Prof Geoffrey Samuel

Position:Professor; Director of Research Group on the Body, Health and Religion
Email:SamuelG@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone:+44 (0)29 208 70558
Fax:+44 (0)29 208 74929
Extension:70558
Location:John Percival Building, 5.29
Telephone:+44 (0)29 208 70558
Fax:+44 (0)29 208 74929
Extension:70558
Location:John Percival Building, 5.29
Research Interests
- Research Group on the Body, Health and Religion
- Religion in Tibetan societies, contemporary and historical
- The historical development and contemporary practice of technologies of consciousness; understanding the relationship between consciousness, body and materiality, particularly in relation to healing, meditation and yoga
- Tibetan, Indian and other Asian medical, health and yogic practices
- Religion and modernity, including Buddhism in contemporary societies
- Gender, sexuality and masculinity in Asian cultures
- Shamanism and ‘nature religions’
Selected Publications
- 2012. Introducing Tibetan Buddhism. London and New York: Routledge.
- 2010. From Village Religion to Global Networks: Women, Religious Nationalism and Sustainability in South and Southeast Asia, edited by Santi Rozario and Geoffrey Samuel. Special Double Issue of Women’s Studies International Forum (vol.33, no.3)
- 2008. The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York.
- 2005. Tantric Revisionings: New Understandings of Tibetan Buddhism and Indian Religion. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass; London: Ashgate.
- 2002. The Daughters of Hariti: Childbirth and Female Healers in South and Southeast Asia. Edited by Santi Rozario and Geoffrey Samuel. London and New York: Routledge
- 2001 “Tibetan Medicine in Contemporary India: Theory and Practice.” In Linda H. Connor and Geoffrey Samuel (eds.), Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian Societies, pp.247-268. Westport, Connecticut: Bergin and Garvey.
- 1993. Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. Paperback edition 1995. Also Asian edition, Mandala Book Point, Kathmandu, 1995.
- 1990. Mind, Body and Culture: Anthropology and the Biological Interface. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Major Current and Recent Funded Research Projects
- Longevity Practices and Concepts in Tibet (AHRC, 2006-9)
- Islam and Young Bangladeshis (ESRC, 2008-10, with Dr Santi Rozario)
- Tradition and Modernity in a Bonpo Medical School and Hospital in Western Tibet (Leverhulme, 2008-11)
Related Links
Main BAHAR web site:
http://www.bodyhealthreligion.org.uk/BAHAR/
BAHAR blog:
http://blogs.cf.ac.uk/bahar/
