University of North Texas

Faculty Member, Philosophy and Religion Studies

Other Affiliations: University of North Texas, Anthropology

Assistant Professor

College of Arts and Sciences

Thesis Title: Dharma and Ecology

About

Pankaj is the author of Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability (May 2011) and has also published articles in journals such as Religious Studies Review, Worldviews, Religion Compass, Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Union Seminary Quarterly Review, and the Journal of Visual Anthropology. He also contributes to the Huffington Post, Washington Post’s forum On Faith, and Patheos.com.

His research and teaching interests include Hinduism, Jainism, Environmental Ethics, Indian films, Sanskrit, and Hindi/Urdu languages and literatures. Before joining UNT, he taught at North Carolina State University, Rutgers, Kean, and New Jersey City University. Interested in connecting ancient practices with contemporary issues, he is exploring the connections between religious traditions and sustainability in Hindu and Jain communities in India and the Indian diaspora.

He serves as a research affiliate with Harvard University’s Pluralism Project, as scholar-in-residence with GreenFaith, as a board member of the AAR's Society for Hindu Christian Studies, and as a board member of the Executive Advisory Council of Hindu American Seva Charities, an NGO working with the White House Office for the faith-based initiatives. He has presented his research at Columbia University, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, University of South Florida, Florida International University, University of Toledo, Texas Christian University, High Point University, Lancaster University (UK), Andhra University (India), Univ of Rajasthan (India), and several conferences, high schools, radio and TV stations, temples, churches, Yoga centers, and other community centers.

He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and an M.A. from Columbia University (both in Religious Studies). In his “previous life” he had also earned a B.S. in Computer Science from India and had worked as a software engineer in India and in New Jersey.

Pankaj is an active member of several academic and community organizations, is fluent in several Indian languages, and has published poems in Hindi. He was born in Rajasthan and had also lived in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Karnatak (in India) and in New Jersey, Iowa, North Carolina, and Texas (in the USA).

Some of his papers and articles can be previewed at:
http://unt.academia.edu/PankajJain/Papers

You can follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/pankajaindia

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/pj2017

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dharma-and-Ecology-of-Hindu-Communities-Sustenance-and-Sustainability/114662685283246

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