Angela R Burt
Publications
Burt, A. R., 2019. Review of "Seven Days of Nectar: Contemporary Oral Performance of the Bhagavatapurana" by McComas Taylor. Numen, 66 (1).
Burt, A. R. 2019. An Uncertain Future: The Crisis of Succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In K. Knott, M. Francis, eds. Innovation, Violence and Paralysis: How do Minority Religions Cope with Uncertainty? Farnham: Ashgate.
Burt, A. R., 2018. Review of "The Head Beneath the Altar: Hindu Mythology and the Critique of Sacrifice" by Brian Collins. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 9 (1).
Burt, A. R., 2016. Review of Jainism: A Guide for the Perplexed by Sherry Fohr. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 7 (1), pp. 337-338.
Burt, A. R., 2016. The History of a Movement. In ISKCON Fiftieth Anniversary Magazine. ISKCON Communications International.
Burt, A. R., 2016. Review of Hinduism and the 1960s: The Rise of a Counter-culture by Paul Oliver. Journal of Religious History, 4 (1), pp. 135-137.
Burt, A. R., 2015. Transcendent Being or Fallible Human? In Search of the Authentic Guru in the Gaudiya Vaishnava Tradition. Sufi Journal, Summer.
Presentations
“Sing, Pray, Love: Kirtan and the New Devotional Body”. Presented at Yoga and the Body, Past and Present: A Symposium, Australian National University, Canberra, May 2016.
“Krishna in the West: Key Issues in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness after the death of the founder”. Presented at Religious Transformation in Asian History Conference, Australian National University, Canberra, April 2016.
“Key Issues in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness after the death of the founder” Presented at University of Sydney Religion Seminar, Sydney, March 2016.
“The guru in ISKCON after Prabhupada: A study of the Zonal-Acharya System and the Guru Reform Movement 1977–1987”. Presented at the ISKCON Studies Conference: The Guru: Person, Position, Possibilities. Florence, Italy, July 2009.
“Leadership in the Hare Krishna Movement”. Presented at the British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group Ninth Post-graduate Conference. Burwalls, University of Bristol, United Kingdom, January 2006.
Supervisors: Professor Kim Knott
Burt, A. R., 2019. Review of "Seven Days of Nectar: Contemporary Oral Performance of the Bhagavatapurana" by McComas Taylor. Numen, 66 (1).
Burt, A. R. 2019. An Uncertain Future: The Crisis of Succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In K. Knott, M. Francis, eds. Innovation, Violence and Paralysis: How do Minority Religions Cope with Uncertainty? Farnham: Ashgate.
Burt, A. R., 2018. Review of "The Head Beneath the Altar: Hindu Mythology and the Critique of Sacrifice" by Brian Collins. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 9 (1).
Burt, A. R., 2016. Review of Jainism: A Guide for the Perplexed by Sherry Fohr. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 7 (1), pp. 337-338.
Burt, A. R., 2016. The History of a Movement. In ISKCON Fiftieth Anniversary Magazine. ISKCON Communications International.
Burt, A. R., 2016. Review of Hinduism and the 1960s: The Rise of a Counter-culture by Paul Oliver. Journal of Religious History, 4 (1), pp. 135-137.
Burt, A. R., 2015. Transcendent Being or Fallible Human? In Search of the Authentic Guru in the Gaudiya Vaishnava Tradition. Sufi Journal, Summer.
Presentations
“Sing, Pray, Love: Kirtan and the New Devotional Body”. Presented at Yoga and the Body, Past and Present: A Symposium, Australian National University, Canberra, May 2016.
“Krishna in the West: Key Issues in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness after the death of the founder”. Presented at Religious Transformation in Asian History Conference, Australian National University, Canberra, April 2016.
“Key Issues in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness after the death of the founder” Presented at University of Sydney Religion Seminar, Sydney, March 2016.
“The guru in ISKCON after Prabhupada: A study of the Zonal-Acharya System and the Guru Reform Movement 1977–1987”. Presented at the ISKCON Studies Conference: The Guru: Person, Position, Possibilities. Florence, Italy, July 2009.
“Leadership in the Hare Krishna Movement”. Presented at the British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group Ninth Post-graduate Conference. Burwalls, University of Bristol, United Kingdom, January 2006.
