معرفی
Anand Taneja serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University, specializing in anthropological approaches to religious studies with concentrated expertise in South Asian contexts.
His academic credentials include:
- Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University (expected 2013)
- M.A. in Film and Mass Communication from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi (2004)
- B.A. (Honors) in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University (2001)
Taneja's research examines Islam in urban South Asia as a complex ethical framework linked to pre-colonial memory, analyzing how religious identity intersects with post-colonial urban life and national subjectivity formation. His work on Delhi's medieval ruins explores shared ritual practices among Balmiki, Gujjar, and Kasai communities, revealing cross-confessional understandings of justice, dream interpretation, and nature's miraculous dimensions. He critically investigates the "Muslimness" of Hindi cinema as markers of resistance to modern national projects, combining ethnographic fieldwork with archival analysis of 19th-20th century Urdu texts.
Taneja has developed comprehensive curricula for courses spanning Film Studies, Anthropology of Religion, Islamic Studies, modern South Asian History, and Western philosophical traditions. His methodological synthesis of ethnography, historical analysis, and textual criticism demonstrates interdisciplinary rigor in examining religion's role in shaping urban social worlds and ethical orientations across Hindu-Muslim divides.
