Background and Areas of Interest

Alberta Ferrario specializes in the religions of South Asia, focusing on medieval Hindu traditions and, more specifically, on the intellectual history, philosophy, and practice of Tantric Śaivism. Her other interests include comparative religion, the Yoga and Meditation traditions of South Asia, premodern Indian philosophy, and how the “human” and “divine” feminine are constructed in Hindu texts, religious practices, and social norms. She earned her B.A. from the University of Milan, Italy, her M.A. from Columbia University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Ferrario conducted part of her doctoral research in Europe, collaborating with Sanskrit scholars at the University of Oxford and the University of Hamburg, as well as in India. Dr. Ferrario was also an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Grinnell College, Iowa. Before focusing on Religious Studies, her training included graduate studies in the social sciences at Columbia, specializing in the Indian subcontinent and covering modern history, anthropology, human rights, and social justice, along with work experience in human rights at the United Nations.

Research

Ferrario’s main area of research interest concerns the medieval tantric, or “esoteric,” Śaiva traditions, in particular the Sanskrit exegetical tradition that flourished in Kashmir between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries. Her approach is multidisciplinary, combining philosophical and historical perspectives with philological and comparative methods. In her book manuscript, “Grace in Degrees: Śaktipāta, Devotion, and Religious Authority in the Śaivism of Abhinavagupta,” she analyzes conceptions of grace and devotion in the oeuvre of the Kashmiri polymath Abhinavagupta (fl. ca. 1000 CE), and in the broader context of his tradition, Tantric Śaivism.

Courses

At Swarthmore College

• Indian Religion and Philosophy
• Yoga in History, Philosophy, and Practice
• Yoga and Meditation: From India to the West

At Other Academic Institutions

• Studying Religion: India (Grinnell College)
• Hinduism and Gender: Women, Goddesses, and Gurus (Grinnell College)
• Women and Religion (University of Pennsylvania)
• Introduction to Indian Philosophy (University of Pennsylvania)
• Themes in Indian Philosophy: Yoga and Tantra (University of Pennsylvania)
• Buddhist Thought and Culture (Seton Hall University)