about
I am an ethnographer of religion in South Asia, with a focus on the intersection of Hinduism, health, media, and the environment.
My research explores how large-scale religious institutions refashion traditions to provide solutions for modern societal problems.
research
news
Presented “The Changing Meanings of an Indian Gooseberry Jam: An Object Analysis of Dabur Chyawanprash” at the ASIANetwork Annual Meeting on March 29, 2026.
Presented “Apocalypse in Hindu India” at Carthage College on March 26, 2026.
Presented “Hinduism and Judaism: Perspectives on Ecology, Sustainability, and Community Responsibility” at Xavier University on February 20, 2026.
projects
Apocalypse in Hindu India
My ongoing book project, Apocalypse in Hindu India, offers a comparative analysis of two prominent yet understudied Hindu organizations in contemporary India. The Gayatri Pariwar and the Brahma Kumaris are distinctive in several ways: they are organizations that have successfully outlasted the charismatic gurus who founded them, they promote ritual practices as scientific technologies that have the power to effect large scale societal transformations, and they envision and prepare for the imminent end of the world. Yet the central argument of the manuscript is that these institutions, however distinctive, offer insights into the anxieties and aspirations of contemporary Hindus more broadly. The Gayatri Pariwar and the Brahma Kumaris afford their members resources with which to resolve tensions between liberation and this-worldly comfort, societal welfare and personal achievement, and tradition and modernity. Through ethnographic analysis, the project attends to the various contexts in which members of these groups pursue their end times preparations for the benefit of themselves and broader publics.
Maps
During the course of my doctoral fieldwork, I began to reflect on how I and my research subjects were inhabiting a city and country much larger than we are. This led me to build a series of maps anchored to several fieldwork experiences, initially as a note-taking aid.
Although these maps are incomplete, I invite you to explore several of the places where I conducted fieldwork in 2019-2020.
More...Mozoomdar at Sea
Completed during my doctoral training, this project combined my budding interests in Digital Humanities scholarship and the global history of religious reform. Formatted as an interactive map, “Mozoomdar at Sea” chronicles a major episode in the life of Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, a nineteenth-century Bengali religious reformer and one of the first Indians to command an audience in the United States of America. In July 1893, Mozoomdar set sail to take part in the World’s Parliament of Religions. This digital exhibit, based on the letters that Mozoomdar wrote to his wife Saudamini during his travels at sea, offers glimpses of another side to Mozoomdar than that which he presented to his audiences while in the United States.
More...teaching
I currently teach in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department at Louisiana State University.
Current Courses:
- Asian Religions
- Gurus, Godmen, Godwomen
Past Courses
- Encountering Hinduism (Hamilton College)
- Hindu Traditions and Women's Devotion (Xavier University)
- Hinduism and Healing (Hamilton College, Xavier University)
- Indian Buddhism (Hamilton College)
- Introduction to Theology (Xavier University)
- Mother Nature---Climate Crisis (Hamilton College)
- Religion and Healing in Global Perspective (Hamilton College)
- Religions of India (New York University)
- Sacred Space in South Asia (Hamilton College)
- The End of the World (Xavier University)
- World Religions: Hinduism (Xavier University)
c.v.
Nick Tackes
Curriculum Vitæ
July 8, 2026
Employment
Louisiana State University
Xavier University
Hamilton College
Hamilton College
New York University
Education
Certificates
Foundational Track Completion
Advanced Certificate
Other Training
International Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society
Competitive Scholarships and Honors
Languages
Publications
- 2023. “The View from Mathura: Nationalist Projections in Local Perspective,” Contemporary South Asia 32 (1): 84-100. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2280516.
- 2021. “COVID-19 First Responders: The Gayatri Pariwar and the Immune Ritual Body.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 89 (3): 1006-1038. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfab057.
- 2019. Fieldwork Maps. https://maps.nicktackes.com.
- 2017. Mozoomdar at Sea. https://mozoomdar.nicktackes.com.
- 2022. “‘Sankalp se Siddhi’: The Brahma Kumaris and Pandemic Positivity.” CoronAsur: Religion & COVID-19 (blog). https://ari.nus.edu.sg/20331-107/.
- 2018. “Metabolic Living: Food, Fat, and the Absorption of Illness in India by Harris Solomon (Review).” Global Public Health 11 (2): 318-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2018.1511742.
Articles
Scholarly Websites
Other
Conferences
- “The Changing Meanings of an Indian Gooseberry Jam: An Object Analysis of Dabur Chyawanprash,” ASIANetwork Annual Meeting, March 29, 2026.
- “An Exam on Indian Culture: The Gayatri Pariwar’s ‘bhāratīya saṁskr̥ti jñān parīkṣā’,” Hinduism Unit, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 22, 2025.
- Panel Organizer, “Educating Hindus,” Hinduism Unit, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 22, 2025.
- “Mosque and Mandir: Boundary Work in the Indian City of Mathura,” ASIANetwork Annual Conference, April 14, 2024.
- “‘Mathura is next’: Nationalist Projections in Local Perspective,” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, November 9, 2022.
- Panel Organizer, “Natives, Foreigners, and Imagined Others in South Asian Religious Homelands,” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, November 9, 2022.
- “COVID-19 First Responders: The Gayatri Pariwar and the Immune Ritual Body,” Hinduism Unit and Religion in South Asia Unit, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 20, 2021 (online).
- “Om Shanti Emojis: Three Facets of Digital Hinduism,” Anthropology of Religion Unit and Religion, Media, and Culture Unit, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, December 5, 2020 (online).
- “Marketing Religion: From Mathura to Madhuvan,” South and Central Asia Fulbright Conference, Kochi, India, February 24, 2020.
- “Zooming in on Mozoomdar: A Microhistory of Brahmo Belief,” Religion in South Asia Section, American Academy of Religion, Denver, November 18, 2018.
- Panel Discussant, “Yoga and Politics: South Asia and Beyond,” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, October 12, 2018.
- “The Creation of a Mahatma: Creative License in Ratnadeep Pictures’ Tulsidas (1954),” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, October 23, 2015.
Invited Talks
- “Apocalypse in Hindu India,” Carthage College, March 26, 2026.
- “Hinduism and Judaism: Perspectives on Ecology, Sustainability, and Community Responsibility,” Xavier University, February 20, 2026.
- “Hindu Ethics in Comparison and in Practice,” Williams College of Business, Xavier University, October 13, 2025.
- “Spiritual Citizenship and Civic Responsibility,” Initiative for Civic Engagement, Xavier University, April 24, 2025.
- “An Introduction to Hindu Traditions and Ayurveda,” College of Arts and Sciences, Xavier University, October 28, 2024.
- “Kaavad, Storytelling, and Devotional Practices in India,” Hamilton College Humanities Salon, March 28, 2024.
- “Energy and Vibrations: The Logic of Transformation in the Gayatri Pariwar and the Brahma Kumaris,” Public Health Workshop, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, March 12, 2020.
Professional Memberships
Teaching
At Louisiana State University
Elsewhere
Academic Service
South Asian Studies Working Group
Teacher-Scholar Enrichment Working Group (AHA! Group)
Center for Teaching and Learning
Laidlaw Scholarship Program