Supervisors: Professor Kim Knott
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Conference Presentations by Angela R Burt
Talks by Angela R Burt
Thursday 7th December 8pm UTC, which is Friday 8th December 7am Sydney time.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-intersection-of-hinduism-and-contemporary-society-guest-lecture-4-tickets-761726984917?aff=oddtdtcreator
The book is available here: https://ow.ly/nO9X50PqxbH
In this seminar presentation, Dr Angela Burt will discuss key themes from her newly published book in the Cambridge University Press Elements in New Religious Movements series entitled, Hare Krishna in the Twenty-First Century. Angela Burt introduces the historical origins of the Hare Krishna movement as a modern manifestation of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has its roots in sixteenth century West Bengal, India. The tradition was institutionalized in a modern form in 1966 when it was registered by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New York City. Using frame alignment and resource mobilization as theoretical lenses, Angela Burt examines the beliefs and practices of the movement within the context of its institutional and community dynamics. She also considers the Hare Krishna movement’s changing relationship with mainstream society and its shifting demographic makeup, including the Indian-Hindu community’s role in the movement’s efforts to navigate a changing internal and external environment. She discusses the key challenges and controversies that have beset the movement throughout its history and considers how the movement’s responses to a new set of issues and challenges are pivotal for its future direction in the twenty-first century.
Book Reviews by Angela R Burt
Theses by Angela R Burt
Journal Articles by Angela R Burt
Magazine Articles by Angela R Burt
Books by Angela R Burt
20% discount with the code SMA22 until 30 July 2024.
This book examines issues of leadership and succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) which was founded in by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966. After the founder’s death in 1977, the movement was led by a group of gurus in the "zonal acharya system" until their authority was challenged and reformed in the mid-1980s. At the heart of the book is an exploration of the developments, conflicts, and defining characteristics of leadership in ISKCON in this decade. Themes of hierarchy, status, power and authority, and the routinisation of charisma are shown to be keys to understanding the events of the time. With careful analysis of interviews and documentary evidence, the research offers a unique insight into ISKCON as an organisation and the broader religious community in which ISKCON is located. The book will be of particular interest to scholars of new religious movements and those concerned with religious leadership.
The Hare Krishna movement is a modern manifestation of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has its roots in sixteenth century West Bengal, India. The tradition was institutionalized in a modern form when it was registered as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New York City in 1966 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Its mission was to present bhakti-yoga (the yoga of devotion) to a Western audience. This Element introduces the historical origins of the movement and examines its beliefs and practices within the context of its institutional and community dynamics. It also considers the Hare Krishna movement's changing relationship with mainstream society and its shifting demographic makeup in tandem with key challenges and controversies that have beset the movement throughout its history. The Element concludes by considering how the movement's responses to a new set of issues and challenges are pivotal for its future direction in the twenty-first century.
Conference invitations by Angela R Burt
I will be giving a talk based on my recently published book "Leading the Hare Krishna Movement: The Crisis of Succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness".
Please register for the event here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1014517849197?aff=oddtdtcreator
A Zoom link will be sent after you have registered.
This presentation will examine key themes from Leading the Hare Krishna Movement: The Crisis of Succession in The International Society for Krishna Consciousness published in the Routledge New Religions series in May 2024. The book examines issues of leadership and succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) which was founded by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966. After the founder’s death in 1977, the movement was led by a group of gurus in a “zonal system” until their authority was challenged and reformed in the mid-1980s. At the heart of the book is an exploration of the developments, conflicts, and defining characteristics of leadership in ISKCON in this decade. An analysis of Indian and Western conceptions of hierarchy, status, power and authority, and the routinisation of charisma are key to understanding the events of the time. With careful analysis of interviews and documentary evidence, the research offers a unique insight into ISKCON as an organisation and the broader religious community in which ISKCON is located.
To register, please send an email to hmss@ochs.org.uk with the subject line “REGISTER GUPTA”. and include your name in the body of the email.
You will receive a zoom link two days before the event.
Religion and ecology are indelibly linked in India. Sacred texts, devotional narratives, and theological convictions often motivate environmental action and provide cultural resources for ecological initiatives. Religious concepts and stories are often reinterpreted by practitioners in the face of new environmental challenges. For this reason, it is paramount to draw out the elements of a tradition’s theology that can support sustainable ecological relationships, as well as honestly examine those elements that hinder such relationships. This presentation will begin that task, by outlining some building blocks of a Gaudiya Vaishnava theology of the environment.
