Matthew Robertson

Education:

• Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2017
• M.A., St. John’s College, New Mexico, 2009
• B.S., Truman State University, 2005

Publications

• Puruṣa: Personhood in Ancient India. Oxford University Press, 2024.
• “Bigness, Brilliance, the Buddhi, and the Brāhmaṇya Yoked-Up King.” Journal of Hindu Studies (forthcoming)
• “Bliss and Bodily Disorientation: The Autophagous Mysticism of Georges Bataille and the Taittirīya Upaniṣad.” In Transformative Embodiment in Asian Religions: Subtle Body, Sensory Body, and Spatial Body (Routledge Press), edited by George Pati and Katherine Zubko, 2019.
•  “The Autophagous Absolute: Revelations of Cosmic and Sovereign Violence in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad and the Bhagavad Gītā. ” Journal of Religion and Violence 6(1): 73-105, 2018.
• “The Identity of Person and World in Caraka Saṃhitā 4.5,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 45: 837-861, 2017.
• “In a Time Gone Mad: Indic Notions of Madness in the Mahābhārata and Beyond,” Journal of Hindu Studies 9: 111-144, 2016.
• “The Unconscious Mind.” In, Ghosts, Spirits, and Psychics: The Paranormal from Alchemy to Zombies. Edited by Matt Cardin. ABC-Clio Inc., 2015.

Research and Teaching Interests

• History of South Asia and South Asian Religions,
• Epic Literature of South Asia,
• Āyurveda,
• Religion and Violence,
• Mortality Studies,
• Religion and Environmental Thought,
• History of Medicine,
• Personhood,
• Spatial Theory,
• Body Theory.

Courses Taught

• CIV 201 - World Civilizations and Cultures I
• RGS 200 - Introduction to Religious Studies
• HIS/RGS 309 - Survey of World Religions
• HIS 359 - Early India