anandi silva knuppel
dancer, media-maker, scholar
Dance
Media
Academics
Dance
Currently a member of Smt. Dr. Aparupa Chatterjee's Odissi Dance Company and taking new students in north east Wisconsin starting in 2022.
After finishing her master’s degree at Duke University focusing on the classicality, authenticity, and devotional aspects of Indian classical dance, Anandi began learning with Smt. Aparupa Chatterjee in Texas. Taking a break to finish her doctorate at Emory University in religious studies, Anandi returned to Odissi in 2020 as part of the Odissi Dance Company.
Anandi Silva Knuppel began her dance journey as an adult, learning Bharatanatyam with Smt. Bana Ramanath of San Antonio, Texas. In 2009, she began learning Odissi at Pani Dance Academy in North Carolina, a satellite school of Smt. Sujata Mohapatra.
Anandi has performed with Smt. Sujata Mohapatra as part of her Duke University residency, with Smt. Aparupa Chatterjee in venues such as the Kelucharan Guna Keertanam, and in various group and solo venues in North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, and Wisconsin. Her performances have been streamed for the Saptami foundation, the Bhargavi Arts Academy Godhamrutham 2020 Festival, ODC Navajata series, and Smt. Sharon Lowen's Lemonade Series.
She has assisted in teaching Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Odissi in K-12 and higher education and has presented her research on Indian classical dance at the American Academy of Religion conference. Her work on dance was featured in the edited volume Scripting Dance in Contemporary India.
Media
Child Development Center of Central
web development
GLAM Center for Collaborative Teaching & Learning
web development
Central Presbyterian Church of Atlanta
web development
Word Made Life
web development
HDDC
web development
Gilded Bridal
web development
Regional Bhakti Scholars Network
web development
Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation
web development
Hearing the Call
video editing, videography
Emory Cold Cases
video editing, videography, web development
Society of Visual Anthropology
video editing
Georgia Coast Atlas
video editing, videography, web development
Holocaust Denial on Trial
web development
Big City Map
web development
Practical Matters Journal
web development
Waking Up the Immune System
videography
Basic Science Breakthroughs: Fragile X Syndrome
videography
Gamelan Wayang 2015
photography
Wedding Photography
photography
Odissi Photography
photography
Academics
My academic work exists in and in between the humanities, sciences, and technology in project management, training and teaching, and content development.
View my full CV (pdf).
Teaching
My pedagogy and research share a common goal: to investigate religious practices as they are lived within specific theologies. My courses encourage students to be active collaborators in the classroom. Together, we foster discussion, community, and spaces to create new understandings of religious traditions in theory and in practice using traditional and innovative digital methods.
Courses Taught
- Transnational Religions - Emory University, 2018
- Introduction to Hinduism - Candler School of Theology, 2016
- Dance and Embodied Knowledge – Assistant
- Hindu and Buddhist Practices of South and Southeast Asia – Assistant
- Hindu Myths – Assistant
- South Asian Civilizations – Assistant
Proposed Courses
Just as my research is transnational and interdisciplinary, courses that I am prepared to teach have a broad reach across religions of South Asia and transnational religions. My courses also cover various methodologies in religious studies from digital approaches to ethnography and visual and material culture.
- Religions of South Asia
- Devotional Arts of India
- Visual and Material Culture in the Study of Religion
- Religion and Community - Hinduism and Buddhism
- Religion and Embodied Knowledge
- Living Epics of India
- Digital Religion
- Ethnographic Methods
Digital Pedagogy
My courses in religion make use of digital methods, but I also regularly teach courses focused on training graduate students and faculty and staff in digital research and pedagogy theories, methods, and technologies.
- Teaching, Pedagogy, Curriculum and Research Graduate Workshop
- Emory Foundations for Online Teaching
- Introduction to Digital Publishing in the Humanities
Research
My dissertation research is a traditional and visual ethnographic study of daily practices in Hindu traditions. In this work, I pay close attention to how people speak about their daily practices, how people perform them, and how institutions and sources of authority influence these practices.
