Welcome

Welcome and thank you for visiting my digital home! By way of introduction my name is Arvind-Pal S. Mandair and I teach at the University of Michigan in the department of Asian Languages and Cultures. My research and teaching interests include cross-cultural philosophy, consciousness studies, religion and spirituality and politics, especially in their applications to Sikh and South Asian studies.

This website is for purely academic and educational purposes. I created this website to share news and information about my research publications, the classes I’m teaching and public lectures. It is also home to some of my major projects, in particular, the journal I run (Sikh Formations), as well as my blog and podcast activity.

Please feel free to peruse the pages and share links to the various pages. And I shall be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Blog Posts

• Thoughts on the January 6th American Insurrection: An Autoimmune Response?
  Alex Prosi (AP): Watching the nearly uninterrupted attempts for violence by a swarm of Trump rioters at Capitol Hill, I found myself shocked. The images of some Capitol Hill officers opening the gates for frenzied protesters to go in or Read more…
• Syllabus Notes: Updating My Race, Caste & Religion Course
  Alex: So it seems you decided to teach AS334 (Race, Religion, and Caste in India and America) again in WN21? In our earlier conversation from March 2020, you talked a little bit about this course but you weren’t thinking of Read more…
• Exploring Consciousness II: The Secular/Religious Dichotomy and Consciousness Studies
  Alex Prosi (AP):  So for this next exchange (see our first post here!), I think it would be appropriate to begin bridging two seemingly disparate parts of your studies. When we first met, I knew you exclusively for your work Read more…
• Exploring Consciousness I
  Alex Prosi (AP): Hey Arvind, I’m excited to be here and have an opportunity to finally co-write a dialogue with you. For the readers who (likely) don’t know me, my name is Alex Prosi (they/them) and I’ve been talking to, Read more…
• Exorcising Racism II: Liberalisms & Racial Exclusion
  SK: Since our last discussion, several significant conversations have taken place in the media and other channels on the need to address and correct overt forms of racism and violence seen in our culture and society. Major corporations, news-media networks, Read more…