series, Mandala Publishing (Simon & Schuster). 2022-currently.
  • Academic Steering Committee, Dharma Academy of North America, 2017-currently.
  • Hiring Committees, Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 2018, 2021, 2022.
  • Curriculum Development Board, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford. Recruitment, planning, and academic review of continuing education courses. 2020-2021.

SELECT CONFERENCE PAPERS AND INVITED LECTURES

  • The techné of attention: reality and transformative technique in medieval Advaita Vedānta’. Spiritual exercises, self-transformation and liberation. Karlstad University, Karlstad Sweden. May 22-24 2023.
  • ‘Consciousness only’ as discipline and disposition. Dharma Academy of North America panel, American Academy of Religion (AAR). Denver, Colorado, United States. 19-22 November 2022.
  • ‘Plurality and the Other in Ramchandra Gandhi’s Hermeneutics of Being’. Comparative and Continental Philosophy Circle. Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia. 12-14 May 2022.
  • ‘Oneself camouflaged as the Other: Ramchandra Gandhi on Communication and Self-imaging Play’. Alienation, Independence and Liberation in Contemporary Indian Philosophy. Universität Tübingen. Tübingen, Germany. 13 December 2021.
  • ‘A hermeneutics of happiness in medieval Advaita Vedānta’. Dharma Academy of North America panel, American Academy of Religion (AAR). San Diego, California, United States. 22 November 2019.
  • ‘Smoke in the pure sky of consciousness: emotions and liberation-while-living in the Jīvanmuktiviveka’. Emotions in Classical Indian Thought. Amherst College, Massachusetts, United States. 22 September 2018.
  • ‘The Narrative Shape of Orthopraxy: Advaita Vedāntin renunciates at the Early Vijayanagara Kingdom’. The 17th World Sanskrit Conference (International Association for Sanskrit Studies). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. 13 July 2018.
  • ‘A classical Indian conception of conditioned persona in relation to dialogical self theory: Situating a multiplicity of I-positions within a non-dual therapeutic paradigm’.  The 10th International Conference on the Dialogical Self. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. 15 June 2018.
  • ‘Embodied Conditioning and Dialogical Subjectivity: A Constructive Reading of Latent Tendencies as a Multiplicity of I-positions’.  The 50th Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Conference. Pedagogical University of Cracow, Kraków, Poland. 10 June 2018.  
  • ‘Questioning oneself through another: Investigative reasoning in the pedagogical dialogues of the Yogavāsiṣṭha’. The 14th Biennial Conference of Asian Studies in Israel. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus Campus, Jerusalem, Israel. 24 May 2018. 
  • ‘Outer and Inner dialogues as transformative disciplines in the Yogavāsiṣṭha’. The Dialogical Indian: Encounters in Premodern Sources. University of Lancaster, Lancaster, United Kingdom. 5-7 July 2017. 
  • ‘Gnosis as Samādhi? Vidyāraṇya’s integration of yogic praxis with Advaita Vedāntic Gnoseology’. Yoga Darśana, Yoga Sādhana: International Academic Conference. Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. 20 May 2016. 
  • ‘Making the Implicit, Explicit: Emplotment as Saṃsāra and Soteriological Method in Advaita Vedānta’. Lectures of the Shivdasani Visiting Fellow, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. 2 May 2016.
  • Narratives selves and embodied conditioning: Advaitin techniques for waking up within the saṃsāric story’. Lectures of the Shivdasani Visiting Fellow, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. 2 March 2017.  
  • ‘Scriptural Hermeneutics and Narrative Examples in Advaita Vedānta: The Reading of Stories to Determine dharma’. 41st Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions. St. Michael’s College, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. 16 April 2016. 
  • ‘The saṃnyāsin’s path to liberation: sādhana in medieval Advaita Vedānta’. Dharma Academy of North America panel, American Academy of Religion (AAR). Atlanta, Georgia, United States. 20 November 2015. 
  • ‘The Contested Category of “Neo-Vedānta”: Swami Vivekananda and the Multivocality of Pre-Colonial Advaita Vedāntic Traditions’. Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. 16 May, 2014. 
  • ‘Retrieving Medieval Voices: Swami Vivekananda and the problematic alterity of “Neo-Vedānta”’. Dharma Academy of North America panel, American Academy of Religion (AAR). Baltimore, Maryland, United States. 22 November 2013. 
  • ‘Advaita Vedānta at the Threshold of the Modern Period: Vidyāraṇya and the framing of soteriology’. 30th Annual Sanskrit Traditions in the Modern World (STIMW) conference. University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom. 31 May 2013. 
  • ‘Transcending karma: Embodiment and liberation in the Jīvanmuktiviveka’. International Conference of the Society for Indian Philosophy and Religion. Kolkata, India. 3 January 2013.
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