Neena Mahadev Examines Karma, Grace and What Connects Us

Career pathways often don’t follow a straight line. 

When Neena Mahadev, assistant professor of Religious Studies, first traveled to Sri Lanka as an undergraduate on a study abroad program, she wasn't thinking about religion. She was interested in studying ethnicity and labor in relation to the economy and politics. 

Mahadev specializes in the anthropology of religion with a particular focus on South Asia. She is the author of “Karma and Grace: Religious Difference in Millennial Sri Lanka,” for which she was awarded the Clifford Geertz Prize from the Society for the Anthropology of Religion in 2024.  

Politics and ethnicity play an important role in Mahadev’s thinking about religion’s role in society. “Karma and Grace” focuses on relations between Buddhists and Christians when the grounds of identity shifted after decades of ethnic-based civil war in Sri Lanka. The postwar era saw heightening polarization over the issue of religious conversions in Sri Lanka, where Buddhism is the religion of the ethnic majority.  

“I became fascinated by how people with different religious commitments address and define religious freedom. In response to the growth of a new style of charismatic Christianity, Buddhist monks proposed legislation that would ban what they considered to be ‘unethical’ conversions,” Mahadev said. “I became curious about Buddhists’ and Christians’ distinctive sensibilities about ethics, freedom and what makes a religion attractive.” 

Mahadev is developing a transregional study on the traffic of Buddhism and Christianity between South and Southeast Asia. One of her projects examines how ethnically Chinese people in Southeast Asia, who traditionally follow Taoist and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, are adopting another form of Buddhism from South Asia. “My fieldwork is allowing me to understand the inclination to convert between sects of Buddhism, a phenomenon that can shed light on the relationship between religion, internationalism, secularism and the politics of religious ‘harmony’ in Asia.” 

Another project is an anthropological and historical study of networks of Asian Christian activists who were dedicated to social justice and interreligious pluralism during the era of decolonization and the Cold War. “I’m excited to tell the story of how these transregional collaborations persist into the present day,” Mahadev said. 

This spring, she will teach The Politics of Religion in Asia, which examines the political implications of religion: how it comes to have authority over individuals, groups, land and territory, and how religious power plays out dynamically in the social sphere. “This is an important moment to think with the concept of ‘political theology’ not just in terms of Christianity, but also with regard to Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and other religions of Asia and the wider world.” 

Mahadev’s research is guided by an orientation to pluralism. In the face of thorny identity-based conflicts, she shows how everyday people navigate tense social environments and strive for social peace across lines of religious and ethnic difference. “There are no easy answers to the kinds of conflicts I study,” she said, “but it’s peoples’ affinities for pluralism — an affinity that is often unspoken — that inspires me to do this work.” 

In addition to Mahadev, Religious Studies is welcoming two additional faculty, Daniel Herskowitz, Smart Family Associate Professor in Judaic Studies, and Raffaella Taylor-Seymour, whose research focuses on religion in Zimbabwe. The hiring of three faculty whose work engages the global diversity of religions across time and place, and from a variety of perspectives, underscores Religious Studies’ commitment to enhancing the understanding of religion as a primary human endeavor that is inherently interdisciplinary. 

“We are thrilled to welcome three gifted scholars who bring such a wide range of expertise, experiences and questions to the study of religion, globally and locally,” said Jennifer Knust, chair of Religious Studies. “Daniel, Neena and Raffaella are already contributing significantly to our teaching and research mission.”