Drew Thomases

On Sabbatical (Fall 2024)

Office: AL-662B | Email: [email protected]

Drew Thomases received his M.A. (2008), M.Phil. (2012), and Ph.D. (2015) in religious studies from Columbia University. As an anthropologist of religion, he focuses on how Hindu identity and practice are transformed through globalization. His first book, Guest is God: Pilgrimage, Tourism, and Making Paradise in India (Oxford University Press, 2019), investigates the entanglements of modern Hinduism and the Indian tourist economy through an ethnographic account of pilgrimage in Pushkar, Rajasthan.

Drew’s current book project explores issues related to religion and appropriation in the global yoga community. Titled Hinduism by Many Other Names, the project explores the places and practices where Hindu religion intersects with the spiritual lives of non-Indian seekers and yoga practitioners. This is an ethnographic project that began in 2016, involving fieldwork done at “transformational festivals,” yoga retreats, book workshops, and in online courses on chanting, astrology, and sound healing.