#  Swayam Bagaria 

Assistant Professor of Hindu Studies

 

 

 



   ![Swayam Bagaria](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-03/092324-bagaria-00003.jpg?itok=xtQ1_3NZ) 

 



 

 email <sbagaria@hds.harvard.edu> 

 laptop\_windows [Personal website](https://sites.harvard.edu/swayam-bagaria/) 

 

 



 

## Education

- PhD, Johns Hopkins University

## Profile

[Swayam Bagaria](https://sites.harvard.edu/swayam-bagaria/) joined Harvard Divinity School in the fall of 2022. Prior to coming to HDS, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Virginia in the College Fellows Program. He received his PhD in anthropology from Johns Hopkins University in 2020.

His research, funded by several external and internal grants and fellowships, explores the dynamics of multidimensional and compositional belief networks, especially spiritual and religious beliefs, in contemporary societies with a focus on India. He pursues his research through four primary avenues: 1) the broad philosophical, cognitive, and cultural dimensions of the stability and revision of such belief systems; 2) the psychosocial ramifications that they have for the design of mental health treatment and general wellbeing and flourishing programs and services; 3) the institutional recognition and regulation of such beliefs for the purpose of public order and pluralism, and a little further afield, 4) a project on the science of altered states of consciousness and its use in practices of cognitive augmentation.

Professor Bagaria's research interests are:

- Cognitive Science of Belief
- Anthropology of Religion
- Psychedelic Sciences
- Cultural Psychiatry
- Philosophical Psychiatry
- Cultural Economics of Religion

## Courses

View [HDS courses taught by Swayam Bagaria](https://courses.my.harvard.edu/psp/courses/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/h/?tab=HU_CLASS_SEARCH&SearchReqJSON=%7B%22ExcludeBracketed%22:true,%22Exclude300%22:false,%22SaveRecent%22:true,%22Facets%22:%5B%5D,%22PageNumber%22:1,%22SortOrder%22:%5B%22SCORE%22%5D,%22TopN%22:%22%22,%22PageSize%22:%22%22,%22SearchText%22:%22(%20Swayam%20Bagaria%20)%20(ACAD_CAREER:%5C%22HDS%5C%22)%22%7D) in the my.harvard Course Search.

Also view [FAS courses taught by Swayam Bagaria](https://courses.my.harvard.edu/psp/courses/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/h/?tab=HU_CLASS_SEARCH&SearchReqJSON=%7B%22PageNumber%22:1,%22PageSize%22:%22%22,%22SortOrder%22:%5B%22IS_SCL_SUBJ_CAT%22%5D,%22Facets%22:%5B%5D,%22Category%22:%22HU_SCL_SCHEDULED_BRACKETED_COURSES%22,%22SearchPropertiesInResults%22:true,%22FacetsInResults%22:true,%22SaveRecent%22:true,%22TopN%22:%22%22,%22SearchText%22:%22(IS_SCL_DESCR_IS_SCL_DESCRL:%5C%22Swayam%20Bagaria%5C%22)%20(ACAD_CAREER:%5C%22FAS%5C%22)%22%7D). (HDS students: for jointly offered and reading and research courses, please enroll in the HDS version of the course.)

[All Harvard courses](https://courses.my.harvard.edu)

## Selected publications

- “[G-20 and India’s Providential Diplomacy](https://obsreligion.cnrs.fr/bulletin/g-20-and-indias-providential-diplomacy-english-version/)” Observatoire International Du Religieux, Bulletin No. 46 (2023).
- “[Unstable Equilibrium and the Possibility of Uniform Civil Code in India](https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/unstable-equilibrium-and-the-possibility-of-uniform-civil-code-in-india)” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace &amp; World Affairs (2023).
- “[Who Owns the Temple Gold](https://manifold.uhpress.hawaii.edu/read/coronasur-asian-religions-in-the-covidian-age/section/200fc96b-f0c9-46bc-b965-2d7bfd76d2dc)” Religion and Covid-19 in Asia, University of Hawai’i Press (2023).
- “[Four Perspectives on Unexceptional Politics](https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4343-unexceptional-politics-four-perspectives).” *Verso Books*, June (2019).

## Support

To reach Harvard Divinity School's faculty coordinators, email [div-faculty\_coordinators@calists.harvard.edu](mailto:div-faculty_coordinators@calists.harvard.edu).

For media inquiries or requests, please [contact Tyler Sprouse](mailto:tsprouse@hds.harvard.edu) in the Office of Communications.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Affiliation
    
     [Faculty](/affiliation/faculty)
- ## Alpha Grouping
    
     [A-E](/alpha-grouping/e)
- ## Faculty Type
    
     [Faculty of Divinity](/faculty-type/faculty-divinity)