Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CURRICULUM VITAE
David Gordon White
born September 3, 1953, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
University Address: Department of Religious Studies, University of California Santa Barbara,
Santa Barbara CA 93106-3130, email: white@religion.ucsb.edu
University Education
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
The Divinity School
9/81 to 3/88
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
The Divinity School
9/80 to 6/81
8/74 to 4/75
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
South Asian Studies
8/72 to 8/75
Ph.D. dissertation (University of Chicago, 1988): The Other Gives Rise to Self: DogMen on the Borders of Medieval Europe, India, and China.
Academic Honors
Institut dtude Avances (Paris), Research Associate, March-April 2008
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, 2007-2008
CIES-Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship, India/Nepal (1998-99)
CIES-Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship, India/Nepal (1992-93)
American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Research Fellowship (1990-91: declined)
Doctor of Philosophy, with distinction: University of Chicago (1988)
Charlotte Newcombe Foundation Dissertation Fellowship (1985-86)
Fulbright Junior Research Fellowship, India (1984-85: declined)
American Institute of Indian Studies Junior Research Fellowship, India (1983-84)
Yoga and Warfare in Ancient India, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, February 20,
The End of Yogis? Olympic Visions Conference, British Museum, London, March 28,
Indian Demonology in Inner and East Asian Contexts, Department of East Asian
Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, December 7, 2007.
The Literary Roots of Bhairavnand Yogi, Department of Religion, Barnard College,
New York, NY, November 30, 2007.
Yogic Rays: The Self-Externalization of the Yogi in Ritual, Narrative and Philosophy,
Freien Universitt Berlin, The Body in India: Ritual, Transgression, Performativity Conference,
November 23, 2007.
Of Gods and Filth in South Asia, or, If Subalterns 'r' Us, Who are We? Princeton
University, Department of Anthropology, October 11, 2007.
When Yoga was Young, University Seminar on South Asia, Columbia University,
October 8, 2007.
The King Who Wasnt Himself, and Other Tales of Sinister Yogis, Rice University,
Houston, Texas, February 12, 2007.
Ceci nest pas un Yogi: Reconsidering the Early History of Yoga in India, University of
Texas, Austin, Texas, February 9, 2007.
Foreign Demons on the Silk Road, lecture in the Religion Along the Silk Road
lecture series, University of California, Santa Barbara, January 23, 2007.
Tales of Sinister Yogis, Department of South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin,
Madison, November 2, 2006.
History of Indian Yogis, Loyola Marymount University (Extension), Los Angeles
California, October 21-22, 2006.
"The Indian Yogi: Mystic or Predator?" Cross-Cultural Mysticism Group, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 5, 2006.
Archeology of a Yogi: Yogis that Time Forgot, Department of Religious Studies,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, April 20, 2006.
Archaeology of a Yogi: The Origins of Yoga in India, Department of Religious Studies,
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, April 10, 2006.
Possession and Protection in the Tantric Cult of Bhairava, Department of Religious
Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, April 10, 2006.
Yoga(s) Before the Yoga Sutras: Archaeological Deconstructions and Textual
Reconstructions, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France, March 24, 2006.
Assuming the Lotus Position, Department of Religion, Boston University, Boston,
Massachusetts, February 16, 2006.
Through the Eyes of Bhairava in Hindu and Buddhist Tantra in India, Nepal and
Tibet, Department of Religion, Boston University, February 17, 2006
Understanding Hindu Tantra, University of Judaism, Sherman Oaks, California,
February 8, 2006.
Interpreting the Pre-modern Religious Past of South Asia: A Plea for a Hermeneutics of
Retrieval, History and Theory Religion and History Conference, Wesleyan University,
Middletown, Connecticut, November 12, 2005.
Yogis that Time Forgot, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, November
10, 2005.
Hindu Mythology and Depth Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria,
California, November 4, 2005.
Alchemy and Sacred Geography in the Medieval Deccan," by Arion Rosu in Journal of
the European Ayurvedic Society 2 (1992), pp. 151-56.
"Gesture and Rituality in Ancient Greek Imagery," by Jean-Louis Durand in Senri
Ethnological Studies (Osaka) 27 (1990), pp. 141-165.
Mythologies (numerous articles, total 250,000 words), ed. Wendy Doniger (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1990).
Hinduism: Anthropology of a Civilization, by Madeleine Biardeau (Delhi: Oxford Press,
1989) [partial translation].
Astrological Key in Mahbhrata, by Paule Lerner (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1988).
"From the History of Religions to Religious Anthropology: A Necessary Reappraisal," by
Michel Meslin in History of Religions: Retrospect and Prospect (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1985).