Dr. Barbara Schuler

Barbara Schuler studied Indology (classical and modern), with a focus on Tamil, Indian History of Religion and Social Anthropology at the Universities of Heidelberg (South Asia Institute), Hamburg and (as a doctorate candidate under Prof. David Shulman) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Her current research focuses mainly on History of Emotion Studies as related to Tamil literature and ritual. She also studies the rituals and texts of indigenous South Indian traditions, with a focus on the relationship and interaction between ritual and text, particularly in context of goddess worship. As well, her research is connected to Visual Anthropology and Memory Studies. From 2007 to 2011 she was the Associate Director of the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg where she had a leading role in its direction and development at this time. From 2016 to 2019 she has been working as Principal Investigator (PI) of a project in the field of the History of Emotions  funded by the German Research Council (DFG).

Teaching

• 1997/98–2000/1 and 2007/8 Adjunct lecturer for Tamil at the Universität Hamburg, Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies

Field Research

• 1998, 2002/03, 2009, 2010 Field research in India (Tamilnadu) and Myanmar

Scientific Director

Since 2008 Interdisciplinary lecture series / photo exhibitions among others on religious emotions;interreligious networks; donors/patrons and religion; death and dying in Buddhism; Buddhism along the Silk Road; ecoethics and Buddhism; morality; religion and the neurosciences

Academic Degrees

• 2004 Doctorate (Dr. phil., summa cum laude) awarded by the Asian-Africa-Institute, University of Hamburg. Dissertation entitled Icakkiyamman Katai: Edition with Annotated Translation, and Interpretation of the Cult of the Goddess Icakki.
• 1995 Degree (M.A.) awarded by the Institute for the Culture and History of India and Tibet, University of Hamburg. Thesis on Zu den formalen Aspekten der Erzählweise von Acokamittiran— aufgezeigt am Beispiel einer Ich-Erzählung in Tamil.

Awards

• 4/2001–9/2003 Fellowship granted by Minerva Foundation (Max-Planck-Society) Doctoral research fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
• 1991 Fellowship held for an academic year as under-graduate student at the International Institute of Tamil Studies in Chennai, Tamilnadu, South India.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9984-1373

Monographs

• 2022 Theorising Emotions: An Enquiry into the Emotion Knowledge of Premodern Tamil Treatises. Heidelberg: HASP Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing.
• 2009 Of Death and Birth: Icakkiyamman, a Tamil Goddess, in Ritual and Story. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. (Ethno-Indology 8) DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1040
• 2009 A Film on DVD. Of Death and Birth: A Ritual of the Velalas in Palavur, India. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. (Ethno-Indology 8) DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1040

Articles

• 2022 "Honour Matters: Social Group-Based Narratives As Sources for the Study of Situated Honour Practices and Their Sets of Emotions in Early Modern Tamil-Speaking South India," in Interdiszplinäre Zeitschrift für Südasienforschung 7, 1–55.  
• 2017 "Introduction: Historicizing Asian Community-Based Emotion Practices," in Historicizing Emotions: Practices and Objects in India, China, and Japan, ed. Barbara Schuler, Leiden: Brill, 1–29.
• 2017 "Food and Emotion: Can Emotions Be Worked On and Altered in Material Ways?—A Short Research Note on South India," in Historicizing Emotions: Practices and Objects in India, China, and Japan, ed. Barbara Schuler, Leiden: Brill, 57–70.
• 2014 "The Dynamics of Climate and the Dynamics of Culture," in Environmental and Climate Change in South and Southeast Asia: How are Local Cultures Coping?, ed. Barbara Schuler, Leiden: Brill, 1–24.
• 2013 "Stifter und Religion: Eine Einführung," in Stifter und Mäzene und ihre Rolle in der Religion: Von Königen, Mönchen, Vordenkern und Laien in Indien, China und anderen Kulturen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1-16.
• 2012 “The Dynamics of Emotions in the Ritual of a Hot Goddess,“ in Nidan: An International Journal for the Study of Hinduism. Vol. 24 (Special Issue, December 2012), 16-40.
• 2012 “Die Religionen Indiens im Austausch: Das Beispiel Tantrismus,” in Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen: Öffentliche Vorträge, WiSe 2012, EXTRA, ed. Arbeitsstelle für wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung, Universität Hamburg, 21.
• 2011 “Was wird erinnert? – Gewalt und Ruhm als Erinnerungssignaturen,“ in Göttinnen und Heilige, Heldinnen und Herrscherinnen in Asien und Afrika, hg. Tatiana Oranskaia und Barbara Schuler, Hamburg: Peter Lang, 135–158.
• 2011 “Einleitendes Essay,“ in Göttinnen und Heilige, Heldinnen und Herrscherinnen in Asien und Afrika, hg. Tatiana Oranskaia und Barbara Schuler, Hamburg: Peter Lang, 11–18.
• 2010 “On the Transfer of Ritual in a Local Tradition: Some Observations,” in Ritual Matters: Dynamic Dimensions in Practice, hg. Christiane Brosius and Ute Hüsken, London: Routledge, 172-198.
• 2010 “Ökologisch orientierter Buddhismus,” in Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen: Öffentliche Vorträge, SoSe 2010, EXTRA, ed. Arbeitsstelle für wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung, Universität Hamburg, 15.

Translations

• 2004 A collection of Tamil translations for an Exhibition on Ramayana: Farbenpracht der indischen Epik, 18.10.-05.11.2004, Universität Wien, Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde.

Editorship

• 2017 Ed. Historicizing Emotions: Practices and Objects in India, China, and Japan. Leiden: Brill. Ebook: DOI 10.1163/9789004352964.
• 2014 Ed. Environmental and Climate Change in South and Southeast Asia: How are Local Cultures Coping? Leiden: Brill.
• 2013 Ed. Stifter und Mäzene und ihre Rolle in der Religion: Von Königen, Mönchen, Vordenkern und Laien in Indien, China und anderen Kulturen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
• 2011 Ed. together with Tatiana Oranskaia. Göttinnen und Heilige, Heldinnen und Herrscherinnen in Asien und Afrika. Hamburg: Peter Lang.

Invited Single Lectures

• 02.-04.10.2019: "Honor-based Emotions in Conflict: 16-18th-century Tamil-speaking South India", Conference Emotions in Conflict, University of Ottawa.
• 24.07.2014: “Deification, Emotions, and Material Culture”, EASAS Conference Zurich, 23-26.07.2014
• 21.03.2014: “Food and Emotion in Ritual: Some Observations”
  Conference Food and Ritual: Ancient Practices, Modern Approaches, University of Oxford, 19-21.03.2014.
• 29.10.2011: “Umgang mit Tod und Sterben in unterschiedlichen Kulturen des Hinduismus und Buddhismus”, im Rahmen des Projekts Interkulturelle Frauenarbeit und FrauenLobbyarbeit, Dorothee-Sölle-Haus, Hamburg.
• 23.03.2011: “Tod und Sterben im Hinduismus und Buddhismus,” im Rahmen der Tagung Interdisziplinäre Fortbildungsveranstaltung der IDKO, Bundeskriminalamt Wiesbaden.
• 05.02.2011: Introductions into the Philosophies and Religious Texts of the Hindus/Einführungen in die Philosophien und religiösen Texte der Hindus, im Rahmen derLangen Nacht der Weltreligionen, Thalia Theater Hamburg in Kooperation mit der Akademie der Weltreligionen der Universität Hamburg.
• 05.12.2006: “Nili-Icakki: Philologisch-ethnologische Beobachtungen aus einer lokalen südindischen Tradiiton,” im Rahmen der Vortragsreihe des Allgemeinen Vorlesungswesens WS 2006/7.
• 29.06.2006: “Dynamics of Ritual in a Local Tradition,” Conference of Modern South Asian Studies (ECMSAS), Leiden, Netherland, June 26-30, 2006.
• 24.03.2006: “Lokale Traditionen: Zu Heilritualen im südindischen Tamilnadu,” Gesellschaft für Erd- und Völkerkunde, Linden-Museum, Stuttgart.
• 11/2005: “Kultur und Religion Indiens: Was ist zu entdecken,” Universitätstage November 2005.
• 29.04.2005: “Religion im Alltag,” Asien-Afrika-Institut, University of Hamburg.