Much recent scholarship on yoga focuses on including this tradition among the post-colonial and decolonial epistemologies that should be a vital part in our current education curriculums and pedagogies. Among these, contemporary scholarship overwhelmingly supports a greater acceptance of yoga within the great world traditions as a vital world tradition of knowledge and practice. At the same time, however, the highly hybrid nature of yogic epistemologies draws into question the way in which this tradition is presented as a product of the "Global South," or more specifically a holistically South Asian Hindu educational tradition. This paper challenges these static depictions by raising distinct periods of cultural sharing during the formation of the now global tradition of yoga. Using archival research methods from influential Yoga teachers such as Indra Devi and B.K.S. Iyengar, this historical assessment underscores the hybrid, trans-cultural aspects of the tradition. While supporting claims of yoga's early roots in South Asia, I argue for a re-evaluation of the ways we depict contemporary yoga as an important, yet culturally diverse educational tradition.

Authors:
Hugh Schuckman, University of Utah, Asia Campus, South Korea

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Hugh Schuckman is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at University of Utah, Asia Campus in South Korea

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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