Anthony Cerulli

Education
PhD, University of Chicago
MA, Yale University
BA, Loyola University Chicago

UW Experts ORCiD

Research Interests
Anthony’s primary fields of research are medicine and religion. Many of his projects incorporate ethnography, history, and philology to explain how and why people study and use texts in South Asia to heal and promote well-being. His research also contributes to discussions in the medical humanities (in Asia and elsewhere), and his photography exhibits and publications explore links between art-making, history, and ethnography.

Anthony’s research has been supported by the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; Kluge Center; National Endowment for the Humanities; American Council of Learned Societies; Institut d’études avancées de Paris; European Institutes for Advanced Studies; Library of Congress Asian Division; and Fulbright-Hays. He was Directeur d’études invité at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris, and currently he is the editor of India Review; associate editor of Asian Medicine; and editorial advisor for two book series: “Global Histories of Premodern Health and Disease” (Edinburgh UP) and “Ancient Cultures of Knowledges and Sciences” (Mohr Siebeck).

Anthony welcomes inquiries and applications from students interested in pursuing graduate degrees in the areas of history of medicine and medical anthropology in South Asia, religion in South Asia, and global medical and health humanities.

PUBLICATIONS & EXHIBITIONS

Visit Anthony’s Humanities Commons page for a full list of publications (many downloadable) and exhibitions

• Books and edited volumes

2022, The Practice of Texts: Education and Healing in South India. Oakland: University of California Press (Luminos OA).

2020, Medicines and Memories in South Asia. Co-edited with Lisa Brooks and Victoria Sheldon. Asian Medicine 15, no. 1.

2018, The Gift in India in Theory and Practice. Co-edited with Miriam Benteler. International Journal of Hindu Studies 22, no. 2.

2013, Medical Texts and Manuscripts in Indian Cultural History. Co-edited with Dominik Wujastyk and Karin Preisendanz. New Delhi: Manohar Press.

2012, Somatic Lessons: Narrating Patienthood and Illness in Indian Medical Literature. Albany: State University of New York Press.

• Articles, chapters, and essays (since 2020)
  

2022, “Vies et renaissances des manuscrits en Asie du Sud.” Le Bulletin des Belles Lettres 2022, nº3, “Science si humaine,” 18–23. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.

2022, “L’art dans l’archive: Manuscrits dans l’histoire de l’Inde.” In Manuel du Prince Indien: L’Arthaśāstra. Introduction et extraits par Marinette Dambuyant et photographies et postface par Anthony Cerulli, 251–268. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.

2021, “Pedagogy, Philology, and Procedural Medical Knowledge.” South Asian History and Culture 13, no. 1: 135–155.

2021, “Disease: Discourse and Interpretation in Premodern South Asia.” Religion Compass 15, no. 12: 1–10.

2021, “Allegory and History, Life and Embodiment.” In Body and Cosmos: Studies in Early Indian Medical and Astral Sciences in Honor of Kenneth G. Zysk, edited by T. Knudsen, J. Schmidt-Madsen, and S. Speyer, 209-232. Leiden: Brill.

2020, “Epilogue: Healing Concerns in South Asian Texts, Histories, and Societies.” Asian Medicine 15, no. 1: 183-196.

2020, “Introduction: Medicines and Memories in South Asia.” Co-authored with Lisa Brooks and Victoria Sheldon. Asian Medicine 15, no. 1: 3-9.

2020, “Archival Aesthetics: Framing and Exhibiting Indian Manuscripts and Manuscript Libraries.” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 43, no. 3: 455-477.

• Photography exhibitions and publications (since 2020)
  

2023, “The Archive as Art.” Solarium Gallery at Houghton House, Hobart & William Smith Colleges (solo exhibit: Mar–Apr, 57 pieces).

2023, “Manuscriptistan 18” and “Manuscriptistan 53.” In Old Stacks, New Leaves: The Arts of the Book in South Asia by Sonal Khullar. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

2022, Le Bulletin des Belles Lettres, nº3, “Science si humaine” (6 photographs). Paris: Les Belles Lettres

2022, L’Arthaśāstra. Introduction et extraits par Marinette Dambuyant et photographies et postface par Anthony Cerulli (17 photographs). Paris: Les Belles Lettres.

2021, “Manuscriptistan 18.” In Sosio-ekologi kelapa laut by Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

2020, “Manuscriptistan.” Chazen Museum of Art, Faculty 2020 Exhibition, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI (group exhibit: Jan–Aug, 4 pieces).

COURSES & SEMINARS

• REGULAR OFFERINGS
Gateway to Asia: Trek and Encounter (ASIAN 100)
Health and Healing in South Asia (ASIAN 218)
Ethnography in Asia (ASIAN 655)
Introduction to Buddhism (ASIAN 308)
Introduction to Hinduism (ASIAN 306)
Perfectible Bodies in Religion, Medicine, and Politics (ASIAN 505)
Religion in South Asia (ASIAN 274)

• OCCASIONAL OFFERINGS
The Mahābhārata
Theory and Method in the Study of Religion