About

I’m a Ph.D. candidate studying  American Religious Cultures at Emory University.  My research focuses on representations of India and Hinduism in 19th century American culture. My project is an analysis of how various Americans imagined Hinduism during the nineteenth century, how these imagined American Hinduisms were fashioned through global and transnational exchanges, and how Americans used these American representations of Hinduism to construct categories for what did and did not count as “American.” You can read my dissertation proposal here.

This is a place to find out more about me, my writing, and my research. You’ll find conference papers posted here after I present them as well as various posts or links about religion, American history and culture, and my burgeoning interest in digital humanities.   Some of these are posts from other sites I write for, while others are unique to his blog. It’s my small step toward making my academic work open source.

I also contribute to Religion in American History and Religion Dispatches.

You can contact me by email:  mjaltma@emory.edu