SAC presents: Drew Thomases

Drew Thomases, PhD Candidate, Department of Religion, Columbia University

Filth, Flowers, and Trash, Oh My! Cleaning for the Sacred in Pushkar, India

Based on ethnographic work in the pilgrimage and tourist town of Pushkar, India, this paper looks to the environmental degradation that has befallen the holy lake there, and explores efforts on the part of local Hindus to clean it. Thinking alongside the work of Catherine Bell, Thomases aims to show how environmentalism becomes ritualized, and in turn renders a place sacred.

Open to the Public

Sponsored by the South Asia Center at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs