Professor's photo

Dr. Joël Dubois
  Humanities & Religious Studies Department
 College of Arts & Letters
California State University, Sacramento
2014-15 Academic Year

 CSUS logo

 

Education

Classes

Papers & Publications

Professional Associations

Projects & Interests
Contact Information

Title:

Professor, Asian Religions & Cultures

Office Hours:

 Tu 10--11 am, W 1:30-2:30 pm and by appointment

E-mail Address:

jdubois@csus.edu

Office Numbers:

Mendocino Hall 2016 | (916) 278-5332

Mailing Address:

Department of Humanities & Religious Studies
CSU, Sacramento
6000 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95819-6083
"why I teach" photo - professor at the blackboard

 


Education
 

Fall 2014 Classes
 

Spring 2015

***ON SABBATICAL***

Courses Previously Taught
 


for Lifelong Learning
(suggestions for reading/viewing)

NOTE: inclusion of a source in this list does not indicate my endorsement of all the ideas expressed in it. Rather, I present these works because the issues they raise are vital for anyone alive today to consider.

Viewing & Listening:

Reading:
 

Presentations & Publications—Teaching

  • Planning and facilitation of Faculty Learning Communities for the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University, Sacramento, 2012-13 (“Using Student Groups to Teach Critical Thinking”) and 2013-14 (“Using Critical Thinking to Motivate First-Year and Junior Transfer Students”).
  • Planning and facilitation of new faculty mentoring programs, 2012-14.
  • Planning and facilitation of annual "College Teaching & Learning in the Movies" discussion series for the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University Sacramento, March 2009-13.
  • Planning and facilitation of faculty reading & discussion groups for the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University Sacramento, 2006-7, 2008-10 and 2012-14, including Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach, Thomas Jones' The Missing Professor, Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows and William Powers’ Hamlet’s BlackBerry.
  • “Team-Based Learning 101” workshops offered at the Summer Teaching Institute of the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University, Sacramento, May 2011- 2013, and as part of the Teacher-Scholar Collaborative, fall 2011.
  • "Facilitating the Discussion Prompted by Team-Based Learning Application Exercises in the Social Sciences and Humanities." Workshop presented at March 2013 Annual Meeting of the Team-Based Learning Collaborative (San Diego, CA).
  • "Discerning the Elements of Culture: A Team-Based Learning to Asian Religions and Cultures. "In Michaelson & Sweet, eds., Team-Based Learning for Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences and Humanities. 2012.
  • "Creating Team-Based Learning Application Activities to Analyze Authoritative Source in the Social Sciences and Humanities." Workshop presented at March 2011 Annual Meeting of the Team-Based Learning Collaborative (Las Vegas, NV).
  • "Essential Elements of Culture." On-line introductory essay for "Arts & Ideas of Asia" (HRS 70/71), 2009.
  • "Essential Elements of Religious Life." On-line introductory essay for "History of Buddhism" & "The Hindu Year" (HRS 147 & 179), 2009.
  • "Myths, Stories & Reality." On-line introductory essay for "World Mythology" (HRS 151), 2008.
  • "Using In-Class Team Assignments to Analyze Sources." Workshop presented at March 2009 Lilly West Conference on College & University Teaching (Pomona, CA).
  • "Teaching Religion in Real Time: a Case Study." Paper presented at November 2007 AAR Annual Meeting (San Diego, CA), as part of the Teaching Religion section. To be submitted for review to Teaching Theology & Religion.
  • "Writing Skills in Action: Using Team-Based Learning to Refine Student Writing.” Presentation for the “Writing Across the Curriculum” conference at California State (February 2006).
  • “The Mentoring Relationship.” Planning and facilitation of discussion group for the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University Sacramento, April & November 2005
  • “Analysis by Numbers: Structured Writing in an Writing Intensive Course." Presentation for the “Writing Across the Curriculum” conference at California State (February 2005).
  • "Early Buddhist Worship: the Stupa & Other Aniconic Symbols." Interactive, on-line presentation created as part of “Teaching Using Technology” summer seminar, June-September 2004.
  • "Teaching Religion in Real Time: the Calendrical Approach to Introducing Religious Traditions." Paper presented at AAR Annual Meeting 1997 (San Francisco, CA), as part of the Academic Teaching and the Study of Religion Section. Published in Religion and Education (Webster University, St. Louis, MO) 26:1 (1999), 16-29.
 

Presentations & Publications—Scholarship

  • Explorer's Guide to Buddhist Traditions. San Diego, CA: Cognella Publishing, forthcoming 2015.
  • The Hidden Lives of Brahman: Shankara's Vedanta Through his Upanishad Commentaries, in Light of Contemporary Practice. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014.
  • "The Modernization of Traditional Brahmin Communities." Paper presented at November 2011 AAR Annual Meeting (San Francisco, CA).
  • "Traditional Brahmin Education in South India." Paper presented at March 2010 annual meeting of AOS (American Oriental Society) in St. Louis, MO, as part of the South and Southeast Asia sectional meeting. Portions posted at www.csus.edu/sringeri; solicited for publication in Religion Compass.
  • "Sringeri: A Multimedia Archive" (www.csus.edu/sringeri), launched September 2009 in collaboration with Dr. Leela Prasad, Department of Religious Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC. On-line archive documenting the history of a South Indian temple town, integrating photographs, videos, and audio excerpts from translated interviews with ethnographic descriptions and analyses of historical sources.
  • "The Secret Lives of Prajapati Brahman in Shankara's Brhadaranyaka Upanishad Bhashya. Paper presented at March 2006 annual meeting of AOS (American Oriental Society) in Seattle, WA, as part of the South and Southeast Asia sectional meeting.  To be published as part of Hidden Lives of Brahman (see above).
  • "The Ritual Context for Shankara’s Adhyasa." Paper presented at March 2005 annual meeting of AOS (American Oriental Society) in Philadelphia, PA, as part of the South and Southeast Asia sectional meeting.  To be published as part of Hidden Lives of Brahman (see above).
  • "Literary Technique and Avidya in Shankara’s Writings." Paper presented at March 2004 annual meeting of the AOS in San Diego, CA, as part of the South and Southeast Asia sectional meeting.  To be published as part of Hidden Lives of Brahman (see above).
  • "Shankara’s Brhadaranyakopanishad Bhashya in Light of Upasana Practice." Paper presented at March 2003 annual meeting of the AOS in Nashville, TN, as part of the South and Southeast Asia sectional meeting.  To be published as part of Hidden Lives of Brahman (see above).
  • “From Yajña to Vasudeva: the Turning Point from Vedic Ritual to Vaishnava Theology.” Paper presented at November 2000 AAR Annual Meeting (Nashville, TN), as part of the Comparative Studies in Hinduisms and Judaisms group. Forthcoming in Barbara Holdrege & Kathryn McClymond, eds., Beyond Hubert & Mauss: Essays on Theories of Sacrifice, forthcoming.
  • "Each In Its Proper Place: Shankara's Approach to Diversity in Upanishadic Insight Texts." International Journal of Hindu Studies (Quebec, Canada), March 2003.
  • "Am I Just Talking to Myself? Extending Wittgenstein's Analysis of Language to Religious Forms of Thought and Inward Speech." Published in the Harvard Theological Review (Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA) 94:3 (2001), 323-51.
 

Professional Associations
 

Research & Teaching Interests

  • Upanishads & Vedanta Philosophy
  • Sanskrit Epics & Puranas
  • Sanskrit (Classical & Spoken) & Other South Asian Languages
  • Contemplative Practice Across Religious Traditions
  • Religion, Ecology & Sustainability
  • Religion & Gender
  • Religion & Film
 

Send problems, comments or suggestions to: downeycr@csus.edu

California State University, Sacramento
Department of Humanities & Religious Studies
College of Arts & Letters

Last Updated: August 2014