Ep 15 - The History and Politics of Modern Yoga w/ Dr. Andrea Jain

Somatic Podcast

In this new episode - our first production since January of 2020, which also means our first episode since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread protests against police brutality and the notable impact of the Black Lives Matter movement - we begin a two part mini-series on the history and politics of yoga culture. In this part one, we play an interview with Dr. Andrea Jain, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, and editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. This episode coincides with the release of Dr. Jain's new book Peace, Love, Yoga: The Politics of Global Spirituality (Oxford University Press). In our discussion, Dr. Jain touches on the complex history of yoga, its emergence as a mass consumer product in the twentieth century, and the politics of yoga as a "spiritual commodity" shaped by neoliberal capitalism. Dr. Jain's interview gives listeners a more critical perspective on a cultural and spiritual practice that, in this current moment of pandemics, social distancing, and protesting against racial injustice, is more complicated than they may have previously assumed.