142125 PS History and Politics of global yoga: from naked ascetics to sexy Lululemon-Pants (2021S)

Yoga is often considered a symbol of Indian culture. Although its philosophy also influenced European thinkers from the 18th century onward, it did not begin its triumphal march as a specific training technique for self-development until the second half of the 20th century. Thus, yoga can be considered an example of the transnational migration of ideas about health, well-being, and spirituality.
This course focuses on yoga as a social construct and transcultural phenomenon that has become an important part of global popular culture. We will examine yoga as a socio-cultural construct that incorporates and reflects a variety of historically shaped ideas and practices and presents itself as a diversity of localized and globalized forms of yoga in the 20th and 21st centuries. Regionally, we will not only consider the European and North American contexts, but also look at developments in modern South Asia.
In the proseminar we will look at the main figures and trends in modern yoga and at the latest approaches to its academic study, especially approaches based on religious studies and social anthropology.