Faculty and staff

OCHS alumni

Jane Barraclough, Canada (2002–3)
Harris - Manchester College

BA in English Litrature, Cambridge University, 1985

MA in medieval and Renaissance Literature, MCGill University, Montreal, 1989.

Mst in Religion, University of Oxford, 2003

Jane is currently Unitarian Minister for the Bethnal Green Unitarians, London.

Travis Chilcott, USA (2001–2)
Mansfield College

BA in Religious Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, California, USA 2001.

M.St. in the Study of Religion, Oxford University, 2002. Masters Thesis: 'Divine Knowability in the Bhagavat-Sandarbha of Jiva Gosvami'.

Currently Travis is pursing his Ph.D. at the University of California at Santa Barbara through the Religious Studies Department.

Travis has been graced with the following awards: Cota-Robles Diversity Fellowship, University of California at Santa Barbara. Oxford's Clarendon Fund Bursary Scholarship. Raimundo Panikkar Award for outstanding achievement in the study of South Asian religions.

Anuradha Dooney, Ireland (2002–3)
St Hilda's College

Bachelors Degree in Social Science, University College Dublin, 1985.

M.St. in the Study of Religion, Oxford University, 2003. Thesis: Clouds, Creepers and Krishna: The flourishing of faith in Vishvanatha Cakravarti's Madhurya Kadambini, 2003.

Anuradha is currently a faculty member of the OCHS Continuing Education Department. She teaches in London, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, and Leicester.

Fleur Harris, UK (2002–6)
Keble College

BA in Theology, Oxford University, 2006. Fleur's interest was in world religions, with a focus on Hinduism and Buddhism.

MA in Law and Social Science, School of Oriential and Africian Studies, University of London, 2007. Her focus was on violence, conflict and development.

Fleur is currently studying to become a Religious studies teacher.

Rev. Martin Ganeri OP, UK (2001–3)
Blackfrairs

MA, M.Phil. (Cantab.)

D.Phil. on the doctrines of God and creation in the thought of St Thomas Aquinas and Ramanuja.

Fr Ganeri is a member of the Dominican Order within the Catholic Church. He is currently Prior of the Dominican Priory, in Cambridge. Fr Ganeri is a lecturer in Hinduism at Heythrop College, London. He is also involved in promoting Hindu-Christian dialogue and is a member of the Catholic Bishops' Committee for Other Faiths.

Abhishek Ghosh, India (2005–6)
Mansfield College
BA in English (Honours), University of Calcutta , India, 2004.
MSt in the Study of Religion, Oxford University, 2006.

Abhishek is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Chicago. His
research interest includes Caitanya Vaishnavism during late colonial and
postcolonial periods in Bengal and focuses especially on the Bhagavata
commentarial tradition that was developed by Bhaktivinoda Thakura,
Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and Bhaktivedanta Swami.

Shubhangi S Gokhale , India (2005–6)
Hertford College

Shubangi is studying at Skidmore College, USA, where she is majoring in Government and East Asian Studies.

She came to Oxford to study Hinduism and British foreign policy.

Shubangi plans to return to Oxford University as a graduate student to do further study in International Affairs and Hinduism.

Ravi Gupta, USA (1999–2004)
Linacre College

BA in Philosophy and B.Sc. in Mathematics, Boise State University, USA, 1999.

MSt in the Study of Religion, Oxford University, 2000.

D.Phil. in Hinduism in the Faculty of Theology at Oxford. Ravi's thesis focused on the early development of Vedanta philosophy in the Chaitanya Vaishnava tradition, based on original manuscript sources 2004.

Ravi was our youngest student, entering Oxford University at the age of 17. He has won a number of prestigious awards including: a full Yate Scholarship from the University Theology Faculty and St. Hugh's College; and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from Linacre College.

Mrinal Kaul, India (2006 -7)
St Cross College

B.A. (Hons.) Sanskrit, St Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Delhi. Certificate Course in Manuscriptology, Center of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Pune, Pune. M.A. Sanskrit (with specialization in Nyaya), University of Pune, Pune. An Advanced Course in the Indian Grammatical Traditions, Center of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Pune, Pune. M.A. Sanskrit, (with specialization in Indian Philosophy) St Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Delhi.

Mrinal compleated an an M.St. Oriental Studies in the University of Oxford. His thesis was "Causality and Ontological Hierarchy in the Tantraaloka".

He received one of the 2007 Ashvatta Narayan Bursaries.

Mrinal's main area of study is Kashmir Shivism.He plans to research his doctoral thesis either at Oxford or in the US.

Melanie Mader, Germany (2005–6)

Wolfson College

BA (Hons) in Philosophy and Religious Studies from the University of Stirling, Scotland, 2005: Dissertation topic 'The Nyaya-Darsana and its Relation to Western Logic and Scholarship'

Melanie compleated her MSt in Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford, focusing on Sanskrit and Indian logic, particularly the Nyaya system, in 2006

Amanda Mills, South Africa (2001–3)
Mansfield College

BA in the Science of Religion, University of Cape Town, South Africa,

MSt in the Study of Religion, Oxford University, 2002.

Trent Moyer, USA (2006–7)
Hertford College

Trent is a visiting student of religion and political change from George Mason University in Virginia.

At Oxford he is studying Hinduism and Buddhism. His research and life interest is the intersection of religious traditions and social movements in the contemporary political scene.

Ashiyana Nariani, USA (2004–5)
Wadham College

Ashiyana was a visiting student to Oxford studying Hinduism, Hindi and Mathematics during her stay.

Aleksandra Nijemcevic, Yugoslavia (2002–4)
Mansfield College

BA in Philosophy, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, 2002.

