Conference on the Study of Religions of
India

History and Legacy of the CRSI/CSRI

For over fifty years, the Conference on the Study of Religions of India (CSRI) has played an important role in the development of scholarship on the religious practices, texts, and communities of the Indian subcontinent. In the years since its establishment, many important edited books and special journal issues have emerged out of CSRI meetings. Countless other stand-alone articles and book chapters were first presented as papers at CSRI annual and bi-annual meetings.

Originally named the Conference on Religion in South India (CRSI), the scholarly organization was founded during a meeting held at the University of Rochester in 1970. Its early organizers, who included Harry Buck, Fred Clothey, Guy Welbon, and John Carman, sought to develop annual opportunities for scholars of specifically South Indian traditions to present and discuss their ongoing research. The first coordinator of CRSI was Harry Buck, who served 1971-1984.

From its inception, CRSI was intended to provide an informal venue, usually on college and university campuses, for scholars to present their work-in-progress with intellectual generosity as a governing principle. Over the years the conference met annually and was viewed as a kind of continuing “start-up” for the development of new scholarship in the growing field of the study of religion in the distinctive areas of South India. It would later be expanded to include linkages to north India and the Indian diasporas around the world.

Typically one or two scholars took charge of developing a theme for the meeting for each year, circulating it among any colleagues whose research could contribute to and benefit from presentation and discussion. CRSI meetings maintained a consistent focus on the academic study of religion within the broad dimensions of the humanities and liberal arts.

The CRSI has remained an independent organization, financially supported largely by the participating members, with host institutions often donating facilities and providing other on-site support. In any given year, twenty colleagues—senior scholars and new colleagues completing dissertations—had opportunities for extended conversations. The chief value of the CRSI for its participants was the small-scale collegiality that was less available at larger conferences such as the American Academy of Religion, the Association for Asian Studies, and the South Asia Conference hosted by the University of Wisconsin.

Paul Courtright served as chairman of CRSI from 1985 to 2001. During this period, Emory University provided some administrative support to the organization. In 2004, Selva J. Raj of Albion College became chairman of the conference, when it was renamed the Conference on the Study of Religions of India (CSRI) and its scope was broadened beyond South India to include other regions of South Asia and transnational and diasporic communities of Indian origin. For the years 2005-2007 Albion College served as the host institution, providing administrative and technical support for the conference and its website. With Selva Raj’s unexpected death in 2008, a CSRI Executive Committee (Corinne Dempsey, William Harman, Tracy Pintchman, and Brian Pennington) was formed to assume responsibility for long-term planning and organization. From 2008-2014, Loyola University Chicago provided administrative and technical support for CSRI. From 2008-2016 Corinne Dempsey chaired the Executive Committee, whose members during that time also included William Harman and Karen Pechilis. From 2014, Elon University and Butler University have respectively managed the finances and website for the organization. In 2016 Brian Pennington assumed the chair of the committee, which currently includes Robin Rinehart, Sufia Uddin, Reid Locklin, Arun Brahmbhatt, and Archana Venkatesan.

List of CRSI/CSRI Meeting Themes, Sites, and Organizers

(We have done our best to compile information about all past meetings, but the list below is still incomplete. It will be updated as we are able. If you have information about any meeting not included below, please send it to the Chair of the Executive Committee.)

1970 - Organizational Meeting,

University of Rochester

1971 - Religious Festivals in South India

Haverford College, Haverford, PA
Host: Guy R. Welbon

1972 - Sri Vaisnava Traditions and Contemporary Expressions

Sri Vaisnava Traditions and Contemporary Expressions” Pine Manor Junior College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Host: John Carman

1973 - Saivism in South India

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Host: Guy R. Welbon

1974 - The Devi in South Indian Religion

University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Host: Guy R. Welbon

1975 - Questions of Identity in the Encounter of Religious Communities in South India

Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
Host: Dennis Hudson

1976 - The Sacred Center as a Socio-Religious Category in South Indian Religion

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Host: Bruce Long

1977 - Colloquium on Bhakti

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Host: Guy R. Welbon

1978 - Sexuality and Religion

Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA
Host: Suzanne Hanchett

1979 - Plant Symbolism in the Religions of India

Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Host: James Norton

1980 - Purity and Auspiciousness

George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Host: Frederique Marglin and John Carman

1981 - Image Worship: The Problem of Spirit in Matter

Krisheim Study Center, Philadelphia, PA
Host: Joanne Punzo Waghorne

1982 - The Human and the Divine

Gilmary Diocesan Center, near Pittsburgh, PA
Host: Norman Cutler and Vasudha Narayanan

1984 - Heroic Figures

Center of Renewal, Stella Niagara, NY
Host: Trish Mumme

1985 - Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees

George Washington University, Washington, DC
Host: Alf Hiltebeitel

1986 - Women’s Lives and the Life of Women

Craigville Retreat Center, Craigville (Cape Cod), MA
Host: Mary McGee

1987 - Theme and organizer unknown

Montreal, Quebec

1988 - Theme unknown

National Humanities Center, Research Triangle, NC
Host: Paul Courtright

1990 - Theme and organizer unknown

Northampton, MA

1991 - Theme unknown

Williams College
Host: David Haberman

1993 - Lives, Texts and Genders in Tamil Literature and Culture

University of Texas, Austin
Organizer unknown

1994 - Theme possibly “Food and Religion”

Site and organizer unknown

1995 - Theme unknown

University of Indiana, Bloomington, IN
Host: David Haberman

1996 - Non-Hindu Traditions of South India

Granby, Colorado
Host: Organizer unknown

1998 - Nocturnal Realities in South Indian Religions

University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Host: Vasudha Narayanan

2005 - Modern Constructions of the Miraculous and the Mysterious

Albion College, Albion, MI
Host: Selva Raj

2006 - Material Religion in South Asian Traditions

Loyola University, Chicago, IL
Host: Tracy Pintchman

2007 - Religion and the Body in Indian Religions

Albion College, Albion, MI
Host: Selva Raj

2008 - Confounding and Contesting Religious and Cultural Boundaries

Maryville College, Maryville, TN
Host: Brian K. Pennington

2009 - Ritual Innovation in South Asian Religions

Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI
Host: Carol Anderson

2010 - Arguments, Oppositions, and Conflicts

University of St. Michael’s College, in the University of Toronto
Host: Reid Locklin

2011 - Altered and Alternative States

University of St. Michael’s College, in the University of Toronto
Host: Reid Locklin

2013 - Not Quite Divine: Co-stars and Supporting Casts in South Asian Religions

Drew University, Madison, NJ
Host: Karen Pechilis

2014 - Butler University, Indianapolis, IN

Butler University
Host: Chad Bauman

2016 - Dignity, Destruction, Wealth, and Waste: Social and Environmental (In)Justice in South Asian Religion