Jain Studies at UW-Madison

Śrī Anantnāth Endowed Chair in Jain Studies

Dr. Miki Chase is Assistant Professor in South Asian Studies and holds the Shri Anantanatha Endowed Chair in Jain Studies in ALC. Her research and teaching focuses on intersections of religion, law, and gender in questions of care around death and dying in India, with a specific focus on Jainism. Dr. Chase’s book project in progress is an examination of social negotiations of the ascetic ethical disposition in the Jain voluntary fast unto death. Based on fieldwork in Delhi, Jaipur, and Mumbai, her work uses ethnographic methods to trace the gendered norms through which Jain laywomen reshape ideals and concepts of death outlined in scripture, attending to the complexities of urban domestic life, the medicalization of death, and the shifting political and legal terrain following public interest litigation contesting the legality of the fast. Her research has been funded by the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) (2019-20) and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (2018-19). Email Dr. Chase at mochase@wisc.edu.

The Shri Anantanatha Endowed Chair in Jain Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison represents a significant commitment to the academic study of Jainism and its broader cultural and philosophical contexts. Established to promote the study and teaching of Jainism, the Chair supports research and educational initiatives that explore Jain philosophy, religion, history, and ethics. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is grateful to Bipin & Rekha Shah, Harshad & Raksha Shah, Jasvant & Meera Modi, and Prem & Sandhya Jain for their generous gift, which enabled the endowment of the Shri Anantanatha Chair.

News & Events

11/23/24 – Dr. Miki Chase (UW-Madison) organized “Anthropological Perspectives: Reflections on Jainism from the Field,” a session co-sponsored by the Anthropology of Religion Unit and the Jain Studies Unit, at the 2024 San Diego Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Other presenters included Professor Emeritus John Cort (Denison University), Shivani Bothra (CSU Long Beach), David Eric Silverberg (Columbia University), and Eric Villalobos (Emory University). The session included scholars in Jain Studies who have done extensive fieldwork, and reflections on the contributions of dearly departed Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Amherst College, Dr. Lawrence “Alan” Babb.

10/30/24 – Jain Studies @ UW-Madison hosts “Action and Effect in the Karmabhūmi: Jain Perspectives on Agency,” a full day symposium at the 52nd Annual Conference on South Asia. Organized by Dr. Miki Chase with Dr. Ana Bajzelj (UC-Riverside) and Dr. Gregory Clines (Trinity University).

09/30/24 – Dr. Miki Chase, Shri Anantanatha Endowed Chair in Jain Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is named recipient of the 2024 Mohini Jain Presidential Chair in Jain Studies Best Dissertation Prize from the Department of Religious Studies at University of California, Davis. Read more. 

10/05/23 – Public Talk: “Nonviolence as Practice: Lessons from a Museum Exhibition about Jainism” by Dr. Johannes Beltz, Chief Curator of “Being Jain” Exhibition, Indian and Southeast Asian Art, Head of Collections & Deputy Director, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Switzerland.

 

Related Course Offerings

ASIAN 252: Contemporary Indian Society

ASIAN 274: Religion in South Asia

ASIAN 301: Animal Ethics in Asia

ASIAN 303: Jainism: Religion and Culture of Non-Violence

ASIAN 405: Gods and Goddesses of South Asia

ASIAN 428: Visual Culture of India

ASIAN 473: Meditation in Indian Buddhism & Hinduism

ASIAN 655: Ethnography in Asia