MPhil degree in Classical Indian Religion at the Oriental faculty of University of Oxford 2004.

As a part of my undergraduate studies I had acquired a basic knowledge of Sanskrit, and was introduced into the study of Hinduism as an academic discipline. Together with other optional modules I had chosen to study in my undergraduate degree, such as Cosmology, Anthropology and Geography, I hoped to combine my interests and fascination with India and its rich and ancient forms of wisdom and culture. I tried to learn the ways that Western culture relates to and understands India as well as how both may be fusing to create new forms of culture and identity.

Angela Quartermaine, UK (2005–6)
Keble College

BA (1st Class, Hons) Religious Studies, Edinburgh University.

M.St. in the Study of Religion, Oxford University, 2006.

Interests include methodological issues in the Study of Religions and religious law, particularly 11th century Hindu (Dayabhaga) law and modern Islamist ideas; also interfaith dialogue, particularly Hindu-Muslim relations. President of the Religious Studies Society in Oxford.

Claire Robison, USA (2004–7)
Mansfield College

Claire compleated a BA in Theology, Oxford University, acheiving not only a first (the highest grade of degree) but the top first of the year.

During her stay in Oxford Claire served as the undergraduate representative of the Religious Studies Society in Oxford. She was awarded the Horton Davies Prize, by Mansfield College, in 2006, for being the most outstanding second year theologian. She also received the University's Denyer and Johnson prize for being the candidate whose performance the examiners judged to be the best in the Final Honour School of Theology.

Claire's main areas of interest are in the theological traditions of India, particularly Vaisnavism. She is currently persuing an MPhil in Cambridge University.

Daniel Bender Saver, USA (2005–6)
Lady Margaret Hall

BA in Religious Studies and Urdu, School of African & Oriental Studies, London, 1993.

Daniel is studying at the Univesity of Caifornia, Berkeley, USA, where he is majoring in Religious Studies and Classics.

Daniel was a visiting student to Oxford studying Hinduism and Latin Literature during his stay.

Bhavisha Tailor, UK (2006–7)
Mansfield College

BSc Sociology, University of Bath

MSc Development Studies, London School of Economics

MSt in the Study of Religions (specifically Buddhism and Hinduism), University of Oxford, 2007

I left a finance position of 4 years to come to Oxford. I had previously taken the part time course in Hindu Studies, run by the OCHS in London, out of interest. This course inspired me to further study and hence Oxford.

My specific area of interest in Buddhism is related to the nature of Buddhist involvement in the conflict in Sri Lanka. It is a lot more difficult to pin-point specific areas of interest in Hinduism because there are many! One of the areas I hope to explore, however, is the concept of God in the saguna and nirguna bhakti traditions.

Manjari Talent, USA (1999–2000)
Wolfson College

BA in Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley, 1996

MSt in the Study of Religion, Oxford University, 2000. Thesis: An Analysis of Challenges to the Validity of the Tattva-sandarbha as Representative of the Philosophy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Manjari is presently living in India studying Sanskrit and Hindi and working for a publishing company which specializes in English translations of Sanskrit and Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava literature.

Ithamar Theodor, Israel (2000–4)
Wolfson Colege

B.A. The Hebrew University in Jerusalem: Sanskrit, Indology, Western
Philosophy and Religous Studies.

M.A. The Tel Aviv University. Thesis: The Metaphysical Structure of the
Bhagavad gita.

M.Litt. The University of Oxford. Thesis: Rasa and Vedanta in the
Bhagavata Purana, 2004.

PhD. The University of Haifa. Thesis: Personhood and Aesthetics in the Bhagavata Purana, 2007. Post Doctorate. The University of Cambridge. 2007-2008

For ongoing updates please see Ithamar's home page at: http://east-asia.haifa.ac.il/staff/itheodor.htm

Kenneth Valpey, USA (1999–2004)
St Cross College

BA (honours) in Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA, 1996.

MA, in the Cultural and Historical Study of Religion, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California, US. 1998.

M.St. in the Study of Religion, Oxford University, 2000.

D.Phil., Oxford University, offering a dissertation entitled The Grammar and Poetics of Murti-Seva: Caitanya Vaisnava Image Worship as Discourse, Ritual, and Narrative’, 2004.

In 2006 Dr Valpey's dissertation was published in revised form with the Routledge/OCHS Hindu Studies Series as a monograph entitled Attending Krsna’s Image: Caitanya Vaisnava Murti-seva as Devotional Truth.

He is presently working with Dr. Ravi M. Gupta on an edited volume, a ‘companion’ to the Bhagavata Purana, and on a translation of a 16th century Sanskrit Vaisnava ritual text, the Haribhaktivilasa, together with Dr. Mans Broo (Abo Akademie, Finland).

Having taught courses in Indian and Asian religions for two semesters during 2006 at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Dr. Valpey is currently teaching for one year in Hong Kong, in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Christopher Wallis, USA (2003–5)

St Edmund Hall

BA Religion, University of Rochester, USA, 2001

MA, UC Berkley, USA, 2003

M Phil, Classical Indian Religions, University of Oxford, 2005

Christopher's main areas of interest were Shaivism, Tantric Shaivism, and Veda.

Christopher Wood, UK (2002)
Jesus College

BA Joint Honours, Philosophy & Theology, Birmingham University, UK. Thesis: "The Seperation of Praxis & Theory in Western Religion & Philosophy".

MSt. In the Study of Religion, Oxford University. Thesis: "The Teleology of Ramanuja's Theology, focusing on Buddhism and Hinduism".

Presently completing a DPhil at Oxford University.