Alexander Henn
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SHPRS 975 S. Myrtle Ave P.O. Box 874302 TEMPE, AZ 85287-4302
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Mail code: 4302Campus: Tempe
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Alexander Henn is a professor of religious studies in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. Prior to coming to ASU in 2005, he was an assistant professor of anthropology at Heidelberg University (1989-2000), an adjunct professor of anthropology at Heidelberg University's South Asia Institute (2000-2005). He also served as a visiting professor at Delhi University and Goa University in India.
He has received fellowships and grants from German Research Council (DFG), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), University Grants Commission Delhi (UGC), German Volkswagen Foundation, Cluster of Excellence Heidelberg University ‘Asia and Europe in a Global Context’, and Kaete Hamburger Kolleg Bochum University 'Dynamics in the History of Religions Asia and Europe'.
- MA, Ruprechts Karl University Heidelberg, Germany
- Ph.D. Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
- Habilitation, Ruprechts Karl University Heidelberg, Germany
cultural anthropology, anthropology of religion, ritual studies, ethnography, history, India, Goa, Portugal, Europe, colonialism and post-colonialism, Indo-European encounter, early modernity, Jesuits, Hinduism and Catholicism, cultural ontology, history and theory of 'religion'.
Books
- Alexander Henn. Hindu-Catholic Encounters in Goa. Religion, Colonialism and Modernity. University of Indiana Press (2014).
- Alexander Henn and Klaus Peter Koepping (eds). Rituals In an Unstable World: Contingency, Hybridity, Embodiment. Peter Lang (2008).
- Alexander Henn. Wachheit der Wesen. Politik, Ritual und Kunst der Akkulturation in Goa. LIT (2003).
- Alexander Henn. Reisen in Vergangene Gegenwart. Geschichte und Geschichtlichkeit der Nicht-Europaer im 19.Jahrhundert. Reimer (1988).
Chapters and Articles
- Roberto de Nobili and the Myth of the Modern Conceptualization of Religion in Seventeenth-Century India, History of Religions 2022, 62/2
- Gods Mediated: Religious Images, Televised Mythologies, and National Politics in Hindu India, digital chapter in Asia Mediated. Course Reader, ASU, Centre for Asian Research, 2019/4 https://scalar.usc.edu/works/asiamediatedtoc/index
- Shrines of Goa: Iconographic Formation and Popular Appeal in: Wayside Shrines: Everyday Religion in Urban India, edited by Larios, Borayin and Raphaël Voix, Samaj. South Asian Academic Journal 2018/18, https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/4523
- Kristapurana. Translating the Name of God in Early Modern Goa, in: South Asian Academic Journal 2015/12, special issue edited by Jacop Copeman and Veena Das http://samaj.revues.org/4038
- Moving the World — Moving the Self: The Gaude Jagor in Goa in: Huesken, Ute and Axel Michaels (eds). South Asian Festivals on the Move, Wiesbaden 2013: Harassowitz, pp. 83-98
- Jesuit Rhetorics: Translation and Conversion in Early-Modern Goa, in: The Constitutive Interplay Between Rhetoric and Culture, edited by Ivo Strecker, Christian Meyer, Felix Girke, Oxford / New York 2011: Berghahn, pp.210-24
- Pictorial Encounter. Iconoclasm and Syncretism at India’s Western Coast in: Transcultural Turbulences: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Flows of Images and Media, edited by Christiane Brosius and Roland Wenzlhuemer, Vienna 2011: Springer, pp.153-69
- Ritual, Mimesis, and Emotion: A Post Colonial Case, in: Emotions in Rituals and Performances. South Asian and European Perspectives on Rituals and Performativity, edited by Christian Wulff and Axel Michaels, New Delhi 2011: Routledge, pp.444-452
- Ritual, History and Identity in Goa, in: World Christianity, vol. III, edited by Elizabeth Köpping, London 2010: Routledge
- Hindu Traditions in: Encyclopedia of Hinduism, vol. I, ed. Knut A. Jacobson, Leyden 2009: Brill, pp.249-254
- Crossroads of Religions: Shrines, Mobility, and Urban Space in Goa, in: International Journal for Urban and Regional Research, 2008/ 32.3, pp.658–70
- Introduction. Beyond Norm, Text and Dialectics: Ritual as Social Praxis, in: Rituals in an Unstable World: Contingency – Embodiment - Hybridity, edited volume with Klaus-Peter Köpping, Frankfurt 2008: Peter Lang, pp.9-30
- The Lord of Mapusa: Genesis of an Urban God in Goa, in: Purusartha 2006/25, pp. 31-47
- Between Meaning and Significance: Reflections on Ritual and Mimesis, in: Celebrating Transgression As Method and Politics in Anthropological Studies of Culture, edited by Ursula Rao and John Hutnyk, Frankfurt, Oxford, New York 2005: Peter Lang, pp. 145-52 (reprint in translation of Zwischen Gehalt und Gestalt, 2003)
- Gods and Saints in Goa: Cultural Diversity and Local Religion, in: In the Company of Gods. In Memoriam Guenther-Dietz Sontheimer, edited by Aditya Malik, Anne Feldhaus, Heidrun Brueckner, Delhi: 2005: Manohar, pp. 83-104
- Politics of Acculturation. The Dynamics of Hindu-Christian Ritual in Goa, in: The Dynamics of Changing Rituals, edited by Jens Kreinath, Anette Deschner, Constance Hartung, Frankfurt 2004: Peter Lang, pp. 155-66
- Incorporando o divino: iconografia religiosa, espaço sociológico e história política em Goa, Embodying the Divine: Religious Iconography, Societal Space and Political History in Goa in: Oriente, Revista Quadrimestral da Fundação Oriente, 2003/15:26-33 (bi-lingual publication)
- Zwischen Gehalt und Gestalt: Überlegungen zum Verhältnis von Ritual und Mimesis, in: Paragrana. Internationale Zeitschrift für historische Anthropologie 2003/12,1-2, pp.67-78
- Interpretatio, Exercicium, Mimesis - Ritual und Bedeutung in Goa, in: Im Rausch des Rituals. Gestaltung und Transformation der Wirklichkeit in köperlicher Performanz, edited by Klaus-Peter Köpping and Ursula Rao, Münster 2000: LIT-Verlag, pp.125-38
- Anthropology and Temporality. A Criticism of Theory and Discourse in the History of Anthropological Writing. (1995).
- Diffusion / Diffusionismus. Handbuch Religionswissenschaftlicher Grundbegriffe (1990).
- Wie Tag und Nacht: Zur Metaphorik der Ungleichzeitigkeit im anthropologischen Diskurs des 19. Jahrhunderts. (1990).
Book Reviews
- Vanita Seth. Europe’s Indians. Producing Racial Difference, 1500-1900, Durham 2010: Duke University Press, in Asian Studies Review 2012
- Arun Saldanha. Psychedelic White. Goa Trance and the Viscosity of Race, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 2007, in Cultural Geographies, 2011/ 18.1: 134
- Alf Hiltebeitel and Kathleen Erndl (eds.): Is the Goddess a Feminist? The Politics of South Asian Goddesses, New Delhi 2002: Oxford University Press, in: Sociological Bulletin 2003
- John Burton. An Introduction to Evans-Pritchard, Fribourg 1992: University Press, in: Tribus 1994/43:179-180
- Alf Lüdtke (ed.) Herrschaft als soziale Praxis: Historische und sozial-anthropologische Studien, Göttingen 1991: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, in: Man 1993/28: 189-190
Films
- Alexander Henn and Alito Siqueira. Staying Awake for God. Introducing the Jagor. (2010).http://www.vimeo.com/12507263
- Cady,Linell E*, Carlson,John, Durfee,Alesha D, Gallab,Abdullahi A, Henn,Alexander Ernst, Jacobson,David, Peskin,Victor, Saenz,Delia S, Schober,Juliane S. Teaching and Talking About Religion - Phase II. FORD FDN(8/15/2008 - 8/14/2011).
Courses
2025 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 207 | Ritual, Symbol, and Myth |
REL 207 | Ritual, Symbol, and Myth |
2024 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 591 | Seminar |
REL 494 | Special Topics |
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 207 | Ritual, Symbol, and Myth |
REL 207 | Ritual, Symbol, and Myth |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 591 | Seminar |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 405 | Problems in Religious Studies |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 690 | Reading and Conference |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 591 | Seminar |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 405 | Problems in Religious Studies |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 494 | Special Topics |
REL 591 | Seminar |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 405 | Problems in Religious Studies |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 494 | Special Topics |
REL 591 | Seminar |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 405 | Problems in Religious Studies |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 350 | Hinduism |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 493 | Honors Thesis |
European Association of Social Anthropologists, member (2012 - Present)
- Director of Undergraduate Studies, Religious Studies
- Personnel Committee SHPRS (since 2014)
- South Asia Council, co-chair (since 2014)