This presentation focuses on how learning from the Bhagavad Gita could be used to manage contemporary organizations. It goes into the depth of the foundational messages about humans, work, behaviour, and principles with which the management can connect for incorporating into practice under the new demands due to the evolving characteristics, content and scope of work, and the newer generations of workers. Every management lesson suggested in this presentation is directly derived and properly connected with the Bhagavad Gita. While most of the messages transmit straight, needing no interpretation; nevertheless, those that do need some expanding are properly interpreted. Surprisingly, as I will show, Gita’s relevance to management is so contemporaneous as if either the human behaviour or work demands of the Gita’s period were more like what is happening in our organizations now. Or the needs of the time have changed so much that organizations cannot go by the management principles or practices that have been handed down to them. I will begin with the doctrine of human treatment grounded in what God tells in the Bhagavad Gita within the bounds of their material nature—struggling with the six senses and the mind. By stating that, God lives as “jiva shakti” in every living entity and states that every living entity lives in Him. The Bhagavad Gita brings all living entities to God’s level and asks everyone to treat them as if they are treating Him because humans are multi-potential spiritual entities that work to seek meaning and a place in the larger plan of existence.
“In Yoga, We Are Connected!” Examining the Fabric That Makes Belonging".
Jens Augspurger
Thursday, 6th July, 10:30–11:30am UTC
Please register for the event here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hinduism-and-contemporary-society-guest-lecture-2-tickets-596450508527
A Zoom link will be sent once you have registered.
Spiritual tourism is, unlike other religiously motivated forms of travel, characterised by the specific attention that is placed on the personal growth of the tourist, i.e., their 'inner journey'. The phenomenon aligns with the broader trend towards self-improvement, self-reference, and self-realisation that is occurring at the (now again) globalised intersection of religion, health, and wellness.
My research seeks to understand spiritual tourism by examining the interplay between the journey (act of travel), the journeyed (destination), and the journeyer (tourist). Using biographical approaches, I conducted research interviews with spiritual tourists who had returned from travel to India either before or at the start of the pandemic. The data suggests that my interlocutors maintained complex correspondences with the places they had journeyed to. Many of these destinations seemed unattainable at the time of the interview during the height of several lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
In this talk, I will explore how the spiritual tourists often grappled with reflecting on their own impact and identity during their travels. I will then discuss the diverse ways in which my interlocutors have sought to maintain their connections to India, or Yogaland, whether through the computer camera-lens, their personal yoga practice, or imaginative acts of connection.
Jens Augspurger is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Religions and Philosophies at SOAS University of London and a member of the school’s Centre for Yoga Studies. His research is located at the various intersections of religion, power, and politics, with a specific focus on spiritual and yoga communities. Jens is also a survivor activist and co-founder of Project SATYA, an initiative dedicated to combating spiritual abuse, coercive control, and institutionalised violence within religious groups.
The Shakta Aghoris in Kamakhya: An Interview with Prema Goet
Thursday, 2nd March, 10:30–11:30am UTC
Prema Goet will be speaking about his experiences and ethnographic research with the Shakta Aghoris during the Ambubachi Mela at the Kamakhya Temple in Assam. He has long-term friendships with the Aghoris and has first-hand experiences of their mixing extreme antinomian asceticism with priestly services and philanthropy. He will be speaking on the lives of the Aghoris as well as his own role in representing the group through his work. He has published a photo journal entitled Against the Grain, which he will use to illustrate his presentation.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/560460551597
Kind regards,
Cecilia Bastos, Angela Burt, Alan Herbert, and Ace Simpson
Thursday 7th December 8pm UTC, which is Friday 8th December 7am Sydney time.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-intersection-of-hinduism-and-contemporary-society-guest-lecture-4-tickets-761726984917?aff=oddtdtcreator
The book is available here: https://ow.ly/nO9X50PqxbH
In this seminar presentation, Dr Angela Burt will discuss key themes from her newly published book in the Cambridge University Press Elements in New Religious Movements series entitled, Hare Krishna in the Twenty-First Century. Angela Burt introduces the historical origins of the Hare Krishna movement as a modern manifestation of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has its roots in sixteenth century West Bengal, India. The tradition was institutionalized in a modern form in 1966 when it was registered by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New York City. Using frame alignment and resource mobilization as theoretical lenses, Angela Burt examines the beliefs and practices of the movement within the context of its institutional and community dynamics. She also considers the Hare Krishna movement’s changing relationship with mainstream society and its shifting demographic makeup, including the Indian-Hindu community’s role in the movement’s efforts to navigate a changing internal and external environment. She discusses the key challenges and controversies that have beset the movement throughout its history and considers how the movement’s responses to a new set of issues and challenges are pivotal for its future direction in the twenty-first century.
20% discount with the code SMA22 until 30 July 2024.
This book examines issues of leadership and succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) which was founded in by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966. After the founder’s death in 1977, the movement was led by a group of gurus in the "zonal acharya system" until their authority was challenged and reformed in the mid-1980s. At the heart of the book is an exploration of the developments, conflicts, and defining characteristics of leadership in ISKCON in this decade. Themes of hierarchy, status, power and authority, and the routinisation of charisma are shown to be keys to understanding the events of the time. With careful analysis of interviews and documentary evidence, the research offers a unique insight into ISKCON as an organisation and the broader religious community in which ISKCON is located. The book will be of particular interest to scholars of new religious movements and those concerned with religious leadership.
The Hare Krishna movement is a modern manifestation of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has its roots in sixteenth century West Bengal, India. The tradition was institutionalized in a modern form when it was registered as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New York City in 1966 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Its mission was to present bhakti-yoga (the yoga of devotion) to a Western audience. This Element introduces the historical origins of the movement and examines its beliefs and practices within the context of its institutional and community dynamics. It also considers the Hare Krishna movement's changing relationship with mainstream society and its shifting demographic makeup in tandem with key challenges and controversies that have beset the movement throughout its history. The Element concludes by considering how the movement's responses to a new set of issues and challenges are pivotal for its future direction in the twenty-first century.
I will be giving a talk based on my recently published book "Leading the Hare Krishna Movement: The Crisis of Succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness".
Please register for the event here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1014517849197?aff=oddtdtcreator
A Zoom link will be sent after you have registered.
This presentation will examine key themes from Leading the Hare Krishna Movement: The Crisis of Succession in The International Society for Krishna Consciousness published in the Routledge New Religions series in May 2024. The book examines issues of leadership and succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) which was founded by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966. After the founder’s death in 1977, the movement was led by a group of gurus in a “zonal system” until their authority was challenged and reformed in the mid-1980s. At the heart of the book is an exploration of the developments, conflicts, and defining characteristics of leadership in ISKCON in this decade. An analysis of Indian and Western conceptions of hierarchy, status, power and authority, and the routinisation of charisma are key to understanding the events of the time. With careful analysis of interviews and documentary evidence, the research offers a unique insight into ISKCON as an organisation and the broader religious community in which ISKCON is located.
To register, please send an email to hmss@ochs.org.uk with the subject line “REGISTER GUPTA”. and include your name in the body of the email.
You will receive a zoom link two days before the event.
Religion and ecology are indelibly linked in India. Sacred texts, devotional narratives, and theological convictions often motivate environmental action and provide cultural resources for ecological initiatives. Religious concepts and stories are often reinterpreted by practitioners in the face of new environmental challenges. For this reason, it is paramount to draw out the elements of a tradition’s theology that can support sustainable ecological relationships, as well as honestly examine those elements that hinder such relationships. This presentation will begin that task, by outlining some building blocks of a Gaudiya Vaishnava theology of the environment.
This presentation focuses on how learning from the Bhagavad Gita could be used to manage contemporary organizations. It goes into the depth of the foundational messages about humans, work, behaviour, and principles with which the management can connect for incorporating into practice under the new demands due to the evolving characteristics, content and scope of work, and the newer generations of workers. Every management lesson suggested in this presentation is directly derived and properly connected with the Bhagavad Gita. While most of the messages transmit straight, needing no interpretation; nevertheless, those that do need some expanding are properly interpreted. Surprisingly, as I will show, Gita’s relevance to management is so contemporaneous as if either the human behaviour or work demands of the Gita’s period were more like what is happening in our organizations now. Or the needs of the time have changed so much that organizations cannot go by the management principles or practices that have been handed down to them. I will begin with the doctrine of human treatment grounded in what God tells in the Bhagavad Gita within the bounds of their material nature—struggling with the six senses and the mind. By stating that, God lives as “jiva shakti” in every living entity and states that every living entity lives in Him. The Bhagavad Gita brings all living entities to God’s level and asks everyone to treat them as if they are treating Him because humans are multi-potential spiritual entities that work to seek meaning and a place in the larger plan of existence.
“In Yoga, We Are Connected!” Examining the Fabric That Makes Belonging".
Jens Augspurger
Thursday, 6th July, 10:30–11:30am UTC
Please register for the event here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hinduism-and-contemporary-society-guest-lecture-2-tickets-596450508527
A Zoom link will be sent once you have registered.
Spiritual tourism is, unlike other religiously motivated forms of travel, characterised by the specific attention that is placed on the personal growth of the tourist, i.e., their 'inner journey'. The phenomenon aligns with the broader trend towards self-improvement, self-reference, and self-realisation that is occurring at the (now again) globalised intersection of religion, health, and wellness.
My research seeks to understand spiritual tourism by examining the interplay between the journey (act of travel), the journeyed (destination), and the journeyer (tourist). Using biographical approaches, I conducted research interviews with spiritual tourists who had returned from travel to India either before or at the start of the pandemic. The data suggests that my interlocutors maintained complex correspondences with the places they had journeyed to. Many of these destinations seemed unattainable at the time of the interview during the height of several lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
In this talk, I will explore how the spiritual tourists often grappled with reflecting on their own impact and identity during their travels. I will then discuss the diverse ways in which my interlocutors have sought to maintain their connections to India, or Yogaland, whether through the computer camera-lens, their personal yoga practice, or imaginative acts of connection.
Jens Augspurger is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Religions and Philosophies at SOAS University of London and a member of the school’s Centre for Yoga Studies. His research is located at the various intersections of religion, power, and politics, with a specific focus on spiritual and yoga communities. Jens is also a survivor activist and co-founder of Project SATYA, an initiative dedicated to combating spiritual abuse, coercive control, and institutionalised violence within religious groups.
The Shakta Aghoris in Kamakhya: An Interview with Prema Goet
Thursday, 2nd March, 10:30–11:30am UTC
Prema Goet will be speaking about his experiences and ethnographic research with the Shakta Aghoris during the Ambubachi Mela at the Kamakhya Temple in Assam. He has long-term friendships with the Aghoris and has first-hand experiences of their mixing extreme antinomian asceticism with priestly services and philanthropy. He will be speaking on the lives of the Aghoris as well as his own role in representing the group through his work. He has published a photo journal entitled Against the Grain, which he will use to illustrate his presentation.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/560460551597
Kind regards,
Cecilia Bastos, Angela Burt, Alan Herbert, and Ace Simpson
We are inviting participants for an online conference that we are holding on June 2nd and 3rd 2022 that explores the intersections between Hinduism and contemporary society. This conference aims to provide an opportunity for scholars to dialogue and share sociological and multi-disciplinary research related to the experiences of contemporary Hindu communities and adherents as they navigate life within, without, and on the fringes of their religious institutions and host communities. The conference is hosted by the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Please find details about the conference at https://ochs.org.uk/the-intersection-of-hinduism-and-contemporary-society-virtual-conference/
If you are interested, please send us a 300-500 word abstract of your presentation by April 7th (a full paper is not required). The abstract could either outline issues you are thinking about or could be about a present or future paper that you are looking for feedback on. Please email your abstract to hmss@ochs.org.uk
Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Cecilia Bastos, Angela Burt, Ace Simpson, and Alan Herbert
We are inviting participants for an online conference that we are holding on June 2nd and 3rd 2022 that explores the intersections between Hinduism and contemporary society. This conference aims to provide an opportunity for scholars to dialogue and share sociological and multi-disciplinary research related to the experiences of contemporary Hindu communities and adherents as they navigate life within, without, and on the fringes of their religious institutions and host communities. The conference is hosted by the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Please find details about the conference at https://ochs.org.uk/the-intersection-of-hinduism-and-contemporary-society-virtual-conference/
If you are interested, please send us a 300-500 word abstract of your presentation by March 28th (a full paper is not required). The abstract could either outline issues you are thinking about or could be about a present or future paper that you are looking for feedback on. Please email your abstract to hmss@ochs.org.uk
Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Cecilia Bastos, Angela Burt, Ace Simpson, and Alan Herbert