Diana Dimitrova
Diana Dimitrova
Assistant Professor
Department of Religious Studies
E-mail: dimitro7@msu.edu
Office: 117c Morrill Hall
Office phone: (517) 353-0830
Education
Ph.D., 2000, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
South Asian Studies
Religious Studies
Literary Theory and Criticism/Film Theory and Criticism
Principal Scholarly Interests
Hinduism and South Asian Religions
Hindi Drama, Theatre and Film
Hindi Language and Literature
I was awarded a Ph.D. in Modern Indology (South Asian Studies), Classical Indology and English Philology at the University of Heidelberg in July 2000. My discipline is South Asian Studies: literary theory and criticism/film theory and criticism, religious studies, and linguistics. My area of specialization encompasses Hinduism and South Asian religions, modern Hindi drama, theatre and film, and Hindi language and literature. I am fluent in Hindi-Urdu and have excellent knowledge of Sanskrit and pre-modern Hindi.
My research over the past six years dealt with Hindi drama. My first book Western Tradition and Naturalistic Hindi Theatre, was published by Peter Lang (New York, 2004). My second book Gender, Religion and Modern Hindi Drama was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press (Montreal and London, 2008). I also edited a volume, titled Religion, Literature and Film in South Asia, which is in print with Palgrave Macmillan and will appear in Fall 2009. My contributions include a theoretical chapter on “Myth and Mythologizing” and an essay on “Religion and Gender in Bollywood Film.”
My current research deals with Bollywood Film. My book project explores the intersections of religion and film. I deal with the interpretation of gender and Hinduism in film from the perspective of mythological and ideological criticism. I examine whether traditional notions of the feminine are endorsed or subverted. Throughout the book, the question whether religious tradition, as represented in the adoption of female mythical figures in film, is liberating or oppressive for women is of central importance. In some films discussed in the book, the invoked religious texts and myth-models challenge societal norms. In others, these same religious elements and myth-models reinforce the status quo.
I am also working on a project on the globalization of the Radhasoami movement in North America, a reform Hindu movement that originated in North India in the late 19th-century. I focus on the teachings of Kabir, Nanak, Tulsi Sahib and the Nath Yogis, and study how they have influenced the philosophy and theology of Shiv Dayal, the founding guru of the Radhasoami. I am also interested in issues of new media, religion/culture and globalization.
My courses are historical and comparative in their approach to religion and include Hinduism, Bhakti Hinduism, South Asian Religions, Buddhism, Gender and Religion in Bollywood Film, and Exploring Religions. I have recently developed a new course on Modern Hindu Thought, which explores important developments in Hinduism from the 1850s up to present day.
