Lucinda Ramberg
WSRP Research Associate 2009–10
Home institution
University of Kentucky
Research project
Given to the Goddess: South Indian Devadasis and the Kinship of Religion and Sex
This book project considers religiosity, sexuality, and postcolonial governance through an ethnography of theogamy (devadasi dedication) and its reform in Karnataka, South India. Karnataka devadasis are Dalit female priests whose sexuality and religiosity are bound up in their marriage to the devi they serve. This ethnography will provide an occasion for a consideration of what counts as religion and who, and what, marriage is for.
WSRP lecture
When the Goddess Is Your Husband: South Indian Devadasis and the Sexuality of Religion
Course
HDS 2103: Religion, Secularism, Feminism (Fall 